Showtime's New York Times documentary The Fourth Estate is engrossing and refreshingly human

The Washington Post

Liz Garbus' four-part documentary, premiering Sunday, captures the toll of being a journalist in the 24/7 Trump era. "Although it is filled with sort of pulse-quickening journalistic jujitsu one expects — the deadlines, the doggedness, the scoops, the backlash — it is also refreshingly human in scope, stopping more than once to observe the emotional toll on these journalists who are working themselves to the bone," says Hank Stuever. He adds: "As naive as it sounds, I hope this film reaches an audience beyond nitpicky Times aficionados and self-fascinated journalists. We live in an era where fewer citizens seem to understand that there are many kinds of media, some better than others. And when people do make films about newspapers anymore (dramatic or documentary), they’re usually nostalgic for an era that’s never coming back."

ALSO:

• The Fourth Estate can be too superficial and oblivious -- and padded and too easily distracted
• Liz Garbus tends to focus on juicier material at the expense of creating a richer portrait of The Times
• Garbus would like to revisit her Times subjects down the road