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| Jane Fonda as News Director Leona Lansing |
This week's episode of "The Newsroom" brought up a topic that I had not previously considered...that it's important for there to be one hour devoted to news per day that doesn't have to compete for the same advertising dollar as the audience of The Jersey Shore.
Will McAvoy gives an opening "Editorial Comment" in which he plays an apologetic senator's recorded tape and uses this to launch into his own apology, in which he cites his show's failure in the past to report responsible news. In short, ratings instead of content has been driving the national discussion.
I have to say, Will McAvoy has got an excellent point.
Then enters Jane Fonda. Now, Fonda is pretty much a legendary star. And she said basically nothing during the majority of this episode. But I was expecting her to say something. When she did, it was in answer to the aftermath of the congressional elections of 2010 in which many TEA party candidates were elected. In the episode, Bachmann was compared to McCarthy. I can definitely see the resemblance. But Fonda in the role of her character...not so much. I think the intent of bringing that up though is for the viewer to decide because we are the "fly on the wall."
All of that aside, an interesting dilemma was posed by Fonda's character who is the head of the Newsroom and essentially calls all the shots. She said that she has regular "business" in front of "this congress" and stated that McAvoy needed to tone it down and stop making them look stupid (even if they are stupid) because that would make her job very difficult. I don't like this at all, and it had me thinking...how much of our news comes down to us from people who may be afraid to ask the tough questions?
How much of the political and economic discussion in this country is driven by fund raising?
I'm in the UK and the first episode of this airs tonight over here, so I'll wait to read your blog post until afterwards. Just to avoid possible spoilers ;)
ReplyDeleteI didn't see that first post. Still not caught up, thought I haven't fallen any farther behind. This doesn't exactly sound like my kind of show, but I'm glad there's stuff like that out there.
ReplyDeleteI just posted my review of your book! :D Here's the link: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/354826254 Sorry it took me so long to read. The last month has been busy for me.
Sadly a lot of the news is business. (And sensationalism and meant to instill fear.)
ReplyDeleteMight catch some of this show as I'm considering picking up HBO just long enough to watch the next season of Game of Thrones.
I do listen to NPR podcast shows and sometimes visit their website. The Newsroom is a great show.
ReplyDeleteSpin, hype, and sensationalism are everywhere. I let what resonates in my gut guide me. It's ALL about the ratings and advertising dollars. They couldn't afford to be on the air otherwise. Can't get NPR here in Mexico. I do get HBO though, but can't stand Jane Fonda. I can still see her kow towing to the Vietcong. That war still puts a knot in my stomach. My husband was there. For now, it's True Blood. I'll take vampires over preachy series any day.
ReplyDeleteDid you read the column Ebert linked to a few days ago about how inaccurate "The Newsroom" is? Which wouldn't surprise me from the guy who wrote "The Social Network" and "Moneyball." Aaron Sorkin never lets the truth get in the way of a story.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny if you watch "Network" from the '70s where it was saying the same thing about corporate news broadcasting. That was almost 40 years ago and it's only gotten worse, evidenced by Fox "News."
@Suzanne: lol okay. I look forward to seeing what you think about it.
ReplyDelete@Brooke: Oh I love your review Brooke! What a pleasant surprise to wake up to. Thank you for the kind words and the honest appraisal of the dialogue you didn't like. I appreciate the feedback and the time you took to write it. *hugs.
@Alex: Well "The Newsroom" and "Game of Thrones" do not run concurrently so you'd have to subscribe to HBO for almost twice as long. HBO offers a lot of great programming though. I love True Blood, The Newsroom, Game of Thrones (of course), but there's also Boardwalk Empire. I think it's a sound investment.
@Brinda: I love NPR.
@Em-Musing: Ah yes...Jane Fonda's unforgiveable treason. I agree, what she did in Vietnam should have been taken as a treasonous act. I wasn't looking at that though but merely looking at her role on "The Newsroom". I don't think "The Newsroom" is "preachy" per se. It's intellectual television because it makes me question what's going on in today's news which is what I think is the point.
@Dilloway: I didn't read the article. Can you provide a link?
I'm wondering if he's saying that the inaccuracies are in the news or in the way newscasters are portrayed. Again (as I said in my comment to Em-Musing above), I don't think that the point is to be left or right, to see what the headlines are, or to take any kind of stance on the headlines. The point of the show is to cause the viewer to realize and think about just exactly what is the source of the news and why do we go there? That's what I'm doing everytime I watch it. Hence the title of this piece which says, "I'm thankful for NPR". I never thought once about advertising dollars and ratings driving the news.
*hides* I hardly ever listen to NPR... only when I'm traveling... ;)
ReplyDeleteWe still haven't had a chance to watch Newsroom yet. I know we'll catch up at some point, it just hasn't happened yet.
ReplyDeleteI don't listen to NPR, or MPR (for MN) but it's not because i don't support them, it just doesn't hold my interest
Newsroom is rapidly becoming my favorite show on TV. Still not as good as West Wing, but it takes time to develop these things. I just hope they don't descend into soap opera with the past relationships of the main characters, which I find a bit boring.
ReplyDeleteI like NPR quite a bit; I just don't listen to the radio all that often. That's what comes of not being able to have background noise when I write.
ReplyDeleteI don't listen to NPR. When it comes to the news, I usually get my information online.
ReplyDeleteI listen to some NPR -- mostly This American Life and Planet Money. And NPR Shuffle podcasts.
ReplyDeleteMy news comes from online sources -- my Twitter feed, a local site, and then HuffPo, with the sensational stuff coming from Mail Online.
People reporting the news while being worried about what their subjects will say is nothing new and hard to do anything about; I don't know that publicly funding all news gathering is the best way to go about it, as NPR isn't, by my standards, the best source for information.
By which I mean that NPR doesn't have all the information I'd like about the news, not that they're bad at their jobs.
ReplyDeleteI'm Canadian, but I don't think that matters much. All news reports have a slant - much as all versions of history have a slant. Whoever writes/reports/comments has their own personal bias. Add in all the advertisers and worries about making money and I often wonder if any of the 'news' is accurate. Sometimes I think the most reliable news sources are the comedy news shows :)
ReplyDeleteI have never listed to NPR, but I will give it a try. :)
ReplyDeleteI used to listen to NPR for the classical music in the mornings, but I mainly get my news now from Facebook and Twitter.
ReplyDeleteI saw the trailer for Newsroom and it looks intriguing. I don't know if I'd get a lot of it being a Brit, but I like the look of it.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a wonderful series, and Jane Fonda? How very intriguing. Hadn't heard anything from her in forever. I'm a fan of NPR and listen in whenever I can.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this show by it does look interesting.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have HBO, so this s new to me. We do have NPR :) As to your question about politics, economics, and fund raising...money makes the world go around. Always has. Always will. Sad as that is.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been paying attention to the news. I should. But I don't listen to the radio unless I'm in the car, and then I just want to sing along.
ReplyDeleteI know. Terrible.
I do respect NPR, though. Don't listen, but respect.
I watch the PBS News Hour/Washington Week for news. Or if it's a general outcome that I want to know I'll just look it up on Google News.
ReplyDeleteI am finding the show a bit preachy. No that I mind the politics, but don't necessarily want it in lecture form. Also, that blonde moon-faced girl is annoying me a bit.
ReplyDeletemood
I don't listen to NPR because I can't seem to stop equating it with stuffy old people news (even though that's not true at all, just leftover from my childhood.) I read newspapers, online news and watch an occasional newscast. I also get a lit of news (sadly) from social networking sites.
ReplyDeleteI get my news from regular TV. I know it's driven by dollars, so I try to make my own decisions about the stories they air.
ReplyDeleteI know that Jane Fonda would not act in just any show, but we do not have HBO.
ReplyDeleteIf NPR gives us News as they are, then I will ask my kids and my nieces and nephews to support the station. I will have to locate it on my car radio so I can listen to it while driving.
What bugs me about television news is that they advertise it half a dozen times before we get to watch the actual piece of news, plus the dramatization of people's tragedies makes me sick.
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ReplyDeleteHaven't seen The Newsroom, but in France I listen to our news on the radio everyday during lunch (by choice). It's similar to NPR. I find the news we get from the radio is more informative with less sensationalism than what's on TV.
ReplyDeleteLately I haven't listened to NPR as much as I used to, but I miss a few of the shows like Car Guys, so I should try to listen more often.
ReplyDeleteI remember how, several years ago, I heard an in-depth report on NPR about two sexual harassment cases before the Supreme Court, and why the justices had just ruled that one case had no legal merit and the other one did -- it was fascinating. Then that night on some national network news, the reporter gave a 30-second report which had no background for the rulings and didn't tell me much anything. It was lousy journalism. If not for NPR, I wouldn't have understood that this was an important news story.
I'm horrible; I rarely watch the news. I see headlines when I power up the internet, but I'm tired of seeing what star raped an underaged fan; where the latest natural disaster occurred; how many people don't like Obama.
ReplyDeleteShame on me, I know, but I get tired of all the same devastating crap.
At least when I come here (and PT Dilloway too) I feel I get an honest take on all the info. I feel better informed by visiting blogs that explore the issues than watching/reading the news.
.......dhole
media is totally all about ratings, supporting who they want and spin. wish there was more honest tell it like it is journalism and less opinions and skewing!
ReplyDeleteI mostly listen to NPR when driving, and I agree, it's excellent.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying the Newsroom so far. I enjoyed the first episode, thought the 2nd episode was considerably weaker, but that 3rd episode was great. Got me thinking it should have been the debut.
I don't think the first 2 episodes were preachy, but I can certainly understand if people thought the 3rd episode was preachy. It remains to be seen if that's the norm for the show, if they'll go after Obama that hard, or if that was just a one-off kind of thing.
When it comes to the show, to quote Will, "I'm in."
I listen to NPR here and there...usually when I'm traveling in my car. I've also subscribed to their podcasts.
ReplyDeleteLove public television too!
I started this... loved that opening speech! But then they lost me when he backed off his so-called principals. Maybe it's not going to be that way all through but I don't have HBO anyway and I am not going to pay for it. Oh, and... NPR isn't nearly as pristine white as one might like to think, but it's better than nothing. I like our progressive station here better -you can listen online-760KTLK. CHeers!
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