US journalists ask the Drum to help publicise newspaper crisis film
A group of laid-off top flight American journalists is close to finishing a feature-length documentary on the crisis in the U.S. newspaper industry and the impact of cuts and closures on investigative reporting.
Now the film makers have appealed to the Drum to spread the word and help raise the $10,000 needed to complete the film, entitled Fit to Print.
The lead film maker is Adam Chadwick, a former staffer at The New York Times laid-off in 2009.
Chadwick tells the Drum, "I have been working on this film for three years. It examines newspapers all across the U.S. and the threat to local watchdog reporting as staffs and resources are cut.
"This film is being made on a shoestring budget by myself and other former newspaper staffers, hoping to give voice to the thousands of newsroom employees laid-off over the past several years."
Despite the current gloom, highlighted this week by the decision in New Orleans to go thrice-weekly with the Times-Picayune instead of daily, Chadwick says there is light at the end of the tunnel for the industry through organisations such as ProPublica, Voice of San Diego and other start-ups.
In a promo clip from the film are David Barstow from the The New York Times, Bob Kaiser from The Washington Post, Laura Frank from the now defunct Rocky Mountain News "and other great journalists from across the United States," says Chapman.
The film includes interviews with reporters, staff members, and media experts within several major U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, among others.
Through interviews with former executives at the leading newspaper companies, the film illustrates a change in business practices, beginning in the 1960s. , says Chadwick.
"Newspapers became less a public service than a business enterprise designed to please stockholders.
Reporters, editors and photographers - only a few of the over 15,000 newspaper layoffs since 2008 - get a chance to tell the public their stories. In addition, the film follow several laid off-investigative reporters as they attempt to publicise important watchdog stories.
Contact Adam Chadwick: adamgchadwick@gmail.com
Check out 'Fit to Print' on Facebook!