Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Justification for qualitative research in organisations

Justification for qualitative research in organisations Qualitative research is a field of inquiry in its own right. It crosscuts disciplines, fields and subject matters. A complex, interconnected family of terms, concepts, and assumptions surround the term qualitative research. These include the traditions associated with foundationalism, positivism, postfoundationalism, postpositivism, poststructuralism, and the many qualitative research perspectives, and/or methods connected to cultural and interpretive studies. qualitative researchers can access fascinating data by observing mundane settings or by finding everyday features in extraordinary settings. This essay provides a justification for the use of qualitative research methods in organisations. In the past, qualitative research methods have always been sidelined and quantitative research methods have been preferred for undertaking organisational research. One of the reasons for this is that qualitative research is always influenced by the researchers personal disposition. According to Creswell, Qualitative Research is a form of interpretive inquiry in which researchers make an interpretation of what they see, hear, and understand. Their interpretations cannot be separated from their own backgrounds, history, contexts, and prior understandings. (Creswell, 2009:176) Another reason for this is given by Silverman when he says that Policy makers and managers have been pushed away from ethnographic research because it takes a relatively long time to complete and appears to use unrepresentative samples. Even though some ethnographers are able to produce powerful arguments about what c an be read from a single, well researched, case, others muddy the waters by political posturing and by suggesting that they want no truck with conventional scientific standards. (Silverman, 2007:86) The pull of quantitative research for organisations is that it tends to define its research problems in a way that makes immediate sense to practitioners and administrators. (Silverman, 2007:86) More recently many organisations have started recognising the merits of using qualitative research methods to undertake research in the organisation. Qualitative research methods enable a thorough scrutiny of the researched topic which is not possible in quantitative research. Even within qualitative research, the researcher is provided with a vast range of options and opportunities for exploring diverse issues within the area of organisational research. What are the different methods used to adopt qualitative research? The most commonly known and most used method of qualitative research is ethnography which had its origins in social anthropology, with particular reference to the study of the culture of social groups and societies. The culture of a social group is made up of these complex networks of meaning and the key task of ethnography is to develop an interpretation and understanding of culture. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008) Ethnography can be described as a longitudinal research method that is often associated with participant observation, but can also draw on other research approaches such as contextual and historic analysis of secondary data published by or on the group being studied. The ethnographic approach to developing an in-depth understanding of peoples behaviour makes it well suited to studying organisations. (Marshan-Piekkari and Welch, 2004) But It bends reality considerably to imply that ethnography is today the main method of qualitative research and that observational material is the main data source. This is hardly surprising given the plethora of materials that invite our attention. These extend beyond what we can observe with our own eyes to what we can hear and see on recordings, what we can read in paper documents and electronically download on the internet, to what we can derive by asking questions in interviews or by providing various stimuli to focus groups. (Silverman, 2007:37) Grounded theory research, discourse analysis, deconstruction, content analysis, narrative method, action research (Humphreys, 2006), participatory enquiry, participant observation (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000), autoethnography, interviewing are just a few of the current approaches to qualitative data collection and analysis. All these methods are appropriately used in different forms of organisational research. I will be looking at autoethnography, grounded theory research, critical discourse analysis and the narrative approach towards qualitative research and will study the use of these methods in conducting organisational research. Autoethnography Ethnographers have started undertaking the observation of participation where they reflect on and critically engage with their own participation within the ethnographic frame thus giving birth to autoethnography. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005:467) Karra and Philips have defined autoethnography as, the generation of theoretically relevant descriptions of a group to which one belongs based on a structured analysis of ones experiences and the experiences of others from ones groupIt is an attempt to produce sense from ones experience of a group that can be set down in a text and shared with interested others. It does not mean that the researcher studies only himself or herself, but that the researcher is an insider who can draw upon personal experience, cultural competence, and linguistic resources to frame and shape research in a way that an outsider cannot. (Karra and Phillips, 2008:547) Autoethnography has been very efficiently used by Karra and Phillips, in their article about internatio nal management researchers conducting studies in their own cultural context. They say that, autoethnography provides a methodological frame for understanding and managing their research. Even more importantly, it acts to sensitize the researcher to the importance of carefully managing the complex dynamics of this form of cross-cultural research including questions of authorial voice, role conflict, and power. (Karra and Phillips, 2008:543) Autoethnographic approaches have four important strengths- ease of access, reduced resource requirements, ease of establishing trust and rapport, and reduced problems with translation- but at the same time pose three important challenges- lack of critical distance, role conflict, and the limits of serendipity. (Karra and Phillips, 2008:541) The strengths of this mode of research are considerable and despite all the criticisms this method of qualitative research has acquired it can be used very successfully in organisational research where the need is to draw upon personal experiences. One of the uses of autoethnography is to allow another persons world of experience to inspire critical reflection on your own. (Ellis and Bochner, 1996:22) Experience is given a lot of importance in organisations and autoethnography enables the researcher and the organisation to use this experience in a positive manner and in a way which can be very beneficial to the organisation and its employees. Grounded Theory Grounded theory, developed by Glaser and Strauss, is a kind of theory generated from the data collected. The methodology refers to a style of conducting qualitative data analysis whose aim is to discover what kinds of concepts and hypotheses are relevant to the area one wishes to understand. Grounded theory, therefore, provides new insights into the understanding of social processes emerging from the context in which they occur, without forcing and adjusting the data to previous theoretical frameworks. (Cassell and Symon, 2004:242) Grounded theory is a method that is more appropriate for some questions than others. It is most suited to efforts to understand the process by which actors construct meaning out of intersubjective experience. Grounded theory should be used in a way that is logically consistent with key assumptions about social reality and how the reality is known. It is less appropriate to use grounded theory when you seek to make knowledge claims about an objective realit y, and more appropriate to do so when you want to make knowledge claims about how individuals interpret reality. (Suddaby, 2006:634) While the grounded theory approach appeared at a time when methods discourse was decidedly modernist, forty years of development reflect he paradigmatic plurality of current qualitative research. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008) The application of grounded theory in organisational research has been gaining popularity in recent times. This is because organisational psychology has been marked by a trend of moving from an individualistic point of view towards a more collective view. Grounded theory has been applied in studies focusing on organisational culture, organisational growth, change and innovation, team work and company survival to name a few. Grounded theory produces descriptions of organisational reality which elicit positive discussions around important themes in the organisation among the employees and, thus, form a basis for positive organisational development trends. (Cassell and Symon, 2004) Critical Discourse Analysis According to Cunliffe, Discourse analysis is a term covering a number of approaches to research that analyze language use. These approaches range from a focus on language itself, to a broader examination of the relationship between language use, social action and social theory. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008:81) Discourse analysis provides a theoretical and methodological framework for exploring the social production of organizational and interorganizational phenomena. (Phillips, Sewell and Jaynes, 2008:1) As a methodology, critical discourse analysis allows for the use of different kinds of methods in specific research projects. However, this kind of research in particular demands the ability to make sense of the linkages between specific textual characteristics and particular discourses on the one hand, and between the discourses and the relevant socio-cultural practices and historical developments on the other. This means that research of this type generally tends to favour in-depth scrut iny of and reflection on specific texts. (Marschan-Piekkari and Welch, 2004) Discourse analysis has become an increasingly popular method for examining the linguistic elements in the construction of social phenomena. It has been increasingly adopted by organization and management scholars interested in the social construction of specific organizational ideas or practices. (Varra, Kleymann and Seristo, 2004:3) There are three important problems facing researchers wishing to adopt a critical discourse perspective in their work. First, like ethnography, discourse analysis results in quite lengthy analyses that are often a poor fit with the requirements of journal editors. Second, discourse analysis often involves major data-management issues because of the volume of data that is often available. Finally, as this is a fairly new are of activity, there are few standard models available to follow. Developing innovative data analysis techniques for each study thus remains a final challenge facing researchers. (Phillips, Sewell and Jaynes, 2008) Narrative Approach According to Oswick, Narratives are an inevitable and unavoidable aspect of social life and, as such, are integral to the processes of managing and organizing. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008:141) Although the narrative approach is one with many merits which are being acknowledged by researchers, it is still a field in the making and is not very commonly used. Researchers new to this field will find a rich but diffuse tradition, multiple methodologies in various stages of development, and plenty of opportunities for exploring new ideas, methods and questions. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005:651) A recognition that discourse is the principle means by which organization members create a coherent social reality that frames their sense of who they are has led to an increased interest in narrative approaches in organization studies. A narrative approach explicitly recognizes that, in organizations, language is the primary medium of social control and power, and that the analysis of linguistic practices is key to an understanding of how existing social and power relations are reproduced or transformed. (Humphreys and Brown, 2007) In the article, An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility at Credit Line: A Narrative Approach by Humphreys and Brown (2008), the authors adopted a narrative approach to the analysis of organizational processes in a bank, Credit Line, in order to explore how individuals in a financial institution dealt with relatively novel issues of corporate social responsibility. The authors used narratives to successfully draw attention to the plurivocity of orga nisational life. Use of qualitative research methods to undertake organisational research in a public sector organisation Public sector organisations are those organisations which are managed by the government. The main aim of these organisations is not to make a profit but to provide a service to the people under the government. Some example of public sector organisations are airports, public hospitals, railway stations, government run schools and colleges. Governments nowadays are looking to privatize most of the public sector organisations in order to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Thus most of the above given examples have now been partially or completely privatised in most countries. Public sector organisations are common grounds for research amongst qualitative researchers. This could be due to the fact that public sector organisations are more easily accessible than the private sector organisations. Many public sector organisations have also started coming up with their own research and development department which undertakes the organisational research. In my opinion participant observation and interviewing together make an ideal combination to undertake organisational research within a public sector organisation or for that matter any organisation. The shortcomings of participant observations are covered by interviewing and vice versa. Thus, the two methods complement each other perfectly. Participant Observation The methodology of participant observation is appropriate for studies of almost every aspect of human existence. Through participant observation, it is possible to describe what goes on, who or what is involved, when and where things happen, how they occur, and why at least from the standpoint of participants things happen as they do in particular situations. (Jorgensen, 1989) Participant observation is one of the most popular ways of conducting fieldwork in an organisation. This is because through observation of the participants going through their daily routine researchers pick up information which they might not have access to in a more formal setting, an example of which is interviews. Participant observation can be of two types. In the first, the identity of the researcher is known to all and the researcher has a choice of forming relationships with the participants or to stand back and eavesdrop. This form of participant observation is ethically correct but the researchers pe rsonal disposition and identity may influence the participants behaviour and this may have an effect on the research material gathered. The second type of participant observation is covert participant observation where the identity of the researcher is hidden. This form of participant observation raises many ethical questions and is just another form of deception. Thus, covert participant observation should be avoided. The researchers ability to build relationships and develop rapport with subjects is crucial in participant observation. The danger here is that the researcher may feel so embedded and sympathetic to the group being studied that interpreting events objectively becomes difficult. Another demerit of participant observation is the time-consuming and open-ended nature of this kind of research which means it often doesnt get done. In a cost-conscious research climate in which specific and often short-term, definitive objectives are required to secure funding, sustained part icipation is a risky strategy. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008) Interviews The qualitative interview can be seen as a conversation with a purpose, where the interviewers aim is to obtain knowledge about the respondents world. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008:118) The goal of any qualitative research interview is to see the research topic from the perspective of the interviewee and to understand how and why they came to have this particular perspective. (Cassell and Symon, 2004) Interviewing is the most popular method of conducting organisational research. The method has three important advantages. Firstly, interviewers allow the researcher to discover new relationships or situations not previously conceived. Secondly, interview based research may be optimal when there is a small population of possible respondents as interviewers offer an opportunity to acquire a richness of information from each respondent. Finally, interviews may allow researchers to develop a deeper rapport with informants which is necessary to gain honest and accurate responses and to add insights that lay the groundwork for larger or follow-up studies. (Marschan-Piekkari and Welch, 2004) But the interviewing method also suffers from three disadvantages. Firstly, developing an interview guide, carrying out interviews and analysing their transcripts, are all highly time-consuming activities for the researchers. Secondly, qualitative interviews are also tiring to carry out as they involve considerable concentration from the interviewer. Thus, no more than three interviews, each of the duration of one hour, should be carried out in a day. Finally, interviews are also time-consuming for the interviewees and this may cause problems in recruiting participants in some organizations and occupations. The latest trends in interviewing have come some distance from structured questions; we have reached the point of the interview as negotiated text. Researchers are not invisible neutral entities; they are a part of the interaction we seek to study. Interviewers are increasingly seen as active participants in an interaction with respondents, and interviewers are seen as negotiated accomplishments of both interviewers and respondents that are shaped by the contexts and situations in which they take place. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005) Depending on the type of organisational research which the public sector organisation needs to carry out and its goals and aims, either participant observation or interviewing or a combination of both the methods can be used appropriately in acquiring the required research material. Conclusion Thus, I conclude by saying that qualitative research methods have formed a niche for themselves in organisational research. The importance of organisational research is growing day by day and qualitative research methods are now an important part of organisational research. Although many forms of qualitative research make the use of figures and numbers to support a point of discussion, thus incorporating a characteristic of quantitative research methods, they also provide an in depth analysis on the topic of research and use one or more of the methodologies of qualitative research which include participant observation, interviewing, autoethnography, use of secondary data, grounded theory, ethnography, discourse analysis, narratives and rhetorical analysis. In this essay I introduced qualitative research and outlined its increasing importance in organisational research. I followed this up by describing approaches to qualitative research specifically concentrating on autoethnography, grounded theory, critical discourse analysis and the narrative approach, and critically analysing their use in organisational research. Finally, I concentrated on public sector organisations and why I think that participant observation and interviews are the best methods of qualitative research to undertake organisational research in public sector organisations. In doing this I feel that I have justified the use of qualitative research in organisations. Word Count: 2969 words

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay -- Literary Analysis

Following the fall of the great Roman Empire a new age was born, the age of knights in shining amour and the great kings in stone castles. Yet, it was also a chaotic time, War and plague was a disease upon Europe. Countries fought for land, resources, and above all, the attention of God. The world was young and so was the English Language. Few writers wrote in English, the language of the commoners, as French and Latin was the Language of the powerful à ©lite. Yet one writer dared to speak against the feudal society of which he was born into. Geoffrey Chaucer served most of his life in the employment of the crown, as both a soldier and a clerk. Yet through all of these titles, Chaucer would be forever immortalized as Geoffrey Chaucer the writer, and the Satirist. The true goal of any Satire is to point out the flaws in certain aspect of society, while also inspiring reform to that very same aspect in one way or another. In Chaucer’s Canterbury tales, Chaucer satirizes the co rruption Catholic Church and those associated. Chaucer saw that hypocrisy polluted the pureness of the church and expressed his disillusionment through the use of satire. Fearless of discommunication Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of satire, dared to speak openly of the absolute corruption of the medieval church. Medieval society was centered on the flawed Catholic Church, where hypocrisy and corruption poisoned the purity of religion. When one individual spoke against the way the church‘s way, the church would simply retaliate. One such example is that of Joan of Arc, a French farm girl turned soldier. The Church was outraged at her choices, performing deeds that were reserved for men. Joan wore men’s clothing and wore her hair short as to avoid being the s... ...t man in a time of great despair. Through the greatness of his actions, satirically pointing out the corruption in the Catholic church, Chaucer earned a reputation as one of the greatest writers in the English language. Fearless of the Church’s retaliation, Chaucer continued to educate his audience, the English speaking commoners of Medieval Europe, who had long been taken advantage of by the Church, becoming one the greatest and first English satirist and the Father of English satire. Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales in Modern Verse . â€Å"The Prologue†. Hackett Publishing Company, INC. United States of America, 2005. Chaucer, Geoffrey. â€Å"The Canterbury tales: The Prologue†. Our Literary Heritage. Ed. Desmond Pacey. 4th ed. Montreal, Que.: Mcgraw-Hill Ryerson ltd., 1982. Shaw, Bernard. Saint Joan. Penguin books, London 1952.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

1984 and Metropolis Essay Essay

The quote â€Å"The object of power is power† is heavily supported by George Orwell’s 1949 novel ‘1984’ and Fritz Lang’s 1927 film ‘Metropolis’ through their intertextual connections and shared perspectives. Both texts were composed around the context of pre and post World War 2 which is clearly evident through their settings, characterisation, themes and ideas. Through Orwell’s and Fritz’s use of dystopic societies, empowerment of women and detrimental dictatorship rule it is blatant that George Orwell’s quote â€Å"The object of power is power† is quite strongly supported by the intertextual connections and shared perspectives of Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Lang’s ‘Metropolis’. Through the use of Orwell’s and Lang’s intertextual connections of political reform and shared perspectives of dystopic societies it becomes apparent that the quote â€Å"The object of power is power† is strongly supported throughout the two texts. The meaning of this quote is also made abundantly clear within the texts as the dictatorship rulers within both texts acquire power simply to have power and authority, instead of for the good of the people. This features predominantly in both texts through their shared perspectives on dystopic settings made apparent by their use of symbolism. In Orwell’s ‘1984’ only 2% of the populace resides in the ‘Inner Party’ whilst the other 98% is suppressed within the lower classes in either the ‘Outer Party’ or the ‘Proles’. This totalitarian, power based society is made dystopic by the overwhelming power and control exhibited by the tyrant dictator ‘Big Brotherâ €™. This is emphasised through Orwell’s use of symbolism in O’Brien’s words as he says â€Å"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.† (pg 307) The symbolism between the boot and big brother, and the human face and society emphasises the suppressive nature of this totalitarianism rule, casting the society into dystopia. This also forms a contextual connection to Nazi Germany’s strive for a totalitarianism society. This same idea of a dystopic society is epitomised within Lang’s film, ‘Metropolis’ through the suppression of the working class in ‘the depths’ by the powerful master, Joh Frederson. The working class in this film are forced to endure agonising labour in extremely dangerous environments whilst the upper class, the ‘sons’ are free to live at their will. The dystopic setting of the ‘depths’ becomes evident  through Lang’s use of symbolism when the dictator’s son, Freder, journeys to the depths and starts to see the workers being eaten up by the machines in the scene ‘Slaves of the Means of Production† (14.58-17.52). This symbolises the dystopic society in which workers do not have the right to be safe. This idea forms a contextual connection to the 1920’s Weimar Republic where there were two distinct classes, the conservative elite, who were free to live at their will, and the workers who were forced to endure labour with no guarantee for safety. Through the contextual connections of political reform and the shared perspectives of dystopian societies the quote â€Å"the object of power is power† is strongly supported by George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’. Similarly, the quote â€Å"the object of power is power† is also supported by Orwell’s and Lang’s shared perspectives of the rebelling of women and the intertextual connections of the empowerment of women during the times these texts were created. This is made evident through the use of juxtaposition throughout the two texts. In Orwell’s ‘1984’ the dystopic totalitarianism society is suppressed into worshipping Big Brother and dares not to step away from the control of the organisation. The female protagonist in the novel, Julia, however is not as suppressed as she leads the organisation into thinking and begins to rebel against them. This is seen within dialogue between her and Winston when she says â€Å"I’m corrupt to the bone.† This juxtaposition between her and the suppressed masses outlines her rebellion against the tyrant power of the organisation. This links in with the contextual connection to the empowerment of women during the post World War 2 period as a result of women refusing to give up the power they had acquired during the war. Correspondently, Lang also uses this shared perspective of the rebelling of women in his film, depicted through the character of Maria. Maria is displayed as neither a citizen of Metropolis nor a worker in the depths but as a source of optimism and rebellion for the suppressed workers of the depths. Lang uses lighting to juxtapose her from the workers in the depths, illuminating her whilst keeping them in shadowed tones. This juxtaposition emphasises the rebellious mentality of Maria against the dictator of metropolis, Joh Frederson. Even though Maria’s rebellious nature is far more peaceful than Julia’s, she still epitomises  the contextual connections of the empowerment of women as a result of refusing to give up the power they had acquired during World War 1. Through Orwell’s and Lang’s use of juxtaposition, it is evident that the shared perspectives of the rebelling of women and the intertextual connections of the empowerment of women as a result of refusing to give up the power they had acquired during the World Wars, strongly supports the quote â€Å"the object of power is power†. Equivalently, through the use of Orwell’s juxtaposition and Lang’s symbolism, the shared perspectives of the detrimental impact of dictatorship rule and the contextual connections of political reform are shown to strongly support the quote â€Å"the object of power is power†. In Orwell’s ‘1984’ the dictatorship rule of Big Brother in the totalitarianism society is shown to brainwash the populace, making them believe whatever the organisation wishes them to and bending them at their will. This is most prominent in Big Brothers slogan â€Å"WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS KNOWLEDGE.† This quote is seen multiple times throughout the novel and signifies the total power and control the organisation has among the people, forcing them to believe the illogical and thus taking away their humanity. Through this we can see both Orwell’s shared perspective on the detrimental impact of dictatorship rule and the intertextual connection to political reform as he makes a statement against the dictatorship of Nazi Germany during World War 2. Comparably, Lang also shows his shared perspective on the detrimental impact of dictatorship, however he has done so by the use of symbolism. Lang has showed how the total power of dictatorship can be detrimental to humanity by the way in which the workers move in the depths. He shows them to have rigid, machine like movements symbolising their loss of their humanity to the powerful dictatorship rule. This is seen in the scene â€Å"Slaves of the Means of Production† (14.58-17.52). This also links in with the intertextual connections of political reform as it shows Lang’s approval for the government of the time, ‘the Weimar Republic’ and his disapproval of the old dictator monarchy of the Kaiser. Through Orwell’s use of juxtaposition and Lang’s symbolism, it is evident that the shared perspectives of the detrimental impact of dictatorship and the contextual connections of political reform strongly support the quote â€Å"the object of  power is power†. The quote, â€Å"the object of power is power† is strongly supported by the shared perspectives and intertextual connections of George Orwell’s novel, ‘1984’ and Fritz Lang’s film, ‘Metropolis’. Through the use of techniques such as symbolism and juxtaposition the two texts incorporate shared perspectives of dystopic societies, the rebelling of women and the detrimental impact of dictatorship rule as well as intertextual connections of political reform and the empowerment of women. Through these shared perspectives and intertextual connects it is evident that George Orwell’s quote, â€Å"the object of power is power† is strongly supported in both George Orwell’s 1949 novel, ‘1984’ and Fritz Lang’s 1927 film, ‘Metropolis’.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Film Analysis Of All The Presidents Men - 1270 Words

Analysis of All the President s Men All the President s Men, the 1976 film directed by Alan J. Pakula, is a detective thriller that portrays the story behind the Washington Post reporter s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein s Pulitzer Prize winning relentless pursuit of the Watergate conspiracy. It initially started as a local burglary story and eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon. Over 40 years after Nixon s resignation, the Academy Award winning film was shown on July 14, 2017, at the Paramount Theater s Screening Series in Oakland, California. This film has current significance as the current US president is in the middle of a special investigation for possible obstruction of justice. All the President s Men stands†¦show more content†¦After a short news clip, the film begins with a flashback. There are a few seconds where the screen is completely black. Then, a small flashlight slowly scans a dark alley, looking for anything unusual. This light led to uncovering the break in at the Democratic National Committee office at Watergate. This slow paced event is elevated in importance by the lack of any dialogue or music, creating a tense mysterious mood. There is nothing to distract the viewer from following the light. The film frequently cuts between dark night shots and the brightly lit Washington Post s newsroom. The lack of shadows represents that the goal of the newsroom was to find the truth. Many newsroom shots are close ups of mismatched reporters: new reporter Woodward and veteran reporter Bernstein revising stories. These scenes could have slowed the pace of the film down, but instead, we get to see into the thinking and motives of the characters. In a key scene in the film, the camera focuses on a TV set showing Richard Nixon’s second inauguration. Off to the side in the newsroom, we see Woodward and Bernstein working on the story that would bring Nixon down. The wide angle shots of the nearly empty newsroom show that Woodward and Bernstein were working around the clock to uncover the truth. News stories come together out of scraps of information under the bright lights in the newsroom. In the newsroom, Woodward and Bernstein had theShow MoreRelatedFilm Critique of All the Presidents Men1541 Words   |  7 PagesI. Summary Opening in theaters around the United States in April of 1976, All the Presidents Men paints quite an accurate account of American journalism yet at the same time is a suspenseful adventure that manages to entertain and inform its viewers. Vincent Canby, a reviewer for the New York Times called the movie, an unequivocal smash-hitÂâ€"the thinking mans Jaws. 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