Why did "The Newsroom" offend progressives?

Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom,"(1) in three seasons beginning in 2012, took on reality TV, explicitly denounced the tea party as an enormous danger to American democracy,(2) and argued that the news should be "information that's needed in the voting booth." Episode 3 of the first season in several ways forecast a degeneration of movement conservatism which could lead to a so-called president Trump.

Yet Google search, of "The Newsroom review" and "The Newsroom criticism," finds intense criticism mainly from "progressives," including references to "hate watching." "The Newsroom," by the criteria which separate Enlightenment liberalism from the outlook of the left, is one of the most liberal television presentations in recent memory. It is idealistic, concerned for the public good, supports the humanitarian safety net, exemplifies the long range power of ideas (and love of language), supports the intentional moral order delineated by the Constitution, honors the dignity and privacy of the citizen, and speaks freely and without fear.

You would think that a series which includes a number of devastating indictments of today's Republicans, and exemplifies Jeffersonian democracy, would appeal to the progressive left. Why didn't it? Perhaps some of the progressive critiques provide a clue. Verne Gay says "The Newsroom" "actually cares passionately and deeply," but also critiques it for daring to laud an old fashioned moral order:

It's shot through with a 1930s-'40s screwball love-will-conquer-all zest, with rat-a-tat dialogue that zips along at 75 mph. There are distant echoes of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" ... Frank Capra could've written this, and, in a sense, already has. "The Newsroom" is very old-fashioned -- which may be its chief appeal.
Yet at moments it can also be a proxy for Sorkin's politics. He is the off-screen Lord High executioner, who dispatches his enemies -- like the Koch brothers or the Tea Party -- scene by scene, or speech by windy speech.

Other critiques are often vague. The real issue, which is evaded, is cynical objection to pre-60s American idealism. "The Newsroom" has specific references to Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" liberal idealism and public-spiritedness. The aura of tribute to forgotten grandeur lingers over it, complemented by references to the noble futility of Don Quixote.

"The Newsroom" has the most devastating savaging of the sullenly bigoted idiocies of the Tea Party and movement conservatism to be found on mass media, yet its left derogators focus on silly arguments against presenting the news as it should be rather than as it is. Why the total surrender to conformism?

"The Newsroom" nailed the reactionary nature of the tea party in its discussion of  "The American Taliban." Its discussion of "America is the Greatest Nation" placed the meme in its rightful context: Manifest Destiny; and The White Man's Burden. "The Newsroom" gave MacKenzie (Emily Mortimer) an early scene in which she owned Will McAvoy. Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) is the smartest person in the organization.
 
The critics went with male dominance. There are far more criticisms, of conduct by male Republicans that is harmful to the public good, than of mean social standards in which women may play a part; but the fact that Sorkin dares to criticize, for example, soap opera gossip, is treated as proof of sexism. Margaret Lyons:

Within the Aaron Sorkin world, there's no insult more grave than being a woman. "I'm concerned about the rest of us being turned into a bunch of old ladies with hair-dryers on our heads," Will snapped at one of his dates on Sunday's episode. That's his nightmare, his fear: that our culture has become too invested in gossip or reality TV, which are feminine concerns. ... [as is] the nightmarish senselessness of a fashion TV show.
... Will's boss and mentor Charlie scolds him in "Fix" for dating women "he'd never want to spend daylight hours with." Because it's degrading? Disrespectful? Objectifying? Because it's patronizing? Cruel? Selfish? No, no: Because Will deserves better. Will can be petty, nasty, and immature, but the show insists that he's still worthy of an enormous amount of respect. But that inherent dignity doesn't extend to any of the female characters.
"Fix" seemed to be about how fashion is dumb and news is smart, how gossip is a social cancer and cable news is noble, ... Will's dates all know about one of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, but Will can't be bothered because he's too busy covering stories from many months before. ...

"The Newsroom" took on:

• The entertainment media takedown.
• The immediate appearance of a wrathful self-righteous witch hunt mob at any act or utterance which deviates in the slightest from identity politics/class warfare orthodoxy.
• A media site which prefers rating worst movies to rating best movies.
• News-as-entertainment (lurid hurricane reports; "what's going on with the McRib"; Angelina vows revenge after Brad dalliance; Tot Mom's secret beau; love child dumped on star's mother; you won't believe what child actor looks like now).
• Mean, petty, uncivilized practices.
• Reductivism, as when a gossip columnist tells a journalist, "After all, we're in the same business."
• Disrespect for dignity and privacy, as in the readiness to call out others, particularly if they're guilty of being prominent or wealthy.

It was fashionable to denigrate "The Newsroom" as moralistic and self-righteous. (One is reminded of those whose hopefully inquired, after the cleansing shock of 9/11, "Is this the end of irony?") "The Newsroom" foretold the lizard-brained era of Trump's alternative truth. It's true that truth is disrespectful of the Liar-In-Chief who has usurped the Oval Office; still, truth is the most valuable resource of Homo sapiens ("Thinking human"). (If you think that truth is political, you have greater problems than can be resolved by reading an article that dissents from the Received Wisdom.)

Newsroom's Charlie Skinner dares to say, "I'm too old to be governed by fear of dumb people." As Bill Brioux writes:

Sorkin’s complaint about America is that intelligence is in a semi-apologetic retreat, while emotionalism and stupidity are on the rise—in public policy and in the media. He’s setting up an ideal. He is an ethical writer—a moralist, if you like. He’s neither ironic nor self-deprecating; he dislikes that part of our derisive culture which undercuts, as a ritual form of defense, any kind of seriousness. He’s a very witty entertainer who believes that there’s a social value in truth. I don’t think this belief should be confused, as it has been recently, with self-righteousness.

The Writer's Almanac for February 14 reported on something Carl Bernstein, of Woodward and Bernstein, wrote in 1992:

“For, next to race, the story of the contemporary American media is the great uncovered story in America today. We need to start asking the same fundamental questions about the press that we do of the other powerful institutions in this society — about who is served, about standards, about self-interest and its eclipse of the public interest and the interest of truth. For the reality is that the media are probably the most powerful of all our institutions today; and they are squandering their power and ignoring their obligation. They — or more precisely, we — have abdicated our responsibility, and the consequence of our abdication is the spectacle, and the triumph, of the idiot culture.” (Emphasis added)

"The Newsroom" promoted Frank Capra/Don Quixote idealism; naive, sentimental public-spiritedness; thinking (and writing) fearlessly; the vital importance of truth and good information to a democracy; respect for dignity, privacy, and autonomy; and indifference to orthodoxy. It criticized gossip columns and TV shows dedicated to gossip; the associated glee for the "takedown" of prominent or successful public figures; news-as-entertainment; and mean, petty, uncivilized social practices.

It is telling that the progressive left responded with indignation. Their blindness to "tectonic shifts" was a large part of changes in American character which made possible the elevation of a totally unfit charlatan to the presidency.


(1) See "Nothing is more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate", April 2016
(2) See "The American Taliban"