That said, I do like that the documentary is straightforward in pronouncing how bad things really are. You can see it in the reporters’ faces and hear it in their words: It’s like they’re somewhat shell-shocked covering a war gone very bad.

All in, it’s a great effort by the Journal’s new media team and an interesting look at what its news team can do when unleashed from the written word. It’s a glimpse of what journalism could become a few years from now.

But first, it’ll have to overcome technical challenges. This piece was supposed to have been posted yesterday, but the wsj.com video player crashed repeatedly on multiple computers.

So viewers who thought they’d devote half an hour to watch faces made for print (kidding! You’re beautiful—all of you! Don’t ever change!) talk about financial history probably gave up somewhere about five minutes into it, which is when the player crashed on us for just the second of at least fifteen times.

Fortunately for you, I’m paid to do this kind of thing, so I persevered through five crashes to watch it in its entirety (helpful hint: when it crashes, you can easily drag the scroll bar to where you left off). You may say I’m quibbling here, but this is $26 billion News Corporation, not, say, an industry trade show! As of 2:15 p.m., the video just flat crapped out.

We’re hoping they’ll fix it. Despite an editorial misstep or two, it’s worth watching.

• 1
• 2