Fact or fiction based loosely, at times closely, on facts?
That was the choice video viewers had Monday night as PBS ran part one of its two-part documentary of newspaper publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, while TCM counter-programmed with “Citizen Kane,” the Orson Welles fictionalized masterpiece structured around Hearst’s larger-than-life life (for the record, I caught short bursts of both, content I was recording PBS and that I had seen “Citizen Kane” countless times).
As a former newspaper reporter and magazine editor I am partial to movies with a print journalism focus (a subsequent list will come for electronic media). Herewith are my favorites:
Libeled Lady
Citizen Kane
Gentleman’s Agreement
The Front Page
His Girl Friday
All the President’s Men
The Life of Emile Zola
Deadline-USA
Five Star Final
The Paper
Ace in the Hole
Spotlight
The Devil Wore Prada
It happened One Night
Call Northside 777
I Want To Live!
