[Editor's Note: For more coverage of GIFF, check out Joe Bardi's cover story on GIFF and expanded Q&A with festival President Chad Moore, Mitch Perry's story on festival entry Full Signal, and more reviews of some of the films playing the festival.]
Breaking News, Breaking Down is a film about journalists dealing with post traumatic stress disorder after covering stories suffused with pain and sadness. Directed by former WFLA News Channel 8 morning news anchor Mike Walter, it begins with the veteran reporter discussing his involvement with covering the terrorist attack that hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on the morning of September 11, 2001. After describing his own issues that alienated himself from his family after that incident, Walter learns about other journalists who suffer from the depression, and the fact that "breaking news can break you down." He then focuses on a New York Daily News photographer who was injured while taking photos as the Twin Towers nearly fell on him.
From there, Walter learns about the Dart Society, an organization of journalists who advance the compassionate and ethical coverage of trauma, conflict and social injustice, and the rest of the 35 minute documentary takes place in New Orleans, with reporters who covered Hurricane Katrina and then dealt with their own psychological issues after that. There are some very affecting moments in the film, though at times Walter comes across a bit heavy handed. But in a society where reporters poll near members of Congress in popularity, the film shines a light on the fact that journalists bleed too, and like anyone else, can snap or break down when trying to do their jobs under adverse circumstances.
Breaking News Breaking Down is screening Sat. March 20 at 4 p.m. at the Hyde Park CinéBistro, as part of a double feature with the documentary Poto Mitan.
Check out a video preview after the break …
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2010.