This week in class we viewed two episodes of The Newsroom, written by Aron Sorkin. The American television drama series premiered on HBO in 2012 for three seasons. The Newsroom stared well-known actor Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy. Jeff Daniels won an Emmy award for this portrayal of a popular news anchor struggling to find the balance between ratings and delivering real news. Other actors and actresses featured in the show are Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn and Sam Waterston.

The Newsroom shows behind-the-scenes events that transpire at the Atlantis Cable News (ACN) station. The series kicks off with Will McAvoy exploding during a debate after being asked, “What makes America the greatest country in the world?”. He flips the script and goes on the offensive to explain the flaws that lie within the United States government and that we are no longer the greatest country in the world. Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston) the director of ACN, hires a new executive producer without informing Will McAvoy. The new E.P. happens to be Will’s ex, Mackenzie, who he has not seen or spoken to in three years. The two hashed out their differences and the episode then turns to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The news team throws the previous stories out and run the oil spill piece completely off script. They successfully deliver the coverage and facts of the spill in exciting fashion. The first episode ends dramatically with Will and Mackenzie sharing a moment from their first date. This leaves the audience craving more outlandish states, romance and wondering what direction the Atlantis Cable News will take next.

Another topic of discussion in class on Wednesday was the major conglomerates that control almost all aspects of television, news and film in American life. The six major conglomerates are GE, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS. Notable properties of these organizations are Universal Pictures and NBC (GE), the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal (News-Corp), ESPN and Marvel Studios (Disney), MTV and Paramount Pictures (Time Warner), and Jeopardy and 60 minutes on CBS. These massive industry giants control 70% of your cable television and had a total revenue of 275.9 billion dollars in 2010. The profit the big six corporations have increased in millions if not billions of dollars in 2019. The six major conglomerates only do not control about 10% of the media in American life.

Publisher – Samuel Erickson