“All the President’s People (1976)” 


“Up Close and Personal (1996)”


“Insider (1999)”


“Good Night and Good Luck (2005)”


“Spotlight (2015)”


“The Truth (2015)”


“The Post (2017)”


“She said (2022)”



What do these films have in common?

Hollywood movies about journalism.

In particular, Robert Redford drew attention by appearing as a reporter in “All the President’s People,” which dealt with the Watergate scandal in his 40s, in “Up Close and Personal” in his 60s, and in “The Truth” in his 80s. 



In addition to Robert Redford, other great actors of the time such as Dustin Hoffman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, George Clooney, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks starred in these press films.

Is it an overstatement to say that it shows the media and entertainment industry's respect for the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that 'Congress cannot pass laws restricting free speech'? 



The media that is the background of these films covers newspapers and broadcasting, such as "The President's People" and "The Post" by the Washington Post, "Spotlight" by the Boston Globe, "Insider" and "Good Night and Good Luck". , “Truth” is based on a true story that happened on CBS. 



Among these movies, there are movies that I personally want to choose as a 'journalism trilogy'.

They are based on the most recent famous investigative reports, and they are also the most recently released films.

“Spotlight,” which deals with child molestation by Catholic priests prevalent in the Boston area, “Truth,” which deals with President Bush’s suspicion of exemption from military service, and “She Said,” which was released at the end of last month, are those films.



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Compared to the other two films, “She Said” is helmed by relatively unknown actors, but it deals with journalism that has had a far greater impact on the world than “Spotlight” and “Truth.”

It's because it's based on the investigative report of the New York Times, which sparked the #MeToo movement by exposing the decades-long sexual assault case of Hollywood mogul producer Harvey Weinstein. 



From famous actresses like Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow to unknown aspiring actors.

From the executives of their own production company to the terminal employees.

The story of 'Harvey', who had been sexually assaulting and molesting them for decades, was widely spread in Hollywood, and many journalists tried to report it, but it was buried under Harvey's persistent (legal and economic) obstruction and threats. . 



Many films dealing with the media add a spoonful of sugar for dramatic tension, but “Spotlight” and “She Said” from the “journalism trilogy” taste like hard-roasted espresso.

In particular, like a simple title composed of subject + predicate, “She said”, it unfolds the world of real media in a dry and sincere manner.

It may be because the film is an almost verbatim copy of the New York Times investigative journalist Jody Canter and Meghan Toohy's Harvey Weinstein book of the same name. 



What was particularly impressive about this movie and book was the New York Times' team play to bring out the 'language of facts' and the 'language of persuasion' by the two reporters to bring out the truth.

Two reporters, Jody Canter and Megan Toohey, collect real-name testimonies and written evidence to derive a 'publishable story', that is, the language of fact, while passionately telling reporters the language of persuasion to derive the truth. unfold out.

And in the organization called The New York Times, reporters, editors, and executives come together as if they were one body to stand up to the big money 'accumulation'.

1. The language of facts

- Is there any possibility that the actresses will agree to the article?


- Right now, I'm out of luck. 


- So far, there's only statements about the hotel room incident, but there's no evidence to support them.


- Everyone will open their mouths that you are not alone.

It's safe when we come together. 


- No written evidence?

We do not have a publishable

story. 


New York Times investigative editor Rebecca Corbett, who brought together reporters Jody and Meghan, who barely knew each other, told the reporters coldly.

She says she can't publish a story without the 'language of facts', such as testimony and evidence from victims.



As she puts it in her non-fiction book “She Said”, journalism’s influence comes from ‘specificity’.

It is to reveal in the article the 'names, dates, evidence, and patterns' related to the case you are covering.

Corbett continued to ask reporters what strategies she needed to get the women victims to agree to the story.

She's asking for real name testimony and evidence about Harvey Weinstein and what happened in his hotel room. 



Knowing how difficult it is to elicit real-name testimonies from victims of sexual assault, Corbett worries that Jodi and Megan's coverage will end up with a huge hotel room story that won't make her headlines.

She also hopes that even if the reporters convince one or two women, they won't be devoured by the bare, unbiased reporting of 'he said this, she said this'. 



So she encourages reporters to go beyond the Harvey Weinstein case to look for a system that pervades sexual violence in American society. 



Corbett didn't just peck reporters for 'the language of the facts'.

Reporters one day obtain a whistleblowing memo written by an eyewitness who worked for The Weinstein Company.

Upon contacting the witness and his lawyer, they also request anonymity.

Corbett speaks directly to the reporters on behalf of them and tells them softly but firmly that she cannot honor requests for anonymity.



“I’m sorry, I know you’re having a hard time.

I'm not going to cover all the content.

I'll also make it clear that you never provided any information.

But I'm thinking of putting a name for reliability.

If you are a victim of sexual assault, of course you should remain anonymous, but if you are a witness, it is necessary for the credibility of the article to reveal the name of the note writer.”



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In addition to Corbett, editor Matt Purdy and editor-in-chief Dean Barkay, who were in charge of all investigative reporting for The New York Times at the time, also advised reporters on what to watch out for, such as never meeting Harvey Weinstein 'off the record'. He is accompanied by a bunch of lawyers and supports reporters by dealing with Harvey Weinstein's party who came to the company.

Vice President and General Counsel David McKraw also strongly responds to Harvey's legal threat to sue, saying, "See you in court."



The New York Times' team play is especially noticeable at the end of the film, when they finally publish an article.

All three editors, including two investigative reporters Jody and Megan and editor-in-chief Dean Bakay, all stand in front of monitors to review the final 3,300-word story together.

From the headlines to the end, those who skimmed through each

other's.

OK.

received.

back.

 Watch as the rep clicks the publish button.

It was the moment when the article that drove the worldwide #MeToo movement was published.

2. The language of persuasion

-There seem to be quite a few women who have been victimized by him, but not all of them can easily talk about it.

The person who spoke to me wanted privacy.

How did you convince reporters when you wrote your previous articles (about sexual assault)?



-That's really not easy.

Everyone is terrified.

I've said this before. 

“I can’t change what you went through in the past, but maybe together we can stop another victim from coming out.”

I was just being honest.


Harvey Weinstein was a Hollywood mogul who discovered young actors like Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, and Jennifer Lawrence, catapulted them to stardom and "won five Academy Award trophies for himself, as well as a handful for others."

(It also distributed "Snowpiercer" by director Bong Joon-ho in the US.) The victims of 'Harvey,' Jodi and Meghan's reporters, were especially reluctant to testify publicly or be quoted by their real names. 



The same may have been true of victims of sexual violence in other cases, but Harvey's victims were even more so because Harvey had maintained a 'system' in which he paid them settlement money and kept silent with a contract that he would not disclose in any case.

The so-called 'system' that Corbett instructed reporters to dig into has led even dozens of victims' lawyers to convince their clients that it is best to settle them and settle them. 



Jody and Megan desperately tried to convince the victims.

Nothing was persuaded all at once.

The road to the language of fact had to be paved with the language of persuasion.

Rejected, kicked out, and far more often with no response, the two reporters were always polite and persuaded that they understood the other side's point of view.


- No matter how much I intervene, nothing will change.

(Victim)



-I accused Amazon, Starbucks, and Harvard Business School of gender discrimination, and a lot has changed since then.

Because of the Times article, they changed their policy.

But if you decline (the interview), I understand that too.

I hope the publication of the book goes well. (Jodi)


Later, the victim changes his mind and meets Jody.



Meanwhile, Megan, who found out that there was a report of sexual harassment at Miramax, which Harvey operated 16 years ago, barely calls the agency in charge of California, but encounters a wall called 'internal regulation'.

Megan doesn't give up and convinces the bland rep.

(This part was portrayed better in the movie than in the book)


-Since 2001, there has been one lawsuit against Miramax, but it was closed on the same day.

It says that the complainant filed a lawsuit, but there are no documents.

Something isn't quite right.

Do you know anything?


-do not have.

The record would have been destroyed. 


-Really?

why? 


-That's our rule.

All records are destroyed after 3 years. 


- Why? 


-I told you.

that's the rule


- Can I know who is the person who sued for sexual assault?


-I can't tell you that. 


- Why is that again?


-That's the rule.

I am not allowed to reveal my name.

Any more questions?


-This is very important.

The perpetrator may still be using his powerful position to harass someone.

Is there any way you can help?



(Meghan appealed to the director's conscience in persuasive language, and the manager didn't ignore the reporter's appeal for help)



-

If you ask for the name of the government investigator in charge of the case, I can give it to you.

Just a name.


-thank you.


Investigative reporting in the language of fact could not exist without the language of persuasion used by New York Times reporters.

In the end, it was something that could not be approached without sincerity and truth.

I think like this.

It is not going through the facts to the truth, but through the truth to the facts. 



The language of persuasion is not only important in the reporting process.

Articles also require the language of persuasion.

Language that persuades the reader.

It is not a good article to dryly lay out only the facts according to the 5-W-W principle. 



Star actress Ashley Judd, long hesitant to testify under her real name, calls Jody.

When she says she agrees to knight her, Jodi and Megan are thrilled.

Knights now gain momentum.



The editor specifically instructed reporters to start the article with what Ashley experienced in the Peninsula Hotel room in Beverly Hills and to end the article with a quote from Ashley.

instruct.

It is not that I am covering it up to write well, but I have presented a clear compositional direction based on my long experience in storytelling that can convince readers.

This is what editors at the interface between reporters and readers do well and should do well. 



The night before the release of the article, it was the editor, Corbett, who sent two exhausted reporters, Jody and Megan, home and stayed up all night tinkering with the article.

In addition, it was the silver-haired Corbett, in her 60s, who received Weinstein's statement that arrived right before the article was released the next day and corrected and supplemented the article.



Maybe that's why, Jodi and Meghan write in their book "She Said" that 'over time people will say that it was two women who brought the story of Weinstein to the world, but in fact it was three women'.

He also left a note of thanks, saying 'Rebecca Corbett, our editor at the Times, is our true north'.



Rebecca Corbett, a 'skeptical, scrupulous, and allergic to flashiness or exaggeration' journalist.

In her 2019 interview with Elegy, she said.



“Some of the worst journalism blunders don't come from journalists when there are no facts wrong in what they write,” she says.

It comes out when reporters keep adding something to an article.

As an editor, what scares me most is not what I saw in the article, but what I didn’t see.”



In the age of social media, where countless piles of information can be easily obtained and the road to lies is as open as the truth, the process of approaching the truth of "she said" is a long and arduous journey, in the language of fact and persuasion 129 Calmly build up over a period of minutes.



If you are interested, I suggest you also read “Spotlight,” a journalism success story, and “Truth,” a failure story.

After watching this 'journalism trilogy', you will have a wider view of the world of facts and truth that makes up modern journalism.



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