Five-Star Movie

 

Yellow journalism has had such such a large impact on American society that it has made it's way into becoming the theme of many movies and cultural elements. 

Five Star Final, 1931, is a prime example of this. 

This movie follows a journalist named Joseph W. Randall, who is played by Edward G. Robinson, in New York. He is forced to find and publish a sensational story to get the company more sales from his publisher. 

His publisher presents Randall with an assignment, to revisit a closed case of a young woman accused of murdering her lover and forced into hiding. The story starts with Randall finding the woman, Nancy, with her daughter and new husband, who are unaware of Nancy's past.  

Randall succumbs to the pressure of his publisher and pursues the story, even though it goes against his morals. 

This film surrounds the idea of morales in journalism and Randall himself debates his guilty conscious and the opinions of other's in his life. Morals and ethics is something that is presented multiple times throughout the film, in both a media sense and a personal sense with Randall having to figure out what the right decision is.

The film was particularly interesting since it dove into the personal consequences of yellow journalism, a concept which I'm familiar with.  

We've seen the consequences of yellow journalism on a national scale, with the Spanish-American war. But seeing examples on how it impacted people's personal lives and reputation was extremely interesting. 

Seeing how Randall had the power to ruin Nancy's life - and unfortunately drive her and her husband suicide - shows how much power the media hold in our community. 

This film showed me how yellow journalism has always played a significant role in American society, affecting everything from internal political affairs to individual people. 

This movie reminded me of gossip columns that have recently circulated in our society. 

Journalists have an ethical responsibility to not cause harm in their reporting but yellow journalism and gossip magazines do exactly that. 

Which calls the question that those without ethics - and purposefully cause harm - could ever truly be considered true journalists?