For a great weekend movie about journalistic integrity, I recommend Edward G. Robinson in “A Dispatch from Reuters” on YouTube. It’s streaming for free at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgLrcO5hF1A&t=215s
The film was made at Warner Brothers in 1940, with an original score by Max Steiner. It was meant to be, and still is, an uplifting biopic about Paul Reuter. Like all the great Warner biopics, it mixes truth with fantasy to produce a portrait of a heroic man -- in this case, a man who started out in Germany with homing pigeons bringing him stock exchange prices and then became a world renowned journalist in Great Britain who guaranteed his news dispatches were always completely factual and up to date.
In this paltry era of fake news and cold algorithms, it’s a refreshing film (if only as a fairy tale.) So put some popcorn in the microwave, turn off your smartphone for an hour and 29 minutes, and enjoy!
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