Local NBC anchor Fay Fredricks spoke to about 100 Walter Cronkite School students about the challenges that come with working on a morning newscast before introducing a special advanced screening of Paramount Pictures’ new film “Morning Glory” Tuesday evening.
The film is the latest in a long line of movies built around the difficulties of working in the field of journalism, and Fredricks said that a big part of why these films tend to click with people outside the journalism field is because of the unique people often drawn to the profession.
Journalism “is filled with people who have big personalities. It takes a unique person to want to do this job,” Fredricks said.
The film itself depicts a brash conflict when veteran news anchorman Mike Pomeroy, played in a Cronkite-like growl by Harrison Ford, is forced into a failing morning show alongside Diane Keaton’s Colleen Peck. Fredricks said a big part of the drama of working in a newsroom really does come from the differences in opinion that arise even over the smallest issues.
“There’s a push and pull,” Fredricks said. “And maybe one person loves politics and another loves cars and another one loves entertainment, and it is the mesh of those personalities and what ends up coming out is the finished product.”
With films like George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck” and Alan Pakula’s “All the President’s Men,” there is a distinct seriousness to the job. “Morning Glory” is much more comical in its portrayal of the work environment.
Fredricks said life in the actual newsroom is oftentimes both comical and serious, though there’s a distinct difference from one and the other.
“When the news warrants it, it’s a deadly serious place, but when there’s room to have fun and enjoy it, we do,” Fredricks said. “And what we’re covering sets the tone. You’re not going to be laughing and joking on a day that there is a disaster happening. You’re just not — you don’t feel it and the audience doesn’t feel it.”
Also in attendance at the screening was Cronkite Director of Digital Outreach Programs Dave Cornelius, whose background in production includes a comprehensive history building news programs for local high schools. Cornelius said that a big part of what makes journalism so captivating for audiences is the mystery that often surrounds the process and the problems that come up when developing stories.
“People don’t understand what news is really all about and all of the work that goes into it, and we try so hard as news people to make things happen,” Cornelius said. “When we cover the stories we sometimes make mistakes, and sometimes we blur the lines between what’s hard news and what’s entertainment news.”
Fredricks joked that it would be pretty tough to actually describe the 12 News broadcast as any one type of movie.
“I don’t know if there’s a movie that’s the 12 News newsroom — that might be frightening,” Fredricks said.
Fredricks said that a real issue that movies like “Morning Glory” deal well with is the constant battle between how much workers decide to reveal of their personal lives to the public and how much to leave for their own privacy.
“There is a certain line everybody draws around their private life, saying ‘This is what I’m willing to talk about my private life publicly,’ but there’s also that line in the sand that is, ‘This is my private life. I need you to respect it,’” Fredricks said.
Students said they were thrilled with the event overall, with many leaving the theater talking about how accurately it portrayed a lot of the challenges they faced in the journalism workplace.
“It was fair in how it showed what news can be,” journalism freshman Shannon Napodano said. “It was glamorized, but the stress that you saw in Rachel McAdams’ character — it’s what we can expect and what I think we’ll have to go through.”
Journalism freshman Erin Kennedy said the film brought up topics that she had been discussing in her classes at the Cronkite School.
“I thought it touched on the difference between entertainment and serious news, and we’re discussing that in class right now — the debate about whether you want the really hard news or the more entertainment side, and here it had a balance,” Kennedy said.
Contact the reporter at vburnton@asu.edu
