Scott Shackford on Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom

Aaron Sorkin's new HBO drama, The Newsroom, wears its paternalism on its sleeve. Rich white media elites lecture each other on and on about how America went astray when it stopped listening to rich white media elites lecture us on and on about how America is going astray. Is there any way to convince those stupid Americans with their "polarized" opinions to go back to listening to rich white media elites again? Or rather, can the cast of The Newsroom convince those stupid Americans to listen to their rich white media elites rather than those other rich white media elites on cable news who are obviously wrong about everything and don't care about the noble profession of journalism?

Scott Shackford says no, because the show is awful and was doomed from the start by Sorkin's interest in pontificating rather than learning. Sorkin's self-professed ignorance about the media and defensiveness about his own writing makes The Newsroom excruciating to watch for anybody who isn't on the same exact page as Sorkin.