By Jan Wahl –
The documentary Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink is now streaming on PBS through the end of the year, and I highly recommend it. Watching this film, viewers follow journalists as they battle vulture capitalist hedge funds. These hedge funds buy up local newspapers and gut their staff and resources. Finally, I understand what a hedge fund does!
Rick Goldsmith’s full-length documentary exposes the strategy behind the closure of hundreds of newspapers across the country. It shows how hedge funds actually drain newspapers rather than save them. Now it all makes sense to me. But it is as sad as our disgusting prez, reminding that a crucial connection is cut off whenever newspapers go out of business. Since 2005, more than 3,200 U.S. print newspapers have shut down or merged, so support this newspaper all you can! We Bay Area residents desperately need it.
I take my hat off to narrative films that remind us of the importance of newspapers. 1976’s All the President’s Men is the true tale of two Washington Post reporters who uncover the Watergate break-in and bring down a sitting president. A web of corruption, surveillance, and dirty tricks from the president’s office (sound familiar?) combined with detailed mechanics of investigative journalism make this a classic. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman were perfectly cast, and deepthroat took on a new meaning.
Spotlight (2015) gets the boots-on-the-ground drudgery of journalism. In this biographical drama, a Boston Globe team uncovers the Catholic Church child sexual abuse scandal. The reporters trace it all from Boston to the Vatican. Denial, outrage, and religious pressure all move swiftly together, while the reporters knock on locked doors and build their case one piece at a time. Spotlight reveals why the team at the Globe won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
A special hats off to the San Francisco Bay Times. It is an honor to write for this paper, and for you.
Jan Wahl is a Hollywood historian and film critic on various broadcast outlets. She has two Emmys and many awards for her longtime work on behalf of film buffs and the LGBTQ community. Contact her at www.janwahl.com
Off the Wahl
Published on October 9, 2025
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