The year is 1971 and the public news sector is dominated by the New York Times and its ability to retrieve the most relevant data about current issues that spark interest within the community, mainly the Nixon presidency and of course the Vietnam War efforts. Competing distributor The Washington Post is clearly on its last leg struggling to maintain capital income and funding due to their inability to source fresh and groundbreaking coverage. Tom Hanks stars as Ben Bradlee, The Washington Post's executive editor who is searching for ways to keep his team motivated in uncovering the latest news and is placed under even more pressure when he learns The New York Times has just published an incredible story based on what would become known as The Pentagon Papers, a massive department of defense top secret war study that was stolen and leaked to one of the Times' journalists. The story couldn't have broke in a more untimely moment as The Washington Post's owner Katherine Graham, played by Meryl Streep, is diligently preparing stock market strategies and hobnobbing with funders who already consider her unfit and incapable of successfully running the printing company her deceased husband left to her. The Washington Post receives a chance to break back into the spotlight when an anonymous box of papers is delivered to their offices, although the NY Times already has this information. The Times was court ordered to refrain from publishing anymore articles lending more time to Hanks' assistant editor Ben Bagdikian to finally track down the original leaker of the top secret documents, Daniel Ellsberg.
It is race against time in the second half of the film and a moral dilemma for Katherine Graham as printing the story could severe her personal relations with the political leaders that have befriended her family since the Truman years. A key moment in the movie when Ben Bradlee asks Katherine Graham about publishing the information they have received from the leaks and if she is aware of the implications that will arise if they do decide to publish the story alludes to the importance and responsibility of the press. Ben Bradlee understands her political ties to the presidency and what it means to her and her family's social reputation if articles are printed which can damage the image of those particular political personas. It is at this time where the audience is reminded of what period in history the film takes place. The tremendous effort and amount of teamwork that is required to print a newspaper is highlighted in these moments from scouring the unfathomably large 4,000 page leaked war study, to the proof reading and editing to ensure legibility of the article, to the actual printing press operation, all the way to the final delivery of the papers is displayed in an awe-inspiring way that is trademark of Steven Spielberg movies. The scenes are presented in a way to not only impress the viewers but to contrast the way news is spread today in the age of technology which makes it possible to cut the delivery time substantially from the acquisition to consumption of info.
The Post is a movie released at the perfect time in our society when citizens want to be informed of what is going on around them and sometimes the news itself is not as important as the credibility of the news that is being produced. Consuming information from an unreliable source will only breed confusion among those that spread it. The right to creating news content is critical in our society and should be exercised with the people's well being in mind because as expressed by Katherine Graham, the press has a responsibility to the people and not protecting the politicians. I recommend The Post to anyone who is concerned with the way news media is created and distributed or anyone who would like another example of the role the news media plays in only a society.