| Director | Antonio Campos, António Campos |
|---|---|
| Box office | $313,465 |
In 1974, Christine Chubbuck, a television reporter in Sarasota, Florida, struggles with stress personally and professionally. While she's cultivating a crush on co-worker George Peter Ryan, her doctor tells her she needs to have an ovary removed, which will decrease the likelihood of her ever conceiving a child. Her boss, Michael wants her to focus less on the human-interest pieces she prefers, and more on crime, which brings in news ratings. The station's owner intends to promote some of the Sarasota team with a move to Baltimore.
Eager to earn the promotion, Christine buys a police scanner hoping to find grittier stories. Though her co-workers praise her work, Michael disapproves. Christine proposes a piece combining documentary and recreation but Michael rejects it, telling Christine her segment will be replaced, resulting in a screaming match. Christine begins to have increasingly negative mood shifts, noticed only by her supportive colleague Jean.
Christine goes to a restaurant with George and they confide personal secrets. George takes Christine to a Transactional Analysis self-help group where Christine reveals she is a virgin but desperately wants a husband and a biological child. George takes Christine to her home and tells her he is being promoted to the Baltimore team. Christine drives to the home of station owner Bob Anderson, faking a flat tire so she can discuss the Baltimore promotions. Anderson reveals George asked for Andrea, the sports anchor, to be transferred with him, which devastates Christine.
Michael gives Christine permission to do another segment and she reads out several minutes of local news. When footage of a crime scene jams and she is asked to stall, she shrugs it off. She announces that the station will be airing a live suicide attempt, pulls out a revolver, and shoots herself in the head. She is taken to the hospital, where she dies.
Jean puts together Christine's news clippings and forms them into a memorial segment before leaving work. Once at home, Jean pulls an ice cream container from the freezer and turns on the television, changing the station from an evening news segment to The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Fighting back inevitable tears, Jean begins to sing along to the theme song and eat her ice cream, a tactic she earlier told Christine she uses as a way of coping with sadness.