{"id":8153,"date":"2025-07-22T21:01:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/?p=8153"},"modified":"2026-01-18T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T04:12:00","slug":"movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/07\/movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism on the big screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most students at a journalism program expect to spend their time reporting, not watching movies. But instructor John Kupetz believes great films can teach just as much about journalism as any article.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kupetz kicks things off with a lively discussion and a few teaser questions about the film. Once the movie starts, the room falls silent as everyone settles in. After the credits roll, he fires off a pop trivia game where the prize is a shiny new dime and bragging rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kupetz shows \u201cCitizen Kane,\u201d \u201cAll the President\u2019s Men\u201d and \u201cSpotlight,\u201d films that reflect how journalism has changed over time and how that evolution reflects society. He believes they offer more than just history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a double lesson. You learn journalistic technique, like interviews in \u201cSpotlight\u201d and \u201cAll the President\u2019s Men,\u201d Kupetz said. \u201cYou also learn to read a film\u2019s language: lighting, camera angles blocking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He enjoys the discussions that follow. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting when you have 90 smart students seeing great art for the first time. I love hearing their reactions and letting them engage with each other,\u201d Kupetz said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kieran Blake, from Chicago, found a personal connection to the films, saying they helped shape his passion for both journalism and cinema. Watching them in Kupetz\u2019s class reminded him of how his love for storytelling began.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEver since sixth grade, when my dad showed me \u201cThe Godfather,\u201d I\u2019ve been obsessed with movies,\u201d Blake said. \u201cI actually watched \u2018All the President\u2019s Men\u2019 before doing my first school paper interview, and it really inspired my love of journalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Beatrice Sopko, from San Francisco, said the films reminded her of journalism\u2019s deeper mission. Having grown up watching classic movies with her family, she\u2019s always appreciated stories that carry meaning beyond entertainment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a warning about how easy it is to be manipulated by power and wealth in the journalism world,\u201d Sopko said. \u201cBut journalists must remember to seek the truth because the truth still matters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren\u2019t just period pieces,\u201d Kupetz said. \u201cThey\u2019re mirrors that reflect journalists\u2019 true values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Films like “Spotlight” and “Citizen Kane” show journalism\u2019s power, purpose and evolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":9255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[434],"class_list":["post-8153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":434,"user_id":241,"is_guest":0,"slug":"haileylloyd","display_name":"Hailey Lloyd","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbaaf83f476158328601594551986f445fd979fe4c6cd12a34b09283a2bb3976?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Lloyd","first_name":"Hailey","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8153"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10181,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8153\/revisions\/10181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8153"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}