The screwball comedy His Girl Friday is a hilarious skewering of journalism and politics with fast-talking performances by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, but I doubt many people watch it today because it is 85 years old and in black and white.

It’s a film about a profession that has evolved beyond recognition — and one scene in particular captures how much has changed. I bring it up here for a line that comes around the midpoint of the movie, when a death row prisoner escapes and reporters rush to the phones in their news bureau to call in the story.

“Give me rewrite,” says one.

Most people watching today wouldn’t know what that means, but once upon a time, newspapers had rewrite desks. Reporters out in the field would call in their notes to editors at the rewrite desk, who crafted th

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