Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Newsjunkie.net is a resource guide for journalists. We show who's behind the news, and provide tools to help navigate the modern business of information.
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1.5.2
1.5.2
On the Media, “Armed Only With a Camera”
This recent segment from WNYC Studio’s weekly radio show and podcast, On the Media, hosted by Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger, revisits the story behind Armed Only With a Camera, the Oscar-nominated documentary made by Craig Renaud after his brother, journalist Brent Renaud, was killed by Russian soldiers while covering the war in Ukraine in 2022 — the first American journalist to die in that conflict. When Craig learned Brent had been shot, he did what the brothers had always done together: he kept filming. Using that footage alongside years of shared archival material, Craig and producer Juan Arredondo created a film that is both a deeply personal tribute and a broader salute to war journalists still risking their lives to document conflict. In this conversation, Craig reflects on their early days in journalism and the bond that shaped their work, offering a moving reminder of the human cost behind frontline reporting. – PL
The Insider (1999) directed by Michael Mann
The Insider (1999), directed by Michael Mann, is a tense and morally driven journalism drama based on the true story of tobacco-industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman. The film chronicles Wigand’s decision to expose how major cigarette companies manipulated nicotine levels while concealing the health consequences, and it reveals the immense personal, legal, and corporate pressure that followed. More than a whistleblower thriller, The Insider is a powerful meditation on institutional power, newsroom politics, and the fragile line between truth-telling and self-preservation in broadcast journalism. Anchored by towering performances from Russell Crowe and Al Pacino, the film remains one of the most compelling portrayals of investigative reporting and the costs of speaking publicly against entrenched systems. – PL
Inside “The Noise War”: A field manual for journalists fighting disinformation
In Inside “The Noise War”: A Field Manual for Journalists Fighting Disinformation, national security correspondent J.J. Green joins E&P Reports host Mike Blinder to discuss his new book, The Noise War: How to Fight Disinformation and Find the Truth When Everything Is Lying to You, which frames modern journalism as being on the frontline of an information battle where lies spread faster than facts. Drawing on decades covering conflict zones and intelligence, Green argues that disinformation has evolved into a weaponized assault on truth that corrodes public trust and fractures societies, and he offers practical strategies for reporters—from “pre-bunking” expected false narratives before they spread to planning newsroom responses to coordinated attacks on credibility. His book is pitched not as theory but as a daily field manual for journalists navigating today’s chaotic media environment, where information overload can exhaust audiences and erode confidence in legitimate reporting. – PL
Channel 5 – Interview with Nick Shirley
In this episode of Channel 5, host Andrew Callaghan sits down with Nick Shirley, a YouTube creator known for confrontational, street-level interviews that probe political identity, internet radicalization, and youth culture. The conversation explores Shirley’s methods, motivations, and the ethical gray areas of viral man-on-the-street content, with Callaghan pushing on where provocation ends and journalism begins. Channel 5 is Callaghan’s independent media project—best known for immersive, unscripted reporting that documents American subcultures and political extremes with minimal narration—continuing the gonzo-adjacent approach that first gained attention under All Gas No Brakes. – PL
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone directed by Fred Peabody
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone is a bracing documentary built around the legacy of I.F. Stone, the fiercely independent American journalist who, during the Cold War, exposed government deception by painstakingly reading public records. Using Stone’s model as a throughline, the film profiles contemporary reporters working outside mainstream institutions, arguing that skeptical, document-driven journalism remains essential at a time when official narratives go too often unchallenged—and when the costs of challenging them are increasingly high. – PL
Breaking the News, directed by Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston, and Chelsea Hernandez
Breaking the News offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build a newsroom from scratch in a moment of deep upheaval for American journalism. The documentary follows the founding team of The 19th, a nonprofit news organization launched to cover politics, gender, and power with an explicit focus on communities long underserved by legacy media. Rather than centering on a single investigation, the film traces the day-to-day work of reporting, fundraising, and decision-making, revealing how editorial ideals collide with the practical realities of sustainability. Breaking the News is less a victory lap than a sober portrait of journalism in transition, making it essential viewing for anyone interested in how newsrooms are reimagining their role—and their survival—in the digital age. – PL
The New Yorker at 100 Directed by Marshall Curry
As The New Yorker marks its centennial, The New Yorker at 100 offers a rich, immersive look at one of America’s most influential magazines. The film traces the magazine’s evolution from its early satirical essays and cartoons to its enduring legacy in longform reporting, cultural criticism, and narrative journalism. Featuring interviews with current and former editors, writers, and cultural commentators, the program highlights defining moments in New Yorker history—legendary profiles, groundbreaking investigative work, and the editorial philosophy that prioritized depth over immediacy. More than a retrospective, The New Yorker at 100 invites viewers to consider the magazine’s role in shaping public discourse and the craft of journalism itself. It’s essential viewing for anyone fascinated by how storytelling and reporting intersect in a rapidly changing media landscape. – PL
Cover Up documentary film produced and directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus
Cover Up is the kind of journalism documentary that plays like a character study and a warning flare at the same time: it follows the career of legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh—the guy whose scoops helped expose atrocities and lies from My Lai to Abu Ghraib—and uses his decades-long fight with power as a lens on what it costs to keep digging when governments would rather you didn’t. The film doesn’t turn Hersh into a saint; it leans into his sharp edges, his stubbornness, and the messy, human mechanics of how major accountability reporting actually happens. It’s bracing, sometimes darkly funny, and weirdly energizing in an era when “cover-up” feels less like a plot point and more like a daily headline. Currently, in theater, streaming on Netflix Dec. 26. – PL
Citizenfour (2014) documentary film directed by Laura Poitras
Citizenfour is part newsroom thriller, part history-in-the-making. Director Laura Poitras drops viewers into the Hong Kong hotel room where Edward Snowden first meets journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill, and the film’s power comes from how ordinary the setting feels next to the scale of what’s being revealed: a global surveillance apparatus hiding in plain sight. There’s no heavy-handed narration, just the tight, tense choreography of phones being bagged, laptops being encrypted, and big decisions getting made in real time. Even if you think you already know the story, Citizenfour hits differently now—as a portrait of how information moves, how institutions protect themselves, and how quickly the line between “security” and public surveillance can blur. – PL
Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People
Joseph Pulitzer was a Jewish Hungarian immigrant who transformed American journalism and helped define the role of a free press in a democratic society. He lands on the shores of United States with little more than ambition and becomes a pioneering newspaper publisher, who’s innovations include investigative reporting, crusading editorials and a talent for mass-appeal storytelling and muckraking. You might know him from the Pulitzer Prize, still being awarded annually, but there’s much more to this visionary whose impact on the news continues to this day. -PL
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The Late Show With Stephen Colbert interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico
CBS declined to broadcast Stephen Colbert’s pre-taped interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico, reportedly over concerns about the FCC’s equal-time rule, but the conversation quickly found a second life online. In the interview, Talarico — a Democratic state legislator, former public school teacher, and Presbyterian seminarian — discusses what he calls the growing threat of Christian nationalism in Texas politics and argues that the fusion of religion and state power ultimately harms both democracy and the church. “There is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism,” he says, framing it as a pursuit of political power rather than a reflection of faith. The conversation arrives amid heated debates in the Texas Legislature over measures such as placing the Ten Commandments in public classrooms and expanding religious influence in public schools. Talarico positions himself as a faith-driven critic of those efforts, arguing that a strong separation of church and state protects religious freedom for everyone. That CBS hesitated to air the segment — even as it later posted the full interview online — only amplified the moment, underscoring the uneasy intersection of politics, media regulation, and late-night television in a particularly charged election year. – PL