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'Stop the Presses' film presents dire forecast for newspapers

By John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 14, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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Enjoy your Saturday newspaper while you can. Mark Birnbaum and Manny Mendoza say there's no telling how much longer you'll have the pleasure. The duo co-produced and co-directed Stop the Presses: The American Newspaper in Peril. Birnbaum is a documentary filmmaker and Mendoza is a former Dallas Morning News staff critic. The documentary will be screened Sunday and Monday as part of the Starz Denver Film Festival. In the shadow of headlines detailing economic crisis, newspaper layoffs and falling readership, the film looks at the money crunch facing daily newspapers and asks what future they (and a generation of journalists) will have. The film includes interviews with reporters as well as former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, media writer Ken Auletta, humor columnist Dave Barry and actor Ed Asner (of Lou Grant fame). Interspersed are clips from newspaper-oriented films and TV shows featuring Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Rosalind Russell and The Simpsons. Birnbaum and Mendoza talked with Rocky reporter John Lehndorff about the film recently in a call from Birnbaum's home in Texas:

Given what seems like constant dark news about newspapers, do you need to update the film?

Mendoza: I saw our film again recently at a film festival. I thought maybe we didn't paint a grim enough picture.

What prompted you to make Stop the Presses?

Birnbaum: I had started looking at friends working for The Dallas Morning News who were accepting buyouts and deciding whether they had a future in journalism. Soon we realized there was a story to be told of national scope. Our core question was: "If newspapers are in trouble, is democracy in trouble?"

When will there be no more printed newspapers?

Mendoza: One writer guessed that the last newspaper will be recycled in 2040. I think there will always be a few papers . . . The New York Times will be around.

Birnbaum: Yes, but it'll be $8 a copy. And will it be good when only the Times has foreign bureaus?

Mendoza: There's enough people over (the age of) 50 that want to read papers, and they will live longer than previous generations.

How will we get our news in the future?

Mendoza: More and more papers will be at least partly online. The problem is that there is no business model for newspapers to succeed financially only online.

What's ahead for people who work in journalism?

Mendoza: We profile one ex-reporter who was a foreign correspondent, an honored feature writer, who took the buyout. Now he manages a strip club. He makes a steady income with good benefits.

Birnbaum: Journalism schools are full because people still like to write.

Mendoza: There's a feeling that we will always want the news, but we may be in a period where most of the news will come from citizen reporters.

Stop the Presses The American Newspaper in Peril

* When and where: 3 p.m. Sunday, Denver Newspaper Agency, 101 W. Colfax Ave. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Rocky business writer David Milstead and Al Lewis of the Dow Jones News Service. Also screens at 4 p.m. Monday, Starz Film Center

* Cost: $10-$11

* Festival schedule, tickets festival: denverfilm.org/festival

Big pictures

A look at the red-carpet events at the Starz Denver Film Festival:

* Today: Big Night screening of Slumdog Millionaire; 7:30 p.m., Ellie Caulkins Opera House

* Nov. 22: Denver's 150th birthday party with family-friendly screening of The Polar Express, with cupcakes and face painting. Free admission with donation of kids' pajamas for Denver's Road Home, 11 a.m., Ellie Caulkins Opera House

* Nov. 22: Closing Night screening of Last Chance Harvey starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. 7:30 p.m., Ellie Caulkins Opera House

Comments

  • November 16, 2008

    1:52 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    JFE writes:

    Newspapers would not be failing if they reported the news objectively and truthfully. Conservatives comprise half of America, and they are cancelling their subscriptions because they are offended by the liberal bias.
    Appeal to everyone and THRIVE.