Hollywood Can’t Handle the Truth

There are many things that real people do to become the subject of sympathetic movies. Make a flawless emergency landing in the Hudson River with a disabled passenger jet full of passengers. 

Survive a devastating storm atop Mount Everest. Become the most lethal sniper in the history of the U.S. military. Before the advent of the movie Truth, no one would have thought broadcasting a shoddy and immediately discredited report that ruined the careers of the journalists involved and gave their storied network a black eye would make the list.

Truth is All the President’s Men for reporters who botched their story about the president. 

In their perversely titled film, Robert Redford plays Dan Rather and Cate Blanchett plays Mary Mapes, the erstwhile CBS News anchor and producer who collaborated on a spectacularly flawed September 2004 story about George W. Bush’s National Guard service. Their report should be taught at journalism schools for a long time to come as an object lesson in how not to attempt journalism.

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