Essayist Clarence Page Reflects on Journalists in Movies

CLARENCE PAGE: It gets worse -- must worse -- in the Latin American thriller "Cronicas." John Leguizamo plays a TV reporter who will conceal a serial killer from police if that's what it takes for a scoop.

JOHN LEGUIZAMO: But I do want to be able to talk with you about everything, because I'm not judging you. I just want to understand you.

CLARENCE PAGE: Whatever happened, I wonder, to the old-style movie hero reporters like Hildy Johnson in "The Front Page"...

ACTOR: ... even think that for you. Johnson Street, you and I and the governor are going to run this town.

CLARENCE PAGE: ... the classic stage play about scoop-chasers in prohibition-era Chicago?

ACTOR: Get the typewriter over here. Come on. Stop hogging on our lead!

ACTOR: How much of this stuff do you want?

ACTOR: All the words you got.

CLARENCE PAGE: In the hilarious remake, "His Girl Friday," Hildy turned up as a woman played by Rosalind Russell, who got the big scoop, yet kept her clothes on. Stop the presses.

ACTOR: A new suit and 10 bucks. Almost a dollar a year.

CLARENCE PAGE: Jimmy Stewart pumped up our image even more in "Call Northside 777," based on a real reporter who pursued an old Chicago murder and eventually freed an innocent man.

JASON ROBARDS, Actor, "All the President's Men": How much can you tell me about Deep Throat?

ROBERT REDFORD, Actor, "All the President's Men": How much do you need to know?

CLARENCE PAGE: And Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman breaking the Watergate story in "All the President's Men" sent another generation of earnest young journos beating a path to newsroom doors.

JASON ROBARDS: Run that baby.

PAUL NEWMAN, Actor, "Absence of Malice": I'm Michael Gallagher.

CLARENCE PAGE: This time, the innocent man, played by Paul Newman, is not freed but implicated in a murder by newspaper reporter Sally Field. Her character was too hungry for a scoop to see that she was being used by a sneaky prosecutor.

PAUL NEWMAN: You got an obligation to tell the truth?

SALLY FIELD, Actress, "Absence of Malice": Of course.

PAUL NEWMAN: Well, if you want to know what's true, how come you don't talk to me before you write what they say?

CLARENCE PAGE: There's a warning here, fellow journos: Check your sources.

But if Hollywood is not portraying very many journalistic heroes these days, it's partly because the public says they don't see very many. And yet, as much as everyone seems to say they hate "the media," everyone also seems to have their own favorite medium, whether it's the New York Times, or FOX News, or "The Daily Show."

People appreciate journalists who connect with them. You want us to believe your world coverage? Show us how well you do close to home.

MICHAEL KEATON, Actor, "The Paper": I realized, you know, this doesn't exactly get us off on the right foot.

SPAULDING GRAY, Actor, "The Paper": The right foot? Are you out of your mind?

CLARENCE PAGE: That's the point of my favorite little newspaper movie, "The Paper." Michael Keaton is the city editor of a feisty tabloid. When he turns down a job at a fancy New York Times-type paper, the spurned editor, Spaulding Gray, loses his cool.

SPAULDING GRAY: Well, I hope you're satisfied, (bleep)! You just blew your chance to cover the world!

MICHAEL KEATON: Really. Well, guess (bleep) what? I don't really (bleep) care. You want to know (bleep) why? Because I don't live in the (bleep) world! I live in (bleep) New York City, so go (bleep) yourself!

CLARENCE PAGE: I call "The Paper" a romantic comedy.

LYNNE THIGPEN, Actress, "The Paper": You handled that well.

CLARENCE PAGE: It's about what news people love about the news: nailing down the big stories that connect with people where they live. This time, a movie got it right.

MICHAEL KEATON: Stop the presses!

CLARENCE PAGE: I'm Clarence Page.