The second season of HBO's "The Newsroom" is premiering on July 14th, and if it's anything like the first season, the scathing commentary on the state of journalism today will be unrelenting and painful. Here are five reasons why "The Newsroom" is an insult to journalism (trailer here):
1. New media should be celebrated, not treated with contempt.
The show vilifies new media. The anchor, Will McAvoy, is extremely reluctant to adapt to the times and is bitterly reverential about the good old days when you could only get three versions of the news.
2. Journalists are not the "intellectual elite".
Will and his team think that he is god's greatest gift to mankind and that his viewpoint is beyond reproach, and he therefore doesn't offer contending views.
3. Good journalists have to work hard and be committed to reporting.
The News Night team doesn't see a need to go out and get stories. The reporters rely primarily on luck and pre-existing knowledge.
4. There is always bias in media, you just need to be upfront about it.
Will claims to be a Republican but his story choices indicate the opposite. He repeatedly claims that the tea party is taking over the world and that this is the most pressing story on the docket.
5. Journalists do make mistakes, and they should take responsibility for them.
Will actually does apologize, but on behalf of the journalism industry as a whole (of which he believes he has risen above).
Perhaps we should look to other fictional news people as role models. Anchorman's Ron Burgundy is a shining example of a go-getter journalist who doesn't pretend to be anything other than the lovable imbecile that he is.
Thank goodness we can look forward to "Anchorman 2" coming out in a few months. Trailer here.
Until then, you stay classy, New Media World.
Written and Produced by Tracy Oppenheimer. Camera by Sharif Matar.
About 2 minutes.
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