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Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Truth (2015)

The film concerns 60 Minutes’s 2004 pre-election reporting on George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard. Two documents central to the news program’s contention that Bush was granted preferential treatment were subsequently revealed to be almost certainly fraudulent. This error ultimately resulted in the retirement from CBS of Dan Rather (played here with likable understatement by Robert Redford) and the firing of Mary Mapes (played by Cate Blanchett) and others.
This is unfortunately held up as championing a free press, when in fact it comes across as a bit of self-aggrandizing with a touch of paranoia. 
It came out before the current president carried out a full on assault on the press, questioning the legitimacy of the truth.  Since 2015, when the movie was released, the president of the United States has literally lied thousands of times on the record.  When will it end?  Will the free press survive this?  Time will tell.

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