Endangered, a documentary about the perils facing journalists around the world, premieres June 28 on HBO. Ronan Farrow executive produces and Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing direct.
The film chronicles a year in the life of four journalists living and working in democratic countries where freedom of the press has historically been considered a “given,” according to HBO. ”Yet, as online misinformation proliferates and world leaders brazenly denigrate the press, distrust of traditional media is on the rise, and journalists are increasingly facing situations more typically encountered in war zones or autocratic states.”
The action takes place in Mexico City, Sao Paulo and the United States. The journalists are reporters Patrícia Campos Mello and Oliver Laughland, and photojournalists Carl Juste and Sáshenka Gutiérrez.
“As newsrooms across the world face economic hardships and layoffs, conventional checks and balances against corrupt institutions of power are weakening; journalists are at the forefront of a dangerous culture war with the very right to free speech at the crux of it,” according to HBO.
Loki Films and Ronan Production Group produces.
“Many of us living in democratic nations take freedom of the press for granted,” said Grady and Ewing. “In the course of making this film, though, we realized that in order to survive, this ‘right’ has to be fought for in perpetuity. As governments and the public become increasingly hostile to ‘The Media,’ it was a privilege to observe a few of the unassuming beat reporters who hit the streets every day to bring us the facts.”
Farrow, Ewing, Grady, Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller executive produce.
“When I started working with HBO, one of the first and most urgent ideas I talked about with the documentary team there was chronicling the minefield of misinformation, anti-press authoritarian politics, and faltering media business models that reporters around the world navigate to bring us the truth,” said Farrow. “In following a remarkable group of journalists into chaos and back, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady have brought that story to electric life and given us an important record of this moment in history.” ■
