“The Newsroom” – A Lesson For Contemporary Journalism

   Aaron Sorkin’s “The Newsroom” on HBO, is about as good as it gets, as Sorkin takes a scalpel to the news business.   I won’t get into a lengthy explanation  about the justification for what Sorkin does to the press or how well he does it (please note scalpel metaphor).   Well, okay, maybe just a little.

Imagine a really smart network news anchor (there have been some) on a PBS panel discussing the press before an audience of college students.  His mind goes numb, as others on the panel partake in the usual disinformation, denial of fact and Orwellian talking points that dominate so much of contemporary news coverage.   When a coed steps up to the mike to ask the next in what has been a long line of stupid questions his mind snaps.  He can take it no longer as he issues forth with an angry diatribe of pure fact that indicts the young woman who asked the question, his fellow panelists and the news business in general.  He doesn’t just nip the hand that feeds him.  He bites it completely off.  And he does it by speaking truth.

How refreshing it was to hear the truth!

So much of what we see is art imitating reality.  Even reality programming isn’t pure reality.   It’s reality affected by the presence of a camera.  One can only hope that if enough reporters, editors and news executives watch this new show, that “The Newsroom” could become a motivating factor for reality imitating art.  That’s a lot to hope for, I know.   But please don’t ask me to abandon all hope.  Not yet.

After 40 years in journalism, hearing an actor playing a journalist saying what we need a real journalist to say was almost as good as hearing the real thing.  Almost.  That’s how starved I am for American journalism to get up off its fat corporate duff and tell it like it is.    To get back to what we had in the he 70’s, with Walter Cronkite, Sam Donaldson and Daniel Schorr.   That, was reality tv.   Nothing much is riding on it, except maybe the future of the country.   (with thanks to Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee for the phraseology)

If you missed it, watch it in reruns.  Just watch it.   Some of the best tv in years.  Maybe in decades.  I only hope Sorkin can keep it going.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.