The Post * * * *
Everyone knows about Watergate, but here is another event from the 1970's which is as equally compelling. Personally, I was unaware of the event, so I appreciate that Steven Spielberg has made this excellent drama.
In the early 1970's The Washington Post was a paper under threat of being regarded as irrelevant. The news it reported was pretty regular. You didn't look to The Washington Post for ground breaking stories. The reasons why "The Post" was in this position was because management didn't want to damage their relationship with Washington friends. It's position was a frustration for the Editor Ben Bradlee, played by Tom Hanks.
This was a time when America was lying to the American people (and the rest of the world) about its disgraceful and worthless involvement in Vietnam.
An ex-journalist who had been in Vietnam and had seen the disaster of Americas involvement for himself illicitly acquired "tell all" confidential government documents which revealed a string of Presidents who were complicit in this willful deception, including Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. He passed some of the documents on to the New York Times who intended to serialise them but they received a court order not to continue publishing the documents. So he gave the balance to The Washington Post, leaving them in a position where they had to decide to publish or not. This was the best and most controversial story The Post had in years, but being prosecuted by the Government and burning many White House contacts would be an inevitable outcome.
At the same time The Washington Post was going through a huge change. Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) had been the sole owner of The Washington Post but just prior to The Post acquiring this story she had been persuaded to go public and list The Washington Post on the Stock Exchange. Publishing this story could have the paper virtually shut down. Investors would leave in droves and the stock value would plummet.
I won't spoil it for you by letting you know if they went ahead and published or not ,but I can highly recommend this excellent "Newspaper" drama. One of the best. Also one of the best films I have seen from Spielberg in some time.
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| I read the news today, Oh Boy! |
This was a time when America was lying to the American people (and the rest of the world) about its disgraceful and worthless involvement in Vietnam.
An ex-journalist who had been in Vietnam and had seen the disaster of Americas involvement for himself illicitly acquired "tell all" confidential government documents which revealed a string of Presidents who were complicit in this willful deception, including Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. He passed some of the documents on to the New York Times who intended to serialise them but they received a court order not to continue publishing the documents. So he gave the balance to The Washington Post, leaving them in a position where they had to decide to publish or not. This was the best and most controversial story The Post had in years, but being prosecuted by the Government and burning many White House contacts would be an inevitable outcome.
At the same time The Washington Post was going through a huge change. Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) had been the sole owner of The Washington Post but just prior to The Post acquiring this story she had been persuaded to go public and list The Washington Post on the Stock Exchange. Publishing this story could have the paper virtually shut down. Investors would leave in droves and the stock value would plummet.
I won't spoil it for you by letting you know if they went ahead and published or not ,but I can highly recommend this excellent "Newspaper" drama. One of the best. Also one of the best films I have seen from Spielberg in some time.
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