Abstract
The newspaper business is thriving. At least it is for many small weeklies, a point made vividly and convincingly in the recent documentary The Sun Never Sets. The film follows the story of The Rio Grande Sun, a successful weekly in the small town of Española, New Mexico (population ten thousand)—so successful, in fact, that it is considered one of the best weekly newspapers in the United States and was featured in Smithsonian magazine in 1995.
The documentary is told mostly through interviews with Bob Trapp, the Sun’s founder and publisher, as well as various members of his dedicated staff, with feedback from both supporters and detractors of the newspaper’s work in the community. Narration is provided by NPR’s legendary former anchor, Bob Edwards, and is sparse enough not to detract from the principal characters but helpful in tying the narrative thread together. An overview of small-town newspapers from University of North Carolina lecturer Jock Lauterer, who has written a book on the subject, offers a broader context on this important journalism niche.
The Sun covers not only Española but all of Rio Arriba County, with a population of about forty thousand in an area the size of Connecticut. The paper celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2006, and over the years, it has built a reputation for investigative reporting. In 1999, The Sun received national attention when it broke the story that Rio Arriba County had the highest rate of heroin overdose deaths in the country. In 2008, reporter Bryant Furlow discovered that the county jail had been using psychotic drugs to sedate prisoners, and his retelling of the investigation that led to the stories is an instructive lesson that would benefit future journalists who watch the film. We also hear from young reporter Lou Mattei, who on his second day at The Sun was assigned to a story that ended up being the largest school embezzlement case in New Mexico history. The paper, we’re told, has won numerous lawsuits to guarantee open meetings in their coverage area.
This type of reporting has inspired derision as well as praise. In the film, Española’s former mayor describes The Sun as a “negative and distorted reflection of the community.” The former school superintendent had a particularly damaging story mounted on a toilet paper roll. These disapproving views not only help balance the portrait of the newspaper presented in the film but also help make a significant point—that The Sun does not shy away from important stories, even if they do not paint a rosy picture. Indeed, the paper seems to wear that reputation as a badge of honor. The managing editor proudly shows the collection of rocks that have been thrown through the newspaper’s windows and are now on display throughout the newsroom. Renowned investigative reporter and author Sally Denton, who worked for The Sun in the late 1970s, calls it “a locally owned courageous voice for the community.”
The documentary, though, shows other aspects of The Sun besides its investigative work. It follows the sports reporter, who logs several hundred miles a week covering stories and who notes that he tries to get as many names and pictures in the paper as possible. The advertising director personally typesets the obituaries, noting that it is one of the paper’s most-read sections. These moments help illustrate characteristics of a small-town newspaper that an audience accustomed to larger dailies may not understand. That point is also demonstrated by showing the traffic jams on Wednesdays as people line up to buy the paper. We see one woman buying six copies and then reading the headlines to a blind man who is anxious to hear the news.
The documentary apparently was several years in the making. It includes interview clips from author Tony Hillerman, who died in 2008; Hillerman offers insights into the role of small-town newspapers from his own days as editor of one such paper elsewhere in New Mexico.
Overall, the documentary is very well shot, with interesting angles and a variety of footage to illustrate its major points. If there is a quibble, it would be overuse of showing interviewees driving while talking about their topic. This technique made sense with the sports reporter or young investigative reporter, since part of the point was the miles they traveled to cover stories; with other interviews, it seemed less pertinent—with the news editor, for example.
This is a small objection, however. Overall, the production values add to the quality of the film. The graphics are well done, particularly the old-fashioned printing drum that serves as a divider between sections. The score features original music by the director and other collaborators, and sets a perfect tone for the film. The song “The Newsboy” is particularly apt, its lyrics declaring, They put the news on MTV, they Twitter and they tweet, The blog is now the focus of the new reporter’s beat. The boys don’t call out “get your paper” like they did before, And soon there may not be a morning paper anymore.
The Sun Never Sets is an intriguing and inspiring documentary to show in journalism classes. Its message about the power and possibilities of investigative journalism, with an emphasis on solid reporting skills over Internet prowess, and illustrating the importance of a newspaper as both a watchdog and a vital link to the community, is a significant lesson to convey. And with a running length of fifty-five minutes, it would work in many standard class periods. Watching this documentary makes one hope that the kind of newspaper it portrays will continue to thrive and will not become a quaint anachronism.