Welcome to the Front Page

This past weekend, I went into New York City. I (unfortunately) wasn't there for the Women's March, but I did get to see and speak with many of the protesters on their way in. I was actually in town to see the Broadway play, "The Front Page", starring Nathan Lane, John Slattery, and John Goodman.

The play is about a journalist who is trying to get married and escape his crazy boss, but he somehow gets pulled into investigating one last story when a man scheduled to be hanged the next morning escapes from jail. It's been adapted into a few movies. My personal favorite version is the movie "His Girl Friday" (where Hildy is played by a woman instead of a man and Cary Grant is the crazy boss). The 1930 version and "His Girl Friday" are both on Amazon Prime and I highly recommend checking them out if you can.

It's interesting to see how a play written nearly 100 years ago still holds up for modern audiences.

The journalists openly admit to writing inflammatory headlines, exaggerating facts, and twisting people's statements just so they can get in edge to sell more newspapers. They compete with each other to get the best scoop for their stories. Politicians in particular are a popular target for the journalists to poke fun at.

That's not to say that the sheriff and mayor in the play don't deserve the nasty things that are being written about them, they do. See they happen to be up for reelection very soon and they want to guarantee as many votes as possible.For example, they scheduled the man to be hung a couple of days right before a major election in the hopes that it would get them more votes. They also do everything in their power to make sure nothing prevents the hanging from happening, including bribing a man, who brings a reprieve for the condemned man, with a position of power in the city.

The journalists are all aware of the mayor and sheriff's motivations, which is a key reason why they enjoy tormenting the sheriff and mayor with their exaggerated stories. They especially love reporting on the incompetence of the sheriff's men, who are mostly made up of the sheriff's family (and were appointed by the sheriff).

The more scandalizing the story on the front page is, the more likely people are going to buy the newspaper. Doesn't this sound familiar?

With social media eclipsing traditionally printed newspapers, the front page stories are the ones we see while scrolling through our Facebook and Twitter feeds. The more the headlines pulls at our emotions, the more likely we are to click on and share them. Journalists know this, so they will purposefully write their headlines in a way that is both eye catching and inciting a power emotional response.

Journalists aren't the only people who can report on current events. Now, anyone can take photos and videos of events and include a brief caption, then share them with millions of people. We have more access to information than ever before and can easily research current events.

And yet, fact checking still remains a huge problem and media bias certainly helped shape this past election. We probably wouldn't have known that Bernie Sanders was running for the DNC if people on social media hadn't rallied behind him. Then there's the media circus surrounding Donald Trump's latest tweet. (Seriously why hasn't someone confiscated his phone yet? It seems like it's going to turn into a huge security risk sooner rather than later.)

There are some who are claiming we now live in a post-fact world, where opinions matter more than factual evidence presented. I'd make a "Whose Line" joke, but personally I find this idea to be unsettling.

The media has always walked a fine line between reporting the facts and sensationalizing a story so they can sell as many papers as possible (or clicks). They are in the business of making money after all. Bias will also always be a problem. That doesn't mean we should disregard the importance of freedom of the press, having evidence based arguments, and challenging those in power.

The biggest thing I took away from seeing "The Front Page", is that even though we the audience know the journalists are purposefully using questionable tactics to sell their papers, we're on their side. We want them to expose the crooked politicians because if the journalists don't, who else will? We want the journalists to get their stories.

And please remember this is my just my opinion. I'm sure somewhere in the dark recesses of the Internet, there's an analysis of this play that says we should really be siding with the crooked politicians.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.