Aaron Matthews News Story

This past Wednesday nationally recognized documentary maker, Aaron Matthews, visited the SUNY Albany campus to show his latest film, “The Paper”. Following the films’ viewing Matthews allowed for audience participation with a series of question and answers, which allowed the students to interact and gain a deeper understanding of the production of Penn State University’s campus newspaper, The Daily Collegian.
This film was first released in late 2007 and drew an immediate audience from journalists across the country. Only a few weeks after being released “The Paper” had begun receiving praise on its accuracy of depicting an active newsroom while adding a twist of humor. Throughout filming during the 2004-2005 school year various issues confronted the editors of The Daily Collegian leaving them with no other choice but to make important decisions while still learning the field of journalism. One of the most important issues had to deal with the diversity on such a large campus and the under representation of the black students. Another pressing issue throughout the film dealt with the coverage of rape incidents occurring on campus, reporter Laura Baker wanted each rape case to be reported in the newspaper to raise student awareness. However, Editor in Chief, James Young, had opposing views to each of these issues, which became very clear during the film.
During the series of question and answers Matthews described the outcome of some of the most important decisions that faced the staff of The Daily Collegian. As mentioned earlier, many black students felt they were being under represented on such a large campus. They also felt the staff of the newspaper should go through a diversity training program so that the writers would become more sensitive while asking questions to the black students. Editor in Chief, James Young, openly rejected this idea by stating his staff was sensitive to their issues and that they did not need training to ask the students questions. Yet, during the Q&A Matthews stated that the coverage of racial issues got much better on campus and the staff paid closer attention to censoring the way they phrased questions. The other main issue throughout the documentary dealt with how much press coverage rape incidents on campus would receive from The Daily Collegian. Laura Baker was both a reporter and women’s studies major that wanted to cover the rising rate of sexual abuse occurring on campus, however once again Young felt that not every single case needed to be printed in the paper. In the end Young overruled the young reporter, which sparked many feminist activists to act out against his decision on campus.
Penn State has one of the most successful student run newspapers in the country, which greatly influenced Matthews decision to film at this particular university. However, another factor that contributed to his choice of location was the simple fact that he lived very close… close enough to walk! Matthews recorded over 350 hours of footage to put together the hour and a half production, his reason for shooting that many hours was simple “tape is cheap and I got carried away.” Since Matthews in an independent film maker he receives next to nothing for funding, allowing him no other choice but to shoot 75% of the footage by himself using only a microphone and camera. Since this one-man act did almost the entire documentary by himself the students in the newsroom grew very comfortable in his presence. Matthews said that he would ask the students a controversial question about a current issue in the newsroom and would then record their debate. He also said that because he got to know the staff so well he did not add anything in the film that was personal and only used the important footage, nothing gossipy.
The students who attended this special presentation on campus walked away with a new perspective on journalism and the choices that face news reporters on a daily basis. Aaron Matthews did a great job of showing the accuracy of how a school newspaper is run and added some comic relief with the reactions from the reporters. The question and answer session allowed the audience to gain specific information about the behind the scenes footage that only the filmmaker himself would know. This was a great experience and a fun way to learn about what goes on behind the closed doors of a newsroom.