Quality Journalism: The Newsroom - Movie Review Example

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Quality Journalism: The Newsroom Quality journalism is thought of in three views: The public, journalists and editors, and resources. Quality with regard to the public entails identifying how the media entertain, educate, and inform the public. Journalists and editors have also set some quality standards and ethics to follow as they do their duties. The media and journalists also measure the amount of time and money they use to come up with a piece of journalism. In order to take part in the public, the public should be aware of what is going on in the community and the entire world. This is normally accessed through the media or journalism. Therefore journalism is the most trusted source of information by the public, and therefore the need for quality journalism. Bailey’s view that The Newsroom show might have flaws but is okay, is correct (Bailey par 1). While the show received criticism from all quarters including social media and blogs when it was aired, Bailey decided to support it. Bailey assert that a lot of criticism experienced in the social media during the start of The Newsroom show were because of McAvoy’s response to the question asked about why America if the greatest nation on earth. McAvoy gave an answer that the audience did not expect, giving reasons that indicate that America is not the greatest nation on earth, and concluding by giving audience a hope by indicating the way things were done in the past. Of course it was expected that the speech would go viral since it negated what the audience knew. But this should not make the whole show bad. In a country where there is freedom of speech and expression, every person has a right to give his opinion even if it does not concur with the majority. McAvoy just practiced his role as a journalist in a democratic society. The fact that some people feel that America is the greatest nation does not mean that everybody should concur with the same. Maybe there are some weak areas in America that McAvoy consider not making it the greatest nation. For quality journalism, journalists should not move by the masses at all times – what is known as populism (Habermas 34). Populism involves identifying what the public want to know, regardless of quality, and informing the public about the same without critical thinking. They should otherwise critically evaluate points and give their judgment based on facts. This is what McAvoy did. He gave points that make him consider America as not great, and gave the audience hope by highlighting how things used to be done. Sorkin uses satire to indicate the way what is known as “new media” operates. While new media should be concerned with effective utilization of technology and mentoring of new talents, it is concerned with oppressing the young and newly employed in order to benefit those in managerial positions. Rosenberg arguments are true. Many powerful people in journalism and other organizations normally do not take their time to mentor women or young girls who have just started their journey in their career (Rosenberg par 6). Poniewozik also agrees with this notion by asserting that Sorkin could not give credibility to women in his show (Poniewozik par 4). It is a fact that generational problem is delved deeply in journalism: Many young reporters are paid less, but given a lot of work. They are also not properly supervised and trained. However, including all these in the movie does not show that Sorkin supported them. He just wanted to expose some of the vices that take place in the newsrooms. The Newsroom indicates the practices of quality journalism, which emphasizes on the social welfare of workers in organizations. It is also conscious of the world and reveals things that happen in various spheres of the world. The operation of the Newsroom is also portrayed as a hierarchy of disdain where Charlie Skinner is at the top but gives respect to his subordinates not because of the quality of work they do and their experience, but because of the personal relationship they have with him. For example, he says that MacKenzie is tied not because she has done a lot of productive journalism work, but because she has attended a lot of funerals which are many for her age. Will, who is Charlie Skinner’s immediate follower in rank, is not pleased with anyone he sees. He tells a college lady that she is in the worst generation, a comment that gave the lady a lot of stress that made her take her college to court for emotional suffering. While Rosenberg criticizes Sorkin’s characters for acting in a similar manner by being superior to those who do not submit to their demands and opinions (Rosenberg par 5), Sorkin wanted to expose the bad characters of people in leadership position. This is also evident when Maggie volunteered to be a reporter in the Newsroom. She was treated rudely by Jim and Don, both of them demoralizing her and saying that she cannot manage the task. Don practiced technological determinism when he indicated that Maggie would not obtain everything she was to report on Wikipedia. Technological determinism is ascribing that change is majorly brought by technology (Johnson par 9). Don did not realize that though there are many sources that are difficult to regulate in the internet, there are credible sources that can provide journalists with quality information in the internet. However, the rise of internet sources has made journalism a complex career (Starr 28). Sorkin only wanted to portray what happens in not only various newsrooms, but also in many organizations. Hiltbrand contends that Sorkin’s intention was to bring out fundamental issues that happen in news rooms (Hiltbrand par 14). Journalism should entail critiquing the vice that happens in the society and giving direction on the best ways to take. By portraying such behaviors, journalists are able to inform and influence leaders of organizations to take appropriate steps and shape their organizations. In this regard, the press is seen to perform a watchdog role to ensure that leaders deliver or serve organizations and their groups well. Sorkin aimed at ensuring that such vices are exposed to the public and terminated when he informed the public about what happens in the leadership of newsrooms. This shows that people should work and respect each other regardless of leadership positions they are in. Like many other mass television production, The Newsroom was not 100 percent perfect. Sorkin constantly returned to themes and motifs that he had showed before. In addition, McAvoy was always right, which should not be the case in a mass production even if he was the central character. But these do not make the show to be rejected into totality. Airing opinion about the show is acceptable as it makes people to dissect and understand it in details. For example, Bailey supports the show explaining the reasons of supporting, while Nussbaum does not support it providing some reasons (Nussbaum par 1). This defines the role media plays to make people informed citizens. McNair defines informed citizens as citizens who have sufficient information regarding issues that they are able to actively participate in a democracy (McNair 227). The reviewers of The Newsroom are therefore informed citizens about the issues of journalism and are able to freely air out their views as they have done. According to Johnson, quality journalism entails interviewing relevant people to get relevant information, gathering information over the phone, researching about specific information online or offline to get background information, and going to events to get information regarding stories that have been taken to the public (Johnson par 7). It also involves meeting with staff or colleagues and organizing training of persons involved. Schudson adds that since activity determines the quality of journalism, high levels of activities related to journalism lead to quality journalism (Schudson 110). There is no doubt that producing a show such as The Newsroom involved a lot of activities. Sorkin must have been involved in a lot of activities such as training the actors, travelling to various places to gather information, chairing meetings, among others to produce the show. Though the reviewers of The Newsroom only based their arguments on the message and stage performance of the actors, they should have also considered the activities that took place before the production of the show. This indicates that they did not consider all spheres of quality journalism while reviewing the work, thus their reviews might not be strong enough to be relied upon. Journalism is a profession that needs a lot of commitment and dedication for one to practice quality journalism. There is need to balance between populism and quality work to ensure that journalists educate, inform, and entertain the public. While it may be tempting to tell the public what they will be happy to hear, journalists should evaluate information and inform the public facts. Journalists should also be ready for both positive and negative reviews about the journalistic work they do. Like Sorkin’s The Newsroom work, not all people will be happy with the work done by journalists. But for quality journalism, journalists should evaluate both positive and negative feedback they receive regarding their work, and take necessary measures to improve on them. Journalists should also spend a lot of time performing interviews and gathering information to ascertain their truthfulness before relaying to the public. Works Cited Bailey, Jason. “Why I Love The Newsroom: A Defense of Imperfection”. The Atlantic, August 27, 2012. Web. Habermas, Jürgen. “Media, Markets and Consumers: The Quality Press as the Backbone of the Public Sphere.” In Europe: The Faltering Project. Cambridge (UK): Polity Press, 2009. Print. Johnson, Steven. Old Growth Media And The Future Of News. 2009. Web. Johnson, Steven. “Are We on Track for a Golden Age of Serious Journalism?” A Debate with Paul Starr’. Prospect Magazine, May 2009. Web. Hiltbrand, David “The Newsroom: Critics nay, viewers yay.” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 15, 2013. Web. McNair, B. “Politics, Democracy and the Media.” Chapter 2 in his An Introduction to Political Communication, 3rd ed. 2003. pp 16-28; 227-8. Print. Nussbaum, Emily. “Broken News: The artificial intelligence of The Newsroom”. The New Yorker, June 25, 2012. Web. Poniewozik, James “Dead Tree Alert: Blowhardball: The Not-So- Special Comment of HBO’s The Newsroom”. Time Magazine, June 21, 2012. Web. Rosenberg, Alyssa. “The Pretentious Condescension of The Newsroom”. The Atlantic, June 22, 2012. Web. Schudson, M. “Factual Knowledge in the Age of Truthiness”. In Zellizer, B (ed). The Changing Faces of Journalism: Tabloidization, Technology and Truthiness. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009. pp. 104-113. Print. Starr, P. “Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a New Era of Corruption)" The New Republic, March 2, 2009. pp. 28-35. Print. Read More