There is a montage in this film of doors closing in reporters' faces and phones slamming down on cradles. That little sequence represents weeks of my work; if you were to make an accurate drama about investigative journalism, it would make up the whole film.
State of Play is the story of a reporter, played by Russell Crowe, investigating a political conspiracy. Some aspects feel authentic. The newsroom of the Washington Globe (clearly supposed to be the Washington Post) looks like the real thing - crowded, cluttered, chaotic - and the film captures the tension between traditional reporters and bloggers. I liked Helen Mirren as the editor, too, even if she was basically playing DCI Jane Tennison. A lot of editors I've worked for have been every bit as foul-mouthed. Present editor excluded, of course.
However, for a journalist, Crowe doesn't take many notes. He gets some amazing quotes, but I kept thinking, "You want to get that down, mate. Get your notebook out!" He takes an implausibly short time to complete an investigation, and has little trouble finding a mole in the evil arms corporation. There are people I've been working on for months, even years, and I still haven't persuaded them to trust me.
He also reaches the conspiracy theory faster than any real reporter would. Conspiracies do happen, but we tend to assume they don't - there is almost always another explanation. In reality, most of the job is knowing how to access information, not meeting some deep throat in an underground car park. I've never been shot at, either, though someone who helped me in another country was badly beaten up.
One quote struck me: "People still know the difference between real news and bullshit." That's absolutely right.
• State of Play is out now. Ian Cobain works on the Guardian's news desk.
