In The New Yorker at 100, editor David Remnick outlines the 100-year-old magazine’s rigorous and meticulous fact-checking workflow — a process that he says in the documentary has been compared to a colonoscopy. To Remnick, it’s worth the effort: “I want The New Yorker to be two things,” he says in the film. “I want it to be great. I want it to be humane.”
Those two goals are shared by most journalists — whether via a rigorous investigation that runs in print, an enlightening broadcast that airs onscreen, or a photograph that’s seen all over the world and makes an impact for generations to come.
These documentaries introduce the editors, writers, photojournalists, freelance correspondents, and billionaire bosses behind the media outlets that deliver the news (and sometimes make headlines themselves). Stream these movies and shows to embed yourself in the newsroom while on deadline or on the ground of a breaking news story.
Meet Seymour Hersh, the investigative journalist who has exposed some of the most unconscionable events that were covered up by the US government, including the My Lai massacre of women, children, and the elderly during the Vietnam War, and the torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, t his documentary recounts the career and legacy of the Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter — a thrilling story told through first-person interviews, plus stacks of Hersh’s own meticulous notes, primary documents, and archival footage.
Rupert Murdoch built an empire that includes print publications like the New York Post and TV news networks like Fox News. This four-part docuseries charts the rise of the media mogul and the expanse of his legacy, as well as the contentious family dynamics between Murdoch and the potential heirs of the multibillion-dollar business. Directed by Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?), the film includes interviews with more than a dozen journalists, as the Murdochs frequently make news themselves.
This documentary tells the story of the prolific writer who helped pioneer the style of New Journalism and memorably captured California’s culture. The film explores her remarkable body of work, from her early-career political journalism to her later autobiographical books, and it features appearances by Harrison Ford, Anna Wintour, Tom Brokaw, Vanessa Redgrave, among others. The film’s warm and inviting tone is a credit to director Griffin Dunne, Didion’s nephew, who refers to the literary icon as Aunt Joan.
The New Yorker has long been renowned for the journalism, literary fiction, covers, and cartoons that have defined a century of cultural discourse. In this documentary, editor David Remnick and his staff offer a rare peek inside the magazine’s headquarters as they work toward one of their most important deadlines yet: the 100th anniversary issue. Julianne Moore narrates the film, which also features notable New Yorker fans Jesse Eisenberg, Ronny Chieng, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Molly Ringwald.
Dan Rather has covered countless historic moments as they happened — reporting from the front lines of the Civil Rights movement, on the scene at John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and in person at the foot of the Berlin Wall as it fell. The broadcast journalist and nightly news anchor was frequently the person America turned to for truth, especially in turbulent times and harrowing headlines. In this documentary, the 92-year-old Rather reflects on his seven-decade career.
What's the origin of the iconic Vietnam War photograph The Terror of War? The Pulitzer Prize–winning piece of photojournalism is also known as Napalm Girl and famously depicts a 9-year-old girl named Phan Thi Kim Phuc heartbreakingly running from an attack on a South Vietnam village. Director Bao Nguyen (The Greatest Night in Pop) follows acclaimed conflict photographer Gary Knight and a small team of journalists as they tirelessly investigate the authorship of the era-defining image.
This docuseries is the real-life version of Nightcrawler, the gritty thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a stringer who seeks out late-night events to film and sell to local TV news stations. These eight episodes follow three rival freelancers as they scour the streets of Los Angeles at night to capture footage of crime scenes, fires, accidents, high-speed chases, and anything else they can sell to news outlets.
