Journalism is Dying: Why Aaron Sorkin Picked the News Media for His First HBO Series<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I accept the premise that a free press is essential to a healthy society in the modern world. Not just free though. The press must also\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2012\/06\/journalism-is-dying-why-aaron-sorkin-picked-the-news-media-for-his-first-hbo-series.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Journalism is Dying: Why Aaron Sorkin Picked the News Media for His First HBO Series\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I accept the premise that a free press is essential to a healthy society in the modern world. Not just free though. 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Journalism is dying.<\/p>\n

Journalism is dying because it has an agenda, and it is not to fulfill its essential role in our society. No longer is there any pervasive sense of duty among journalists; no sense of commitment to the role the free press plays in forcing us all to tell the truth about our society and the way we\u2019ve chosen to live together. Now journalism is consumed by nefarious political hackery and\u00a0salacious\u00a0games of gotcha. In an effort to fill 24 hours of cable new programming time, true journalism has gone out the window.<\/p>\n

I think this is why Aaron Sorkin picked The Newsroom<\/a><\/i> as his newest foray into television screen writing. Aaron Sorkin<\/a> is one of the best writers of our time, and one of the first great writers of his generation who learned to master the screenplay\/teleplay format in a way reminiscent of Norman Lear. Sorkin is at the top of his game, and is profession. He doesn\u2019t just pick projects because they could be successful, or because its a good idea. Sorkin is trying to make a difference.<\/p>\n

Sorkin, whose magnum opus<\/i> was the legendary television juggernaut The West Wing<\/a><\/i>, is one of the only writers working today who has the guts to take on the big issues of our society in a way that calls into question the assumptions we all take for granted. He perfectly positions the complicated dynamics of any situation, and isn\u2019t afraid to pick on every side equally. It\u2019s why conservatives and liberals alike couldn\u2019t stop watching the West Wing. Sorkin tells the ugly truth. He bothers us, he bothers me\u2026 and I can\u2019t stop watching.<\/p>\n

Neither can America. Everything Sorkin writes is\u00a0uncompromising. Amazingly he has a knack for writing commercially viable material without going below the belt. His breakout hit was A Few Good Men<\/i>, seen first as a successful play but finding a huge audience the movie starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. How would you like to say you wrote the line, \u201cYou can\u2019t handle the truth.\u201d The Social Network<\/i> won Sorkin an Oscar for best adapted screenplay. The list of movie credits is impressive: The American President, Moneyball, Malice<\/i>.<\/p>\n

In an era when the press has failed, I\u2019m glad there are writers like Aaron Sorkin out there who are willing to help us understand what went wrong. Nothing could be more appropriate for Sorkin\u2019s biting insight than for him to turn the lens 180 degrees and really stick it to the networks. The problem is (it\u2019s only a problem if we make it one), he\u2019ll stick to all of us in the process. There are no free passes in a Sorkin story. Following in the illustrious footsteps of great movies like Network (1976),and Broadcast News (1987), Sorkin\u2019s new show will exploit the tension between what journalism has become, what it is meant to be \u2013 what it must be if we are going to organize our common life together in such a way that we don\u2019t tear each other apart \u2013 and what part we all play in its demise. Everybody\u2019s got a little blood on their hands. If you want to find out how, tune in June 24th.<\/p>\n

My advice? Turn off Fox News and MSNBC, watch these three trailers\u2026 then start figuring out how much it costs to order HBO.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wC8ovJYAU3U?version=3<\/a>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lgFZbrwmndA?version=3<\/a>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PpKC50uFVQ0?version=3<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"