Film making at The New York Times

A new 4-part documentary for broadcast on Showtime beginning this Sunday portrays The New York Times coverage of year-one of the Trump Administration as an epic, nearly messianic struggle. "The Fourth Estate," by Academy award nominated director Liz Garbus, is something of a familiar American journalism narrative about the battle waged by earnest, exhausted reporters investigating a hostile, monolithic institution of power. This one, however, has the added impact of immediacy, given the story is still unfolding. It also has the most darkly compelling script in the history of modern politics, written in real time by today’s leader of the free world. As Times Managing Editor often declares during the film, it’s a “big story.”

The Times screened Part One last night at its landmark headquarters building which makes plenty of magisterial, scene-setting appearances in the film. Afterward, a few of the featured players took Q&A. They expressed their self-consciousness and confessed early misgivings about the project when it was proposed in late 2015. Yet, no one disagreed with Washington Correspondent Michael Schmidt (who initially refused to cooperate) that it was important to "tell our story." Washington Bureau chief Elizabeth Bumiller acknowledged the process was, at times, overwhelming. Like the other featured players, cameras followed her every footstep from home to car to the Times’ intimate, loft-like Washington bureau newsroom. Maggie Haberman, whose Twitter followers rival Trump’s, revealed how the job has taken a toll on her family. Haltingly, she recalled her 12-year-old son’s email to her in the early-morning hours of November 9th demanding to know: "How could this happen?"