West Wing for News, day 2
By
Dave Winer on Friday, July 13, 2012 at 8:57 AM.
 What people don't get about The Newsroom is they are hacking cable news.  How so? By reporting on current events, the way Sorkin wishes the real cable news people would do it. When a liar lies on camera, ask why she's lying. So what if they won't come back. Hey it's fiction. The characters aren't real. (And if real politicians start showing up on the fake news, it isn't fake anymore, and they'll lose their credibility. If that happens, it'll be over.)
Yes, the young producer has a fax machine next to his bed.
And they all use Blackberries and Nokias with embarassing ringtones. They should of course be using iPhones and Androids.
Their email system has bugs which allow people to accidentally send personal messages to huge numbers of people.
Yes, it is supposed to be taking place in 2012.
And yes, it seems they are going to totally screw with the mediocrity of the cable news system.
Hey we get Breaking Bad and The Newsroom on Sunday nights. This is going to be a lot of fun.
Update: Another way Sorkin is hacking news. McAvoy goes for a walk with the network demographics guy. He says Will's numbers would go up if he tossed a bone to conservatives. Next show he says something nice about Sarah Palin. He gets his wrist slapped by the EP, who says he can't do that. He says OK. A tutorial for media slaves (hamsters) on How It Really Works. May be boring or subtle, but it's also truthful. This way the show is also The Wire for News.
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