{"id":624,"date":"2007-09-30T06:54:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-30T12:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/?p=624"},"modified":"2007-09-30T06:54:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-30T12:54:00","slug":"journalism-at-the-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/2007\/09\/journalism-at-the-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism at the movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span> finally got round to seeing the Bourne Ultimatum<\/a> at the weekend. (Spoiler ahead<\/span>) It shoots straight into the top ten for cinematic journalist portrayals, though it doesn\u2019t do us any favours. Paddy Considine<\/a> plays Simon Ross, fictional security correspondent of the Guardian<\/span><\/a>, a reporter so drippy his photo-byline is a tea stain.<\/p>\n

Farringdon Road features, and there\u2019s an interesting cameo by Alan Rusbridger<\/a>\u2019s glasses.<\/p>\n

Ross, whose note-taking skills make Andrew Gilligan<\/span> look like Marcel Proust<\/a>, is hunted down by a CIA team led by David Strathairn<\/a> (the irony – cinema\u2019s Edward R. Murrow<\/a> turned journo-slayer).<\/p>\n

Ross – a bit of a liability – is shot dead on Waterloo station (appropriately, by someone called an asset).<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hiding in a cupboard when he loses his nerve in a scene oddly reminiscent of Bambi<\/a>, where the birds are sheltering from a hunter in the undergrowth. One of them cracks: <\/p>\n

He\u2019s almost here.
I can\u2019t stand it any longer. [Bang\/feathers flutter to ground]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The lessons?<\/p>\n