Spielberg's 'The Post' tells the story of Pentagon Papers

Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg turns his camera on Katharine Graham, the first female publisher of a major American newspaper and stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks with his new film The Post.

The newspaper drama The Post recounts the nail-biting behind-the-scenes story of the 1971 publication by The Washington Post of the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the lies behind US involvement in the Vietnam War.

In the film, Graham's media outlet is bent on publicising the Pentagon Papers which contain controversial facts about the war, while facing the government pressure to back down from the story.

Spielberg believes there are similarities between his historic drama and today's US politics.

'Fake news'

He said it "reminded me of things that are happening right now in terms of the media being broadsided by this administration (in Washington) and being labelled if they're not pleased with the coverage."

"News sources are being called fake, or fake news, as a new kind of hashtag that's out there these days, and I've found that 'Oh my God,' when I read the script, I said: 'Wow (former US President Richard) Nixon did the same thing (as current President Donald Trump) but without a Twitter account."

But the film has been criticised for omitting the role of rival newspaper The New York Times which won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the issue.

Spielberg spent the last few years of his career making pictures about men who played important roles in US history.