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The 25 Best Journalism Movies

The 25 Best Journalism Movies

Journalism, at its best, is an ethical vehicle for relaying facts and revealing the truth. Films about journalism can highlight the struggles that reporters go through to bring their work to light. All too often, however, there are people behind the scenes that would prefer that the facts be buried, and that, too, can make for a captivating movie.

To determine the best journalism movies, 24/7 Tempo developed an index using average ratings on  IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon, and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, as of August 2022, weighting all ratings equally. Only movies that center on a journalist protagonist or deal with journalism as a theme were included in the resulting ranking. (Documentaries were not considered.)

Political spectacles dominate the films, from the sex scandal cover-up in “Wag the Dog” to the dismantling of Mccartheyism in “Good Night and Good Luck.” Multiple films explore the Watergate scandal, including “All the President’s Men,” and “Frost/Nixon,” the latter directed by famous child actor-turned-director Ron Howard. (Here are the best and worst movies directed by famous actors.)

Multiple films are dramatizations of the struggles of real-life war correspondents, including Sydney Schanberg, who covered the Cambodian Civil War, and Richard Boyle, a photojournalist who reported on the civil war in El Salvador. Another war film, “Reds,” recounts the romance between Louise Bryant and John Reed, two U.S. radicals who documented the Russian Revolution.
Journalists may come up against attempts to silence them – sometimes from within their own networks, as dramatized in “The Insider,” which stars Al Pacino as Lowell Bergman, a 60 Minutes producer who battled CBS and the tobacco industry to air his story.

Some films portray unscrupulous reporters that use deception for personal or political gain. The neo-noir film “Nightcrawler,” for example, follows a sociopathic stringer who goes too far in order to obtain shocking crime footage. While many of the movies are biographical or historical dramas, the films also include thrillers, satire, romance, and comedy. (Here are the 25 best political comedies in movie history.)

Source: Courtesy of New Line Cinema

25. Wag The Dog (1997)
> IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (81,359 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 76% (44,627 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 86% (76 reviews)
> Directed by: Barry Levinson

When a presidential sex scandal hits the airwaves just weeks before the election, a top aide calls on the help of a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer to fabricate a war in Albania that will distract the nation and improve the president’s chances of reelection.

Source: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

24. The Post (2017)
> IMDb user rating: 7.2/10 (143,224 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 73% (12,473 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (404 reviews)
> Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Set in 1971, this historical drama recounts the Washington Post’s fight for freedom of the press as the publisher attempted to report leaked information from the Pentagon Papers, detailing U.S military involvement in Southeast Asia from the 1940s to the Vietnam War.

Source: Courtesy of MGM/UA Entertainment Company

23. The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
> IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (20,596 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 77% (8,670 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (32 reviews)
> Directed by: Peter Weir

Set in Indonesia during the reign of Sukarno, the country’s first president, this romantic drama is about an Australian reporter and a local photographer who navigate politics, friendship, and love on the eve of an attempted coup.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

22. The Parallax View (1974)
> IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (17,387 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 78% (5,228 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (38 reviews)
> Directed by: Alan J. Pakula

After a television reporter witnesses the assassination of a presidential candidate in Seattle, she notices that other witnesses are mysteriously dying and fears that she will be killed next. She turns to her old flame, a newspaper reporter who picks up the mantle to uncover who is behind the conspiracy.

Source: Courtesy of Focus Features

21. The Constant Gardener (2005)
> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (136,612 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (217,637 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 84% (194 reviews)
> Directed by: Fernando Meirelles

Based on a novel by John le Carré, this drama-thriller involves a British diplomat in Kenya who is attempting to untangle a suspicious web of facts surrounding the death of his wife, an Amnesty International activist who was reporting on local fatalities caused by a trial pharmaceutical drug.

Source: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

20. The China Syndrome (1979)
> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (28,805 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 81% (8,922 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 86% (36 reviews)
> Directed by: James Bridges

After witnessing a near-disastrous equipment malfunction at a nuclear power plant, a TV reporter and her cameraman attempt to report on the safety coverup, but are impeded by the conspiracy to keep it under wraps.

Source: Courtesy of CP Classics

19. Shattered Glass (2003)
> IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (34,559 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 79% (22,995 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (168 reviews)
> Directed by: Billy Ray

A dramatization of the true story of Stephen Glass, this film details the unraveling of a popular young journalist’s career as it becomes evident that he has completely fabricated numerous stories for The New Republic magazine.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

18. Zodiac (2007)
> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (496,334 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 77% (494,558 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (259 reviews)
> Directed by: David Fincher

In a slightly fictionalized retelling of the manhunt for San Francisco’s infamous Zodiac Killer, this mystery thriller follows an amateur sleuth as he helps reporters decipher the killer’s coded messages during years of unsolved murders.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

17. Reds (1981)
> IMDb user rating: 7.3/10 (21,959 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (9,006 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (45 reviews)
> Directed by: Warren Beatty

An epic historical drama, “Reds” is a dramatization of the lives of radical American journalists Louise Bryant and John Reed, who juggled their passion for one another with their desire to change the world, eventually traveling to Russia to document the Revolution.

Source: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

16. Broadcast News (1987)
> IMDb user rating: 7.2/10 (29,079 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 79% (11,036 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (52 reviews)
> Directed by: James L. Brooks

When a passionate television news producer falls for a new pretty-boy reporter, her best friend, a well-seasoned but socially awkward news anchor, develops a professional and romantic rivalry with the newcomer.

Source: Courtesy of Hemdale

15. Salvador (1986)
> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (20,466 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (8,547 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (27 reviews)
> Directed by: Oliver Stone

Co-written by Richard Boyle, a U.S. photojournalist who covered the Salvadoran Civil War, this historical drama depicts Boyle as he attempts to help his former girlfriend and her children escape El Salvador while rebels battle a military dictatorship and innocent people pay the price.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Independent Pictures

14. Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (96,071 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 83% (142,741 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (226 reviews)
> Directed by: George Clooney

This historical drama chronicles the dedication of journalist Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred Friendly in taking down the fearmongering anti-communist senator Joseph McCarthy during the height of the Second Red Scare.

Source: Courtesy of United Artists

13. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (19,743 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 81% (6,923 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (42 reviews)
> Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

A black-and-white spy thriller, “Foreign Correspondent” follows an American reporter on assignment in London as he attempts to uncover an extensive European spy ring on the eve of World War II.

Source: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

12. Frost/Nixon (2008)
> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (105,809 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 88% (109,887 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (259 reviews)
> Directed by: Ron Howard

Based on a play by Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon” recounts the famous interviews of Richard Nixon that took place three years after his resignation, highlighting the proficiency of the young talk-show host that succeeded in coaxing the former president into opening up about the Watergate scandal.

Source: Courtesy of Open Road Films

11. Nightcrawler (2014)
> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (495,525 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (86,557 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (274 reviews)
> Directed by: Dan Gilroy

When an unscrupulous petty thief begins documenting crimes and graphic accidents to sell footage to a local news station, he starts partaking in the scenes in order to get the best shots and a higher payout.

Source: Courtesy of DreamWorks Distribution

10. Almost Famous (2000)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (264,947 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (325,177 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (174 reviews)
> Directed by: Cameron Crowe

“Almost Famous” follows a teenage journalist in the ’70s who accompanies a touring rock band in order to write a feature article for Rolling Stone magazine, and learns a lot more than he’d expected during his time on the road.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

9. The Killing Fields (1984)
> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (55,512 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (10,000 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (43 reviews)
> Directed by: Roland Joffé

This biographical drama recounts the horrendous period in Cambodia’s history when the Khmer Rouge killed over a million people, through the stories of two journalists – one American and one Cambodian – who put their lives in danger to cover the war.

Source: Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

8. The Insider (1999)
> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (166,006 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (59,252 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (137 reviews)
> Directed by: Michael Mann

In this fictionalized account of real events, Al Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, a CBS producer who takes on his network and the tobacco industry as he fights to air the story of a former tobacco company executive turned whistleblower.

Source: Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

7. Network (1976)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (152,343 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (36,416 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (70 reviews)
> Directed by: Sidney Lumet

This satirical black comedy concerns a news network with poor ratings as they fire a former star newscaster, only to exploit his deranged on-air reaction as ratings once again begin to soar.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

6. Ace in the Hole (1951)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (33,886 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (6,223 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (38 reviews)
> Directed by: Billy Wilder

When a cynical reporter whose career is in decline takes a job at a small New Mexico newspaper, he’ll do anything to restore his name to glory – including stalling the rescue efforts of a man stuck in a collapsed cliff dwelling in order to create a national media sensation.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

5. All the President’s Men (1976)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (109,442 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (50,360 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (65 reviews)
> Directed by: Alan J. Pakula

Based on a non-fiction book of the same name by journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, this biographical thriller details the investigation of two Washington Post reporters into Watergate and the events that would lead to Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Source: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

4. His Girl Friday (1940)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (56,106 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (24,333 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (67 reviews)
> Directed by: Howard Hawks

This screwball comedy stars Cary Grant as a newspaper editor who does everything in his power to retain his star reporter (who happens to be his ex-wife), and keep her from squandering her talent by marrying an insurance agent and becoming a housewife.

Source: Courtesy of United Artists

3. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (30,043 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (6,974 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (53 reviews)
> Directed by: Alexander Mackendrick

When an influential New York reporter finds out that his sister is dating a jazz musician, he enlists a sleazy press agent to ruin his sister’s relationship by publishing unsavory, fabricated stories about her beau.

Source: Courtesy of Open Road Films

2. Spotlight (2015)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (442,521 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (70,627 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (375 reviews)
> Directed by: Tom McCarthy

This biographical drama portrays the true story of a team of journalists at the Boston Globe who investigate numerous allegations of child molestation by local Catholic priests and discover just how deep the corruption and cover-ups go.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (422,500 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (159,588 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (117 reviews)
> Directed by: Orson Welles

“Citizen Kane” – often ranked as one of the greatest American films of all time – is the story of a reporter’s quest to decipher the dying words of a millionaire media tycoon, uncovering the details of his fortune, his rise to fame, and his eventual decline.

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