Is NETWORK (1976) the most prophetic film ever made about television and journalism?

Directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky, Network follows news anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) as he unravels live on air and creates one of cinema’s most famous speeches: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!” This satirical black comedy, starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and Robert Duvall, predicted the rise of infotainment, corporate control of news, and the modern media circus decades before it happened.

 

MonteCristo, Richard Lewis, and Thorin debate whether Network is satire or documentary, why the film feels even more relevant in 2025 than it did in the 1970s, and how it compares to other great journalism movies like All the President’s Men and The Insider.

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