I was looking forward to seeing Page One – Inside the New York Times but I found it mostly dull and disappointing.
The fly-on-the-wall conversations between journalists seemed vague and even the daily story meetings lacked passion and urgency.
And what I really wanted to know – how the Times plans to survive in a digital age – was never really addressed. There was one scene where the Media Desk editor told a reporter “Don’t put that on the web yet.” In this case it was probably a good call (the story needed further work) but I was left wondering how, or if, the digital operation was integrated into the Times’ strategy and culture.
Times media reporter David Carr steals the show, with his intense, sardonic style, and staunch devotion to the paper. And his colleague Brian Stelter shows what the Times can do when it embraces tools such as Twitter.
Overall though, the tone was lethargic and uninspiring. I actually heard two people in the audience snoring.