Obnoxious Hollywood journalists (part two)

Earlier I blogged about how the ridiculous portrayal of a newspaper reporter on a recent episode of The Closer drove me nuts. When I asked some journalist friends about the Hollywood depictions of journalism that make them cringe, they came up with plenty of examples.

>Stopping the presses. "I think the most exaggerated nonaspect of journalism in Hollywood is the whole notion of stopping the presses," said former Honolulu reporter Gene Park, citing the 1994 film, The Paper, "which featured a big red button that would stop the presses."
   "As a former editor and reporter, I've never heard anyone yell 'Stop the presses!' But I can't count how many times I've been asked in barroom conversations, 'So have you ever yelled to stop the presses?'"

>Special Access. Gene was also irritated by a scene in the film Dragon Wars, when the hero needed to talk to someone in the hospital, but was being denied access. The hero flashed his press badge, and was allowed to pass.
  That's something that doesn't happen in real life.
  "It totally feeds this perception that we have some sort of special privileges the general public doesn't have. Well guess what, we ARE the general public too," he said.

>Fat paychecks. "Sally Field's apartment was way too nice and expensive for a reporter in Absence of Malice (1981). Same with Sarah Jessica Parker's apartment in Sex in the City," noted Honolulu columnist Lee Cataluna.

>Ethics. Honolulu blogger and journalist Ian Lind was troubled by a premise of last year's State of Play, in which an investigative journalist is a close personal friend of the subject of his investigation.
  "That personal connection grows in importance but, while acknowledged as bothersome, doesn't derail his involvement," Ian said.

>No notes, no first drafts. "They never take notes. Clint Eastwood didn't take a single note in True Crime," Lee said. Plus, she said, movie journalists always seem to be fighting with their editors and are never shown writing, "only asking questions and slamming down the phone."
  Ian thought it was odd that in State of Play the journalists spent weeks digging up newsworthy information but never took time to write their stories.
  "The developing story doesn't get lawyered, and then in the final minutes of the movie, after deadline and with the presses being held, they somehow sit down and write stories that appear to fill the entire newspaper, no edits, no rewrites, no slowdown for graphics, layout, lawyering, etc.," he said.
 
>Going "live." "TV reporters can magically 'go live' without satellite trucks or dishes or even electrical power, like Jane Fonda in The China Syndrome and Michelle Pfeiffer in Up Close and Personal," Lee said.

>Cameos. Former Maui editor and current Sacramento reporter Anthony Pignataro's biggest pet peeve is seeing real-life journalists play themselves in TV shows or movies, like CNN's Bernard Shaw in Contact.
  "It's creepy and weird and, in my opinion, further blurs the distinction between news and entertainment that's already pretty shaky to begin with," he said.

And here are some of the Hollywood cliches that irritate me the most:

• A press conference where the hero makes an inspiring speech and the assembled journalists stand and applaud (which I know happened in one of those meteor-streaking-toward earth movies that came out a couple years ago).
  
• Reporters as vultures, like they enjoy approaching the family of an accident or crime victim to ask for comment (Law & Order: SVU). I've had to make those terrible phone calls, and I had to throw up. It's the worst part of the job.
  
• The sexy young female reporter who jumps into bed with the powerful man she's been sent to interview (Iron Man). Conveniently, the interview is in his home, hotel room or limo.
  

I don't like seeing wildly inaccurate portrayals of journalists in movies and on TV, because I think it's a big part of the reason why so many people have contempt for the profession. Most people never see how a real journalist does his or her job, so they get their ideas from Hollywood. But I also agree with Gene who says he understands that entertainment requires something sensational -- "and it's rare that a journalist's life is ever as exciting as a film exec would demand."