The Post

The Post is a 2017 feature length historical drama film about the Pentagon Papers and the role investigative reporting has in keeping the government in check. The film primarily focused on Kay Graham and the New York Times editor in Chief Ben Bradlee and has a run time of 116 minutes. The film premiered on December 14, 2017; entered theaters on December 22 and saw a wide released on January 12, 2018.

Plot
In 1965 Vietnam, State Dept. military analyst Daniel Ellsberg accompanies U.S. troops in combat, documenting the progress of U.S. military activities in the region. Years later, now working for a civilian military contractor, he surreptitiously photocopies classified reports documenting the progress of the ongoing Vietnam War, dating back to the Truman administration. He leaks these documents, which detail more than 20 years of clandestine U.S. activities and frank admissions that the war has been going poorly, to reporters at The New York Times.

Washington D.C. newspaper heiress Kay Graham tries to balance her social life with her responsibility as owner of The Washington Post, a newspaper she took over following the suicide of her husband, who had succeeded her father. She is conflicted over preparations for the newspaper's IPO, a move she recognizes as important to strengthening the paper, but fears losing family control. She lacks confidence in her ability as a woman to lead the organization, frequently "overruled" by more assertive men who advise or work for her, such as editor in chief Ben Bradlee.

Bradlee notices that the Times' investigative reporter Neil Sheehan has not published any articles in some time. He concludes that Sheehan is working on something big, and tries in vain to catch up with the paper's scoop. Graham's longtime friend Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara confides to her that he's about to be the subject of unflattering coverage by the Times. This turns out to be an exposé of the government's long-running deception of the American public. However the series is halted by a court injunction against further publication.

Post assistant editor Ben Bagdikian tracks down Ellsberg as the source for the leak, which yields the newspaper copies of the same material. A small team of reporters working in Bradlee's home sort through the disorganized papers, trying to piece together parts of the larger story. The Post's lawyers become aware of the project and advise against publishing the material, lest the Nixon administration – already unhappy with the paper for their reporter crashing his daughter's wedding – bring criminal charges against them.

Graham fields the input and advice of the men around her, including McNamara, Bradlee, and Post chairman Fritz Beebe, agonizing over the decision of whether to publish. If the legal fallout goes badly, she could destroy the newspaper she sees as a family legacy, but if they are successful, it could instead establish it as an important journalistic institution. She chooses to run the story.

The White House retaliates, and in short order the Post and Times are together before the Supreme Court to plead their First Amendment argument for the freedom to publish the material. Meanwhile, newspapers across the country have picked up the story, acting in solidarity with them. The court rules 6–3 in the newspapers' favor, vindicating Graham's decision.

Nixon is overheard demanding that the Post be barred from the White House. In the final scene, a security guard discovers a break-in in progress at the Watergate office complex.