183. Another News Story; movie review

ANOTHER NEWS STORY
Cert 12A
86 mins
BBFC advice: Contains images of a real dead body, rude gestures, implied strong language

I spent more than 30 years as a journalist but rarely found myself at the centre of a truly global story.
Indeed, I can think of only twice - the air crash at Kegworth in the East Midlands in January of 1989 and the murder of his six children in Derby by the odious Mick Philpott.
In the former case, I was literally one one side of the M1 motorway with reporters from all over the world as survivors and the deceased were removed from the crashed plane on the opposite bank.
In the Philpott case, I was editor of the local Derby Telegraph and our coverage became the story - I was interviewed by organisations from across the globe.
Therefore, I entirely understood the concept of Orban Wallace's Another News Story in which he goes behind the scenes of the reportage of the Syrian exodus.
He and his team travel to Greece, Hungary, Siberia and Austria following the refugees and the pack of hungry news hounds who tell their heart-rending stories.
At first, journalists on the frontline of the refugee crisis are suspicious of a camera recording them going about their work.
The reason is obvious. The reputation of journalism in recent years has been in tatters and they probably thought it would be a stitch-up.
This is because, as the film reflects, this is their normal work and their reactions would probably make them seem uncaring to the outside world.
On rare occasions, including some seen here, do they yield to the humanity of their subject's plight - simply because they are anesthetised to horror.
This doesn't make them bad people. Exactly the same would be true of frontline troops.
Because of my own journalistic background, I was glued to Another News Story because I wanted the inside track on the refugee crisis and see the way in which such a controversial subject has been handled by the journalists who interview them. 
Thankfully, not all of them are blase about the unfolding tragedy although there is one unexplained and bizarre moment during which a female reporter seems to trip up a refugee deliberately.
The kick in the tail is when the action moves to Paris as exactly the same pack of journalists report on the killings at the Bataclan.
The connection between the refugee crisis and the terror attacks then comes under a magnifying lens, sparking some intriguing conclusions.

Reasons to watch: Behind the scenes of a big news story
Reasons to avoid: May be seen as incestuous

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Director quote - Orban Wallace: "We set off for Europe to make a film about the refugees and we arrived amid a media storm and from that we became fascinated about how the news machine worked."

The big question - Who will pay for proper journalism in a world of social media?

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