Absence Of Malice ABSENCE OF MALICE By : xxxxxxxx An interesting study of how a well placed newspaper article can affect a persons life and how it can ruin a persons life. Newman is the son of a mobster, but runs a legal business. However, he is in business with his uncle who is still connected to the mob.
When a labor leader comes up missing, a federal investigator, thinking Newman is involved, leaks the info to news reporter, Fields. Giving Fields credit, she did attempt to contact Newman before the news release, but sent the story through without confirmation of details. In effect, this ruins Newmans’ life and business. He brings a suit against the paper and Fields, which is mediated by Brimley, a no nonsense judge.
Absence of Malice is a film that is several years old now, but it still play a big role in our society, as all we know the media has the ability to influence the way that people view the world, as well as their opinion of what they see and read. Like in the movie Paul Newman reputation was damage by reporter that in my opinion represented most of the media in our world when the ambition to be a super star and have the satisfaction of being the first to tell the story without verifying the source. Even to use information when a person asks no to be identified like in the case of the woman who kill herself after she read in the newspaper what she asked Field no to mention. And to support my point of view there is another moment of the movie when all the character involve in this case was in a meting with the assistant of the general attorney and he asked Sally Field if she was involved with suspect Newman she answered that no it was not true but yes it was accurate. They had been lovers but her trust was in something professional. Or was it ambition? I think that the ambition that she pursued to be the person with the big news makes her careless about the feelings of others and that problem is our daily problem.
In conclusion I say that the media uses the true as a weapon to get what they want; usually means business, power, money and they will use what ever is necessary to get the prime time and so on. They are so smart to get the true twisted according to them, to get the people a very different view of the real true. And as a result of all this the person involved on good or bad suffers the consequences of this news, even if this was true, half true or not true at all. The damage is done and the public already makes their opinions about it.
