The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from abridging freedom of the press. But, as the printed press has been transformed into mass media with Americans now more likely to get their political information from television or social media than from print, confidence in this important, mediating institution has fallen dramatically. Movies, in their role as cultural artifacts, have long reflected and influenced those public attitudes, inventing such iconic phrases as “follow the money” from All the President’s Men and “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore” from Network. Filming the First: Cinematic Portrayals of Freedom of the Press analyzes eighteen films that span from Citizen Kane to Spotlight showing changes in how the press have been portrayed over time, which voices receive the most attention and why, the relationship between the press’s “Fourth Estate” role and the imperatives of capitalism, and how, despite the First Amendment’s seemingly absolute language, the government has sometimes been able to limit what the public can read or view.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1. Censorship in a Time of War: Good Morning, Vietnam
By Helen J. Knowles-Gardner
Chapter 2. A Media Mogul Battles Against His Fictional Doppelganger: Citizen Kane and RKO 281
By Bruce E. Altschuler
Chapter 3. Heroic Newspaper Reporters, Editors, and Publishers Battle the President – All the President’s Men and The Post
By Bruce E. Altschuler
Chapter 4. Technology Transforms the Press into the Media: Network and The Social Network
By Bruce E. Altschuler
Chapter 5. “How Can We Possibly Approve and Check the Story…?”: Good Night, and Good Luck and The China Syndrome
By Helen J. Knowles-Gardner
Chapter 6. Testing the Limits of Freedom: Denial and Deliberate Intent
By Helen J. Knowles-Gardner
Chapter 7. Responsibility Matters: Shattered Glass
By Helen J. Knowles-Gardner
Chapter 8. Creating Protagonists, Competing Interests, and Uncertain Legal Standards: The People vs. Larry Flynt and Citizenfour
By Brandon T. Metroka
Chapter 9. A Tale of One Press Clause and Two Journalisms: Spotlight and Out in the Night
By Brandon T. Metroka
Chapter 10. Mainstream Press Negligence and its Effects: The Normal Heart and Tongues Untied
By Brandon T. Metroka