Steven Spielberg’s next big production, scheduled for release next year, will bring Belgian comic book hero Tintin to life.
Spielberg plans to do a trilogy based on the adventures of this young journalist and his faithful Fox terrier Milou.
“The Lord of the Rings” Director Peter Jackson might direct one of the movies and fans hope George Lucas will direct the other.
Newspapers in the UK predict this series will be as big as Harry Potter.
I’m not used to promoting big blockbusters, especially those that will put millions more in Spielberg’s pocket. However, I can’t deny I’m thrilled that new generations will get to know the reporter who inspired me to become one.
Georges Prosper Remi, better known as Hergé, wrote and drew “The Adventures of Tintin” from 1929 until his death in 1983.
He died before completing his character’s last adventure “Tintin et le Alph-art.”
A total of 24 issues tells the story of a boy prodigy who works for newspaper “The Little Twentieth” doing investigative reporting around the world and even in outer space. Since the age of 11, Tintin unveils various crime — including Al Capone’s dirty businesses — political corruption, murder, robbery, disappearances and other mysteries well hidden by world leaders and the scientific community. Being this talented has its price; his name is soon included in black and most-wanted lists in several countries.
Bounty hunters, the military and police tried to kill him or at least give him a lesson. Throughout his life he is imprisoned and sentenced to death but always gets his way with a little help from his friends, most of the time from his wonder dog.
At the end of every adventure, Tintin saved the day, but I only recall seeing him once writing a story, which was the reason he went through all that trouble in the first place. I would like to assume he worked in his stories on his way back to Brussels and that he gave his editor constant updates during his investigations. Maybe Hergé didn’t want to waste ink in explaining the obvious.
However, as I learn more about journalism, I’ve realized Tintin committed a few reporting sins throughout his career. First of all, he rarely carried a note pad with him. I never saw him writing good quotes from his sources although most of them told him really revealing things.
Tintin was a master of disguise: he went undercover to sneak into restricted places, fool his sources and eventually get the information. Most of his “Little Twentieth” colleagues wouldn’t have found that very ethical. But probably the most questionable thing for the journalism world is that Tintin always got involved with the story to a point in which he became the news.
Tintin usually left his reporting priorities aside to help people in distress. In his first assignment, he beat up Soviet soldiers because they wouldn’t give people enough food. During his journey in South America, Tintin advised a guerrilla leader to start a riot in a dictator’s mansion to start an insurrection. Other times, he stole several ancient artifacts from palaces and ruins to give them to the “good guys,” and more than once, he turned in criminals to the police.
No one could doubt Tintin’s intentions were good and that his actions saved a lot of lives, stopped crime and put those responsible behind bars, but his stories probably wouldn’t have been accurate, objective and fair. In other words, he triumphed as a hero but failed as a journalist.
Tintin’s dilemma is far from fictional. Journalists worldwide lose sleep trying to figure out when it is right to be a hero and when they should be mere informers. Even today, no one has been able to give an answer that would convince everybody, and it is unlikely that someone ever will.
Ethics in journalism are as subjective as the human mind. It all depends on the circumstances of the situation at stake. This relativity becomes a problem when journalists abuse it for their own purposes. The bad reputation newspapers have gained over the years come from reporters and editors using their work to get revenge, money or other personal gratification.
Because some journalists write their stories based on their interests instead of society’s, they give politicians and other public figures the perfect excuse to diminish journalism in general.
Spanish journalist and writer Alex Grijelmo said the freedom of information is mainly for the readers rather than for the reporters. Journalists are the readers’ servants, therefore they must always take them in consideration regardless of the story or the people involved in it. That may be one of the few universal rules in journalism.
Although Tintin is not the best example of a neutral reporter, I still read his adventures to think about what I would do if I were him, and at the same time, they remind me that some of his actions should only belong in the comic book world.
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