Richard Crouse

This documentary spends much time trumpeting the New York Times’s storied past and making predictions for its uncertain future. What it doesn’t cover as well is the here and now. A portrait of a business deeply wounded by online news sources and an exodus of advertisers, it shows us an American tradition in flux. Luckily for them and for us, the New York Times may have no feistier proponent than David Carr, the central figure of the film. The passion the grizzled writer shows for the paper and its place in the history of journalism elevates the doc from infotainment puff piece to compelling argument for the survival of the analogue newspaper.