Last night I attended the DC premiere of “Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times,” a new documentary focusing on the changing landscape of journalism in the age of Twitter, The Huffington Post and online media start-ups like HyperVocal.

As the pre-eminent newspaper in the country, the Times has a vivid history that was featured in the film, along with the characters that make up the Times’ media writing team. Specifically, the film focuses on David Carr, who plays the on-the-verge-of-curmudgeon, former drug-addicted writer who is adapting to new tricks of the trade, and Brian Stelter, the young, former blogger who is a leading voice for the new journalism revolution inside the Times’ traditional news room.

The film chronicles a year (2009) inside the Times, complete with lay-offs, the mainstream media’s acknowledgment of the power of WikiLeaks, and the explosion of Twitter among the media elite.

Both Carr and Stelter are clearly very talented, and the interactions between the two that are captured on film are definitely entertaining. Carr’s gruff banter, along with a battle-scarred voice, makes for the most humorous moments, including a scene when he comes to the quick defense of the Times, using some salty language, while interviewing the founders of Vice Magazine about their partnership with CNN. For anyone interested in how the sausage gets made, witnessing Carr and Stelter hash out stories, along with their snarky, yet clear-minded editor, Bruce Headlam, is fascinating.

Although the film alludes to the recently implemented pay wall, the viewer is left with more questions than answers about the future of the big newspaper.

In the short follow-up panel after the event, the discussion focused quickly on the role of news aggregating websites versus those who have original contributions. “The Week” magazine’s Margaret Carlson was moderating and pointed out the moment in the film when Carr, while debating Michael Wolff of Newser.com, showed a side-by-side printout of Newser’s homepage, one with all the aggregated stories cut out. Carr was making the point that new media couldn’t exist without traditional reporting done by organizations like the Times. You can watch the entire 2009 debate here:

Carr continued in the post-screening panel to criticize Huffington Post’s early aggregation model and basically called it “stealing.” He also questioned Arianna Huffington’s decision to enter into the “blob” of AOL, rather than remain an independent voice. Of course, Carr has been critical of HuffPo’s model of mostly free labor in the past. Yet, even Carr acknowledged that with AOL’s money, Huffington has begun to hire full-time journalists, including the Times’ Peter Goodman and Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, and thus, HuffPo and the Times have started to move closer toward each other.

Both Carr and Stelter are quick to defend their publication, as Stelter pointed out that although numbers aren’t out yet on the Times’ pay wall, he believes the paper had already hit the bottom, and the pay wall indicates its redemption. If that’s true, for the 100 staffers that were laid off during the filming of the documentary, I’m sure they wish the Times’ management had a little more foresight.

In the film, Stelter is slightly overweight, balding, and represents the old blogger stereotype well. He has since shed close to 90 pounds, has gone for the shaved head look, and is now dating the gorgeous (and Northwestern grad) CNBC anchor Nicole Lapin. If that’s not a sign of the agility and adeptness of new media, then I don’t know what is.

Final decision: If you are a media buff, go see the film in the theaters. If not, definitely catch it on Netflix.

MORE: Here’s an interview Showbiz411 and HV collaborator Chris Barrett did with Andrew Rossi: