What does it take to build a newsroom now?
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BUILD A NEWSROOM NOW?
American journalism is being remade all around us.
Newsrooms are shrinking. Ownership is concentrating. Nonprofit outlets are trying to build new models. And questions about funding, representation, editorial independence, and public trust are becoming harder to separate from the basic work of reporting the news.
Our new release Breaking the News takes viewers inside one newsroom trying to navigate this rapidly shifting terrain and build itself up from the ground up in real time.
The award-winning documentary follows the launch of The 19th, an independent, nonprofit newsroom founded by women in 2020 to cover gender, politics, policy, and power.¹ Set against the pandemic, the 2020 election, and a nationwide reckoning over race, the film follows the outlet’s founders and the diverse group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists who join them as they assemble and launch a newsroom committed to covering people and issues too often overlooked by mainstream political journalism.
Breaking the News is an invaluable classroom resource at a time of extraordinary upheaval in American journalism. By going inside the launch of an independent newsroom, the film gives students a rare look at how editorial priorities are set, which stories get pursued, and whose experiences are treated as newsworthy. It also reveals how race, gender, class, funding, and institutional power shape newsroom decisions and influence the kind of reporting that reaches the public.
Breaking the News is available in multiple formats on our new streaming platform.
It’s also available as part of our new Premium Collection, which offers flexible subscription and permanent-access licensing options. To learn more about the MEF Premium Collection, contact Stephen Belcourt at [email protected].
¹The 19th takes its name from the constitutional amendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage. Its logo adds an asterisk to acknowledge that the amendment enfranchised White women while leaving women of color disenfranchised for decades, and to reflect the outlet’s ongoing commitment to women and LGBTQ+ people still fighting to be seen and heard in American democracy.
Praise for Breaking the News
“Breaking the News is a must-see documentary for anyone who works in journalism or is studying to get into the field. The 19th*’s unique rise to independent newsroom fame is one for the history books, and the experiences of the editors and journalists contained within will be endlessly valuable to people who want to make changes in the field.”
—Video Librarian
“Breaking the News is an immersive, crowd-pleasing, candid portrait of a start-up [news agency] experiencing growing pains, roadblocks, and ultimately success in changing the paradigm and business model for news. … One of those rare films that, like Citizenfour, might be seen as a major landmark in cinéma vérité documentaries about journalism.”
—John Fink, The Film Stage
“A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in flux, and the voices often left out of the narrative, the documentary Breaking the News shows change doesn’t come easy.”
—PBS, Independent Lens
“This high-stakes documentary … looks poised to join the pantheon of great newsroom docs.”
—International Documentary Association
