Conner Wise

Professor Collins

Introduction to Journalism

30 April 2020

The Post

Throughout this semester, I have learned so much about journalism that I have never

even thought of before enrolling into this class. There is so much that lies underground in the

world of journalism and is why I believe the movie, The Post, was the best movie we watched in

this class. This movie is a true classic journalism film that follows the life of Kay Graham (Meryl

Streep) who is the first female publisher of The Washington Post. Throughout the film, their

crew is following a huge case dealing with President Nixon and his involvement with the

Vietnam war. She is troubled with deciding whether to publish the case, or to sit back and not get

involved with the government (IMDb 2018). The film does a great job with unraveling the

Pentagon papers and their true purposes. In the next following paragraphs, I will explain why

releasing the Pentagon papers to the public supports the SPJ Code of Ethics, and how it made a

difference in the journalistic business.

When first watching this film, I was very ignorant on what exactly happened during the

Vietnam war and why American soldiers were there for so long. The Post did a fantastic job

illustrating what exactly happened, and most importantly, followed the code of ethics. There are

many different ways that the film demonstrated these codes, but the main premise I want to focus

on is the ‘Seek Truth & Report it’ code. Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) and Kay Graham come across

Daniel Ellsburg, a former worker of the government who had confidential papers written by
President Nixon stating that there was no need for U.S. soldiers to still be in Vietnam. Bradlee

and Graham are given these papers deciding what to do with them. They go back and forth

deciding if they should post them, but other workers are scared that they could get into some

serious trouble. They eventually publish them with Graham having the last word. This perfectly

correlates with seeking truth and reporting it. Even though this made President Nixon look awful,

and eventually why he resigned, these reporters knew that the public deserved to know.

This was not a good time in America either. There were a bunch of protests against the

Vietnam war and the Pentagon papers gave people the answers they were searching for. The

Rule of Law states, “The restriction of the arbitrary exercise of power by subordinating it to

well-defined and established laws” (United States Courts 2000). What this means, is that no

matter who the individual is, everyone is subjected to the same laws. Basically, no one gets a free

pass, and this is a prime example. The Washington Post decided that it did not matter that the

president wrote these papers, if anyone did, they would be subjected to the same manner. Thus,

why I believe what the Washington Post did was the best for the American public.

While the Washington Post did act on one of the SPJ Code of Ethics, I believe that they

failed to Act Independently (another code of ethics). Under the Act Independently section, it is

stated, “The highest and primary obligation of ethical journalism is to serve the public.

Journalists should: Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts”

(SPJ’s National Convention). While I do believe that the Washington Post served the public by

releasing these papers, I do not believe that they avoided the conflict. When dealing with the

U.S. government, you have to be careful what you post and how you go about it. Journalists

being secretive and putting on a facade to receive the information is in my opinion, not very

independently. Towards the end of the movie, the Post releases the papers and acts as a catalyst
for every other newspaper company to release the documents as well. They are taken to court

where they eventually win the trial.

Overall, I believe that this was the best film we watched in class. I think the reason why I

liked it so much was because I love Tom Hanks’ character role. He is motivated by day one to

release the documents and never strays away. People like this are incredibly determined to make

sure that the public is seeking the truth. Presidents have been doing for the last 100 years and it

was eventually bound to happen. This was a breakthrough for the journalism world as these new

companies finally get to practice their first amendment right – freedom of press. It is the publics

job to keep the government in order no matter how corrupt it might seem.
 Works Cited

IMDB. “The Post.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 11 Jan. 2018, www.imdb.com/title/tt6294822/.

SPJ’s National Convention. “SPJ Code of Ethics - Society of Professional Journalists.” Society

of Professional Journalists - Improving and Protecting Journalism since 1909, 2014,

www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.

United States Courts. “Overview - Rule of Law.” United States Courts, 2000,

www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/overview-rule-law.