"Under Fire"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how "Under Fire", directed by Roger Spottiswoode, is a modern-day version of forties political melodramas in which the uncommitted outsider becomes a hero through his involvement in a cause. A magazine reporter and his lover, a radio correspondent, are on the verge of breaking up as the action shifts from Chad to Nicaragua. A romance develops between the girl and another character, a photojournalist who previously viewed the revolution as just backdrop for his work. It examines how the movie, well acted and directed, is about the ethical duty of a journalist when confronted with a specific moral dilemma. The paper also discusses in general whether it is the duty of a journalist to intervene and try to change a situation on witnessing an atrocity.

From the Paper:

" Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting. Their job is to tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so. A popular religious ethic of faith is to change an atrocity by one's hand; if not, then by one's mouth, and if that too is not possible, then one should hate the atrocity in his heart. In Under Fire, the journalist used more than just his media to attempt to change the situation of the atrocity. Even though, a journalist is only supposed to bring the information out to the public, if a journalist felt that he had to try to change a bad situation, he had the human prerogative to do so. If a journalist does decide to intervene in the situation other than by way of the media he is involved with, he should examine his own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others since everybody may not go out of the way to forbid evil. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Adie, Kate. Reporting war: dispatches from the front. Retrieved from:http://www.cf.ac.uk/jomec/issues/adiemain.html
• Analysis of the US-led Assault on Yugoslavia. (1999. May). NATO Chief: we have no atrocity evidence. Retrieved from: http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/directory/51799a.html
• Code of Ethics. Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved from:http://spj.org/ethics/code.htm
• Spottiswoode, Roger, dir. Under Fire. (1983). Perf. Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Nick Nolte, Joanna Cassidy. Orion Pictures.

More papers on "Under Fire":

• Film Review # 144732 : "Leadership in "Courage Under Fire"
• Essay # 16000 : "Abraham Lincoln: A President Under Fire"
• Analytical Essay # 5143 : "Families Under Fire"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: