As suggested by: HoldenC, michaelsmith6, eramu
Set during the early days of broadcast journalism, George Clooney directed, co-wrote and starred in this 2005 film, based on the real-life political events of 1953. CBS reporter Edward R Murrow (played by David Strathairn, pictured) and his TV newsroom staff set out to discredit the scaremongering of Senator Joseph McCarthy during the height of his anti-communist campaign. Clooney was paid $1 each for writing, directing and acting in the film, mortgaging his home in LA to complete production. However, the film grossed more than $54m worldwide and was nominated for a total of six Academy Awards Photograph: PR
As suggested by: JimTheFish, FishingGenet
This 1961 sci-fi disaster film portrays a fictitious journalist Peter Stenning (played by Edward Judd, above) at the Daily Express, but was partly filmed in the newspaper's real headquarters on Fleet Street and even featured real-life editor Arthur Christiansen. As the impending apocalypse draws closer, the paper prepares two versions of its front page: one reading 'World Saved' and the other declaring 'World Doomed'. Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features
As suggested by: habsfan0303, DrPretorius, HardcorePrawn, Marc EqualityNow Jones
This US sitcom aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977, making television history with the portrayal of the first unmarried, independent career woman in a central role of Mary Richards. The series also became renowned for its depiction of the 'workplace family', with co-creator James Brooks reportedly stating that he chose the setting of the WJM-TV newsroom due to the range of supporting characters that could be found in such an environment. Photograph: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
As suggested by: ChukTatum, JimTheFish, edhemingway, Leafar
One of the most successful sitcom spinoffs in television history, Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards during its five-year run between 1977 and 1982, following on from the final episode of the Mary Tyler Moore series. Ed Asner reprised his role of Lou Grant, but the character had moved from his position as producer at WJM-TV to that of city editor at the fictitious Los Angeles Tribune newspaper. His disposition was also somewhat altered, dropping his more comedic characteristics to fit the more dramatic nature of the spinoff show, making Grant the only character to have a leading role on both a popular comedy and a popular dramatic series. Photograph: Moviestore collection Ltd / Alam/Alamy
As suggested by: ayebut, SteveParadis, BmacLean, Zepp
This Canadian comedy-drama series was first aired in 1996, set in the newsroom of an unnamed television station which is generally understood to be based on the CBC network on which it was originally broadcast. Created by and starring Ken Finkleman, the series sought to satirise the industry with its nightly newscast production team who are largely obsessed with inflating ratings by glamorising news stories and relying on sensationalism. More recently, the series has drawn comparisons to Aaron Sorkin's 2012 HBO political drama of the same name. Photograph: PR
As suggested by: JimTheFish, Zwoman48
A scandal-seeking London tabloid is presided over by Geoffrey Palmer as managing editor Harry Stringer, alongside Robert Hardy as gossip-monger Russell Spam and Richard Kane as morally dubious journalist Greg Kettle, in British sitcom Hot Metal. Just 12 episodes were broadcast over two series between 1986-88, with an additional Comic Relief special in 1989. The show featured outrageous news stories, including a bishop who is accused of being a werewolf and reporters using a medium to interview victims of capital punishment. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features
As suggested by: leftarmorthodox, PhilMckenzie, Jacqui_M, moogan and others
Often compared to Britiain's Drop the Dead Donkey, this nineties Australian satire was often based on thinly disguised versions of real people and events, drawing especially on examples of journalistic misconduct within the television industry. With a dim-witted host, ambitious reporters and amoral producers, Frontline parodied devices used to boost ratings, including the use of hidden cameras and chequebook journalism. Photograph: PR
As suggested by: bobbymac1956, Leafar
This 1974 film was the third adaptation of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's 1928 play of the same name and starred Jack Lemmon as reporter Hildy Johnson, working for the self-obsessed managing editor Walter Burns, played by Walter Matthau, at real-life newspaper the Chicago Examiner. Having quit his job to get married, Hildy is tempted back to the newsroom when the escape of a death row prisoner provides him with the biggest scoop of his career. The film was made as a period piece, set in 1929, as director Billy Wilder felt that, by 1974, the daily newspaper was no longer a dominant medium. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
As suggested by: HoldenC
Howard Hawks's 1940 film His Girl Friday was also inspired by on Hecht and MacArthur's play, changing the central role of reporter Hildy Johnson to a woman, played by Rosalind Russell. Cary Grant takes on the character of newspaper editor (and Hildy's ex-husband) Walter Burns, but this time around the newsroom is that of The Morning Post in New York. Hawks also aimed to replicate the chaos of the newsroom by creating one of the first films to feature overlapping dialogue delivered at breakneck speed. Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features
As suggested by: HARPhilby, HoldenC
Kirk Douglas plays disgraced reporter Chuck Tatum in Ace in the Hole's film noir newsroom, with a plot inspired by real-life events. Stuck working for the small-time Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin, Tatum creates a media sensation around the story of a local man who has become trapped in a cave, in the hope that it might restore his reputation as a leading reporter. The inflated press attention leads the rescue site to become a tourist destination, surrounded by out-of-control carnival celebrations – Paramount Pictures briefly changed the film's name to The Big Carnival during its 1951 release. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive
