Post #3

Ethics and Sensationalism in Five Star Final

"Bad news sells papers."

    While watching the 1931 film “Five Star Final,” I reflected on how journalists' obligation to their readers can sometimes come second to profit. The movie focuses on Joseph Randall, the New York Evening Gazette's managing editor, who feels pressure from the publisher to increase sales. Randall is then forced to send reporter T. Vernon Isopod to investigate a murder case that happened twenty years before in order to gain new readers. The murder case involves a woman named Nancy Voorhees who has been able to rebuild her life and has been living peacefully with her family. In order to make money off of this story, the newspaper exposes Ms. Voorhees’ past to create a spectacle. As new evidence continues to surface during the investigation, the devastating impact on the Voorhees family continues to increase.

    I was struck by how much this movie illustrates the concept of yellow journalism discussed in class. The staff of the newspaper clearly focuses on dramatic headline and shocking details to attract more readers. Their primary concern is generating more circulation rather than providing accurate and fair news. This strongly illustrates to me that journalism can easily turn from providing information to using people’s lives for entertainment. Watching the editors knowingly go after a harmful story helped me to see how significant ethical decision-making is to the profession of journalism.

The newsroom staff gathered around Joseph Randall, reacting to a breaking story

    This film also got me thinking about how powerful newspaper institutions were in the past. The characters in this film all shared traits with today's press barons, controlling what information goes public, with emphasis on profitability and competition. As I observed their decisions, I kept reflecting upon how much power journalists actually have in determining the stories they publish and the way the stories are framed. Ultimately, it made me consider the implications of having this power used responsibly; but, it also made me think about how it could be abused if financial success always took precedence over reporting the truth.

    One other thing that stood out about the film for me was the lack of ethical considerations made by characters in regards to the subjects they wrote about. Journalists have a responsibility to present accurate information as well as to reduce the amount of harm that their writing may bring to an individual. The reporters from Five Star Final recognize the harmful and damaging effects that Nancy’s story may continue to inflict, but yet they keep searching for new information about her past. Watching these scenes made me feel uncomfortable, as it illustrated how far the search for an interesting story may impact a reporter’s feelings of empathy or compassion for another human. At times, I found myself evaluating if any character in the film had really considered the effect of their reporting prior to publishing their stories.

    At the conclusion of the movie, we see how unethical journalism can have very negative implications. The newspaper chose to pursue sensationalism over reporting ethical, legitimate news and ultimately caused Nancy and her husband's destruction. For me, this ending really illustrated the treacherous power of irresponsible journalism. The consequences of reporting a story entail not only the headline, but real individuals whom the publication may cause to suffer as a result of its publication.

    Entertainment-wise, I was left with a lot to think about in terms of how the world of ethical journalism has changed since Five Star Final was created more than 80 years ago (1931). However this film applies to
today’s media (and the ethical journalism that exists today), it was a constant reminder that all media has a responsibility to balance the public's right to know, with compassion for the people they’re reporting about, and respect for the people involved in the story across all parts of the story, including both the reporters and the persons being reported about.