Essay On The Washington Post

“Well, if we live in a world where the government could tell us what we can and cannot print, then The Washington Post as we know it has already ceased to exist.” Tom Hanks as the character of Ben Bradlee states in the 2018 film The Post. He was conveying the belief that if the government won the court case, The Washington Post would no longer exist. The film, The Post, directed by Steven Spielberg, is an entertaining, yet effective way of learning the now quiet topic of rebelling in order to save the freedom of the press. It shows how Americans defended the First Amendment during the Vietnam war through the publishment of stolen government documents known as the Pentagon Papers.
The film follows Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), the publisher and owner of The Washington Post and Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), the editor during their fight to save the freedom of the press. The competing paper, The New York Times, published an article about the Pentagon Papers, a series of documents that exposed the truth behind the United States participation in the Vietnam War. The New York Times was

Previous to watching this movie I had very little knowledge of the Pentagon Papers, the role of the newspapers and how important it is to defend the First Amendment. The film also had a powerful, effective and positive female role model. It was very obvious in the film that much of Katharine Graham’s board didn’t believe that a female could be capable of running the newspaper. Steven Spielberg effectively portrays how discouraging that was to Graham, and examples it in a quote by Tony Bradlee, Ben Bradlee’s wife as she says, “When you've been told time and time again that you're not even there, it's hard to believe it's not true.” Nevertheless, Graham never gave up. She only become stronger, persistent and more confident in her abilities. Her decisions helped her to become a public figure for both women and