Oh, shut up.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2003 8:57 pm

From a retrospective on "Front Page" on, where else, Poynter:[I]The play has been called the Rosetta stone of journalism, the key to figuring out the hieroglyphics and high jinks of a strange craft. It's also in many ways a theatrical Rorschach test. While most journalists and kindred spirits applaud the anarchic antics and comic cynicism involved in covering a big story, others find the irresponsibility and devotion to sensationalism an affirmation of their complaints ....[/]***Please.***

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2003 4:20 am

using "Rosetta stone" and "Rorschach test" in the same graf earns a double bonus, doesn't it?using "hieroglyphics" and "high jinks" in the same clause earns ... well, never mind.

pampellfw · **Joined:** Thu Apr 25, 2002 12:01 am **Posts:** 38

But if you take out the fancy language, do you agree with his point or not? I don't know, I'm just asking.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2003 12:56 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by pampellfw:
But if you take out the fancy language, do you agree with his point or not? I don't know, I'm just asking.<hr></blockquote>No. "The Front Page" is a stage comedy. I enjoyed the filmed version. At no time did I consider it either an affirmation or an affront to newspaper work.

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2003 4:40 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by pampellfw:
But if you take out the fancy language, do you agree with his point or not? I don't know, I'm just asking.<hr></blockquote>While tales of the play's authorship are convoluted and in dispute, it's safe to say it was written by a few guys with love/hate relationships with the biz. The hate part was strong in one or two of them.There's always been plenty of love and hate for the business within and outside it. The public's view of it these days is probably far dimmer than when the play and the industry were in the limelight. The characters' worst traits pale against what many assume of today's reporters and editors.

majorbabs · **Posted:** Tue Aug 19, 2003 3:06 pm

Actually, I prefer "Switching Channels" which -- while focusing on the broadcast industry -- is an update of "The Front Page." It says a lot of good things about being in the news business.And it's got Burt Reynolds without a Trans Am in sight.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 19, 2003 5:20 pm

The best depiction of the business may be "The Newsroom," Ken Finkleman's cynical masterpiece out of Canada in the '90s, which aired here briefly on PBS.

Testy Copy Editors

Oh, shut up.

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