What position at the paper would Henry be leaving if he went to work at the New York Sentinel?
The film takes place during a 24-hour period. Henry Hackett is the metro editor of the New York Sun, a fictional New York City tabloid. He is a workaholic who loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. He is at risk of experiencing the same fate as his editor-in-chief, Bernie White, who put his work first at the expense of his family.
The paper's owner, Graham Keighley, faces dire financial straits, so he has Alicia Clark, the managing editor and Henry's nemesis, impose unpopular cutbacks. Henry's wife Martha, a fellow Sun reporter on leave and about to give birth, is fed up because Henry seems to have less and less time for her, and she really dislikes Alicia Clark. She urges him to seriously consider an offer to leave the Sun and become an assistant managing editor at the New York Sentinel, another fictional newspaper (based on The New York Times), which would mean more money, shorter hours, and more respectability, but might also be a bit boring for his tastes.
Minor subplots involve Alicia, Bernie, and Sun columnist Michael McDougal. McDougal is threatened by an angry city official named Sandusky whom McDougal's column had been tormenting for the past several weeks. Their drunken confrontation in a bar (later in the film) leads to gunfire, which gets Alicia shot in the leg through the wall. Alicia, who is having an affair with Sun reporter Carl and has expensive tastes, schemes to get a raise in her salary. Bernie reveals to Henry that he has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer, which causes him to spend time tracking down his estranged daughter Deanne White, in an attempt to reconcile before his time is up.
metro editor