I’ve watched every episode of The Newsroom, a new HBO TV series aired on Sunday nights. It’s creator and primary writer is Aaron Sorkin, who chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at a fictional channel, Atlantis Cable News.
Throughout the season so far, I’ve found the show’s premise and performance interesting enough to keep me tuning in. However, although I know the show is fiction and greatly contrived, there are scenes and story segments that actually get me livid at times. And, despite the fact that I should have realized the cause far sooner, I now think I’ve figured out why.
The lead character, Will McAvoy -I think played quite well by Jeff Daniels- is the anchor at ACS whom continually describes himself as a true moderate Republican. However, at present there are many aspects of what he believes the party's become that he strongly disagrees with. And as a result, he uses his anchorship forum to vividly point out a host of issues to prove his point.
Therefore, there are TV clips and bites showing such folks as Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain and Sarah Palin, among other Tea Party favorites at their worst, making gaffes, sounding foolish or otherwise looking bigoted or simply out of touch. But the fact is, with first rate editing, direction and surrounding filler and commentary, producers can present almost any image or perception they want.
And that’s when the belated light went on for me. Because I finally woke up and realized that by making the show’s lead a Republican who’s currently displeased by some in his party, and having him demonstrate the reasons by focusing on examples supposedly proving his point, Sorkin’s using the character to smear, disparage, degrade and point out all that he himself likely disagrees with. Which is something I believe confirmed by the case that Democrats are not only never discredited, they aren't even mentioned at all.
Now, if my assumptions about the show’s politics are correct, it’s premise is absolutely brilliant and beyond. Because by creating a frustrated Republican whom addresses a large audience each week with continual examples of why he’s upset with his party, Sorkin throws every kind of mud he can think of under the guise of Mc Avoy being their ally.
And what’s even better for Sorkin is that since the show is fiction, there’s no rebuttal or requirement for equal time
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
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