Journalists on screen: An exalted calling or unscrupulous figures looking for a scoop?

As Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as the ‘New York Times’ journalists who brought down Harvey Weinstein in ‘She Said’, which receives its UK premiere at the London Film Festival next month, Geoffrey Macnab looks at the extreme ambivalence Hollywood feels when it comes to depicting hacks in films

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as the ‘New York Times’ journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor in ‘She Said’ (Universal Pictures)

In her autobiographical novel Heartburn, Nora Ephron famously describes the character based on her ex-husband Carl Bernstein as “being capable of having sex with a Venetian blind”.

It wasn’t a good look for Bernstein. In addition to being Ephron’s spouse, he was also the investigative reporter who, together with his colleague Bob Woodward at The Washington Post, brought down US President Richard Nixon. In the movie All The President’s Men (1976), adapted from the duo’s 1974 book about the Watergate scandal, the then-unknown reporter was portrayed by Dustin Hoffman as “sceptical, hungry” and “insatiably curious” in the words of one reviewer. Now, his ex-wife was describing him with his trousers down. In the 1986 Mike Nichols adaptation of Heartburn, he was played by Jack Nicholson as a charming but lecherous figure who cheats on his pregnant wife.

These two contrasting portrayals sum up perfectly the extreme ambivalence Hollywood feels when it comes to depicting journalists on screen. Either they are idealistic conquering heroes, or they are consummate sleazeballs. She Said, a UK premiere at the London Film Festival next month, is one of several recent features to cast reporters in an idealised light. The film, made by German director Maria Schrader, follows The New York Times’ Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor – played by Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, respectively – as they investigate movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault scandal.