--- title: Tom Hanks at Washington Post Meeting for 'Pentagon Papers' description: Tom Hanks sat in a newspaper meeting at the Washington Post to study for his new role in the journalism film, "Pentagon Papers" canonical: https://time.com/4794758/tom-hanks-washington-post-pentagon-papers/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-25T19:01:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:57.587Z og:title: Here's Tom Hanks Casually Sitting In on a Newspaper Meeting og:description: He's taking his role as a news man to a very high level og:url: https://time.com/4794758/tom-hanks-washington-post-pentagon-papers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Tom Hanks Casually Sitting In on a Newspaper Meeting twitter:description: He's taking his role as a news man to a very high level twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's a Photo of Journalism Champ Tom Hanks Casually Sitting In on a Newspaper Meeting > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 25, 2017 7:01 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 25, 2017 7:01 PM UTC [Tom Hanks](http://time.com/4688948/tom-hanks-press-corps-coffee/) and Steven Spielberg sat in on a Washington _Post_ morning news meeting Thursday to prepare for their upcoming movie based on historical acts of journalism in the 1970s. The _Post_‘s David Nakamura shared a snapshot of Hanks attentively following the official business of the day during what was likely a higher-than-average-profile meeting at the _Post_. Hanks will star as editor Ben Bradlee alongside Meryl Streep, who will play publisher Kay Graham in a movie based on the _Post_‘s role in publishing stories on the 40-volume leaked study detailing American involvement in the Vietnam war. The White House famously battled in court to stop both the New York _Times_ and Washington _Post_ from publishing stories about the secret documents in a milestone test of the public’s [right to information](http://time.com/3933636/pentagon-papers/). It was “\[t\]he most massive leak of secret documents in U.S. history,” according to TIME’s 1971 account. Hanks isn’t exactly a total stranger to the newsroom — he’s given the White House Press Association coffee machines a number of times throughout the years, and the man loves a typewriter. 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