[ht: hf]
To provide a little context for those who haven’t watched The Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin’s latest television program: Jeff Daniels’s character, Will McAvoy, is the (non-Tea Party) Republican anchor and managing editor of News Night whose success, until this point in the show, had been largely the result of never offending anyone.
The problem with the show, as in this scene, is that is harkens back to a time—of an informed electorate and unbiased news reporting by such figures as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite—that never existed.
Still, it has its moments. . .
This video beckons the question: “So, what are we going to do about it?”
Out of interest, David, have you read Herman and Chomsky’s work on media in the United States?
Of course I have, Cornelius. And I recommend it to many students. For a little test, I often suggest that students watch the evening news on different networks and flip back and forth among them to get a sense that, aside from different “human interest stories,” much the same consent is being manufactured by the different channels of mainstream media.
Prof.
You know, I’m neither American, nor a young man anymore. But, rightly or wrongly, this is how people like me, living overseas, used to see the US.
Frankly, by the time the actor finished, I had tears in my eyes.
I guess you could say I am grieving for your country. And for mine.