Spotlight, the Oscar-winning movie of two years ago, made me feel proud to be a journalist. The Post, which I finally saw over the weekend, reminded me how much fun the business is. Or at least was once upon a time. I’m pretty sure it still has its moments.
The Post, like All the President’s Men, and like Spotlight, is about reaching a specific end—the publishing of a series of epochal news stories. Finally an OK is given, presses rumble, and bundles of newspapers brimming with dreadnought news are tossed off trucks to vendors on street corners. That’s how it used to be. Every newly published story was an event. During Watergate, I worked Sunday nights at the Sun-Times, and it was exciting to watch the wires because that was the night when Time and Newsweek announced their new editions, each with its inevitable Watergate report sure to move the ball another few yards down the field.
