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Last month I started watching a DVD boxset of Aaron Sorkin& #39;s #TheNewsroom — it had lain untouched for a few years because the first episode pissed me off so much. But I decided to give it another try... (thread)
...For those who haven& #39;t watched it, #TheNewsroom is annoying for precisely the same reason The West Wing was good: it tries to show what journalism *could* be, if only it got its act together...
(For example, in episode 1 two new-that-day producers lead a broadcast news team to uncover the scandal behind the *breaking* Deepwater Horizon spill story)
(In less than a day.)
(To a journalist, this is like President Bartlet fixing the climate crisis over breakfast)
(In less than a day.)
(To a journalist, this is like President Bartlet fixing the climate crisis over breakfast)
But anyway. Watched barely 8 years on, #TheNewsroom becomes a fascinating window into what now feels like a totally different era...
First of all: the *entitlement*
#TheNewsroom is able to uncover a corporate scandal in less than 24 hours in episode 1 because the senior producer went to (we assume Ivy League) college with someone at BP. Not only that, his sister is senior at Haliburton.
#TheNewsroom is able to uncover a corporate scandal in less than 24 hours in episode 1 because the senior producer went to (we assume Ivy League) college with someone at BP. Not only that, his sister is senior at Haliburton.
It& #39;s an acceptance of privilege from another age. If Sorkin was writing a "how it should be" #TheNewsroom right now, I very much doubt the characters would be well-connected in the same way (i.e. through family and education rather than through source-building)
Secondly, #TheNewsroom perfectly distils the cultural challenges that the internet presented to journalism. Although it looks like it& #39;s about broadcast journalism — it& #39;s actually equally about *online* journalism.
...Each episode of #TheNewsroom is like a chapter in the history of online journalism:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark"> Blogging
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark"> Wikileaks
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark"> Online trolls
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark"> The Baghdad Blogger
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark"> The misreporting of the death of Senator Giffords
...which makes it a great history of that period in journalism& #39;s recent past, including the excitement surrounding it — typically channeled through the character Neal Sampat, who writes the blog of the TV show& #39;s presenter...
(Neal is one of the very few non-white characters in #TheNewsroom - and not only is his role very junior, but his route into the newsroom appears to have been through accident rather than merit: on the Tube during the 7/7 bombings, he filmed footage & sent it to a TV station)
As the blogger on the team, Neal& #39;s portrayal is in its own way a history of the stereotype of the online journalist c2012: someone excited the potential of Wikileaks, who lurks on message boards for trolls, while pitching stories about the Yeti at news meetings #TheNewsroom
(In another scene that you wouldn& #39;t see 8 years on, Neal asks a female colleague if he can say online that she & #39;slept her way to the top& #39; as part of an undercover role)
(She slaps him. Then agrees.)
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤔" title="Thinking face" aria-label="Emoji: Thinking face">
#TheNewsroom
(She slaps him. Then agrees.)
#TheNewsroom
The role of women in #TheNewsroom, by the way, is summed up pretty well here: https://www.vulture.com/2012/07/newsroom-recap-season-1-episode-2.html">https://www.vulture.com/2012/07/n...
...So #TheNewsroom had a lot about it which is annoying — but also a lot which is potentially inspiring and instructive, and I keep wondering whether to show it to journalism students...
...For example, the Giffords shooting is a case study in how misinformation on a death gets misreported (the idea that a TV station would not run it once NPR had is laughable, of course, but the arguments they have over it are instructive) ... #TheNewsroom
...And the episode of #TheNewsroom with an Egyptian & #39;stringer& #39; (basically the Baghdad Blogger) provides fantastic material to talk through the ethics of reporting in other countries/cultures, responsibilities towards contributors etc.
... #TheNewsroom provides plenty of material to talk to students about political interviewing, and political reporting more generally. The stuff on political (Tea Party) funding adds more talking points, too.
...Episode 6 of #TheNewsroom is perfect for talking through the ethics of off the record conversations with sources (and also a disastrous interview where a gay politician is treated as being defined by his sexuality) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni5vrHJToxs">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
