At a Northwestern University journalism symposium, a student asks, “Why do you believe America is the greatest country on earth?” Will McAvoy, the anchor of ACN’s prime time program “News Night” gives a pat answer about the nation’s ideals first articulated in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The moderator keeps pressing him to say more, until he suggests the United States does not deserve the descriptor “greatest” based on its global rankings in categories such as literacy, math, science, life expectancy, infant mortality, median household income and exports. He then reminisces about a time when “American exceptionalism” was more than a sound bite.
We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed. We cared about our neighbors. We put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence. We didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t–we didn’t scare so easy. Huh. Ahem, we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. Enough?
The media firestorm following McAvoy’s remarks led to a three-week suspension. Was this just one more example of MAGA world’s perceived “liberal propaganda” at one of the nation’s most respected institutions of higher learning Donald Trump used to freeze a total $790 million of previously awarded research grants to the Illinois university? I can assure you it was not. How can I be so sure? Because ACN and Will McAvoy are not real. They are figments of Aaron Sorkin’s imagination.
Moreover, the timeline proves McAvoy’s diatribe about lost greatness had nothing to do with Donald Trump. It appeared on Season 1, Episode 1 of Sorkin’s HBO series, “The Newsroom,” which first aired on June 24, 2012. And the fictional Northwestern symposium occurred approximately three weeks before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 20, 2010, the news coverage of which dominates much of the pilot episode.
What did Sorkin see that so many did not? Less than two years after the September 2008 onset of “The Great Recession,” the Center for American Progress reported, “The U.S. economy has turned the corner.” This assessment was based on a 5.6 growth in GDP in the fourth quarter of 2009, the highest gain since 2003. And despite constant GOP targeting of the Affordable Care Act, in an April 25, 2010 Gallup poll, Barack Obama still held a seven percent net positive approval rating, equivalent to his 7.3 margin of victory in November 2008. The Democrats’ 2010 mid-terms “shellacking” was still seven months away. It should have been a time of optimism.
Unfortunately, hope for a better tomorrow was drowned out by voices of doom and gloom. Among them was a cash poor, bankrupt casino developer who had been reincarnated as a reality TV host. Donald Trump, whose real estate empire was based on his brand rather than his achievements, did for politics exactly what he had done for commercial real estate. He attached his name to someone else’s efforts. In 2010, it was the Tea Party movement which the GOP rode to victory in the 2010 mid-terms and beyond.
Trump’s adoption of the Tea Party’s list of grievances as his own becomes clear during a February 2011 surprise appearance at the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee) annual conference where he says he is considering running for president in 2012. A transcript produces the same disjointed word salad which is his trademark to this day. Yet, I cannot help but wonder if Sorkin was writing Will McAvoy’s opening salvo about the state of the union at the same time and picked up on some of Trump’s themes. Premier among them is Trump’s multiple references to enemies, “…there are too many enemies, both very smart and not so smart strewn along the highway to success.” McAvoy echoed this sentiment when he yearns for the days when “we didn’t scare so easy.” Trump also proves McAvoy’s point that we belittle each other when describing Obama as someone who “…came out of nowhere. In fact, the people who went to school with him never saw him.” More importantly, through McAvoy, Sorkin expresses his concern about how corporate ownership and a focus on ratings and profits would corrupt the fourth estate when the anchor reminds his collegiate audience, “The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” And that requires an informed public.
Did Sorkin parse Trump’s words as he laid out the concept for “The Newsroom?” What did he think when Trump claims, “I’ve beat many people and companies and have won many wars.” Or lies like, “Bloomberg Business Week said, in a vote, Donald Trump was the world’s most competitive business president.” And, “Steve Forbes stated I was one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the history of free trade.” Neither of which are true. Did Sorkin wonder, “What is network news’ responsibility to push back against such blatant disinformation and how is the best way to do that?”
Until McAvoy shakes up the landscape during the Northwestern symposium, his audience perceives him as a right of center Republican who avoids risks and checks in daily with the corporate executive who tracks ratings. However, when confronted with the possibility he abandoned his journalistic integrity in search of an ever larger, adoring audience, Sorkin cues up the very questions that plague the industry to this day.
- What is an appropriate balance between network news as a public service and a commercial enterprise?
- To what extent is the content driven by what the public wants to hear versus what they need to hear?
- Where does the newsroom staff get its information and how do they decide which sources can be trusted?
- How do you separate the noise from the signal?
My wife and I had not watched “The Newsroom” since it originally aired from 2012-14. We were curious if it, like Sorkin’s “The West Wing” held up over time. Based on the first two episodes, I am convinced, if Sorkin had conceived the project yesterday, he would not have changed a word in the script. It is a shame HBO waited so long to make “The Newsroom” available again. Maybe this time more people will heed the message.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP
How about not what they want to hear vs. what they need to hear, but just what the truthful reality is? Like Walter Cronkite. And yeah, who IS feeding the news to the editors?