Assignment 5: Media on Media Assignment
Rajal Monga
12996009
ICS
Tutorial Group 13A
Denitsa Dimitrova
Assignment 5
17th November 2020
1364 Words
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, Assignment 4: Media on Media Assignment
Almost everyone likes to kick off the day with a sip of a coffee, a delicious breakfast
and a newspaper in hand. Well, for most of us in Generation Z, the newspaper might be
replaced with online news shows on TV or just reading the highlights on our phones. While
some may be interested in reading about stock exchanges, others may incline more towards
war threats and political discourses. Regardless of the way one chooses to access the news, or
the content one may seek, what stays common at the core is the human need to stay updated
and connected to the world around us. Our dependency and faith in big multinational news
conglomerates therefore makes shows like The Newsroom by Aaron Sorkin extremely
appealing to almost every member of the society.
The Newsroom is a cable-news centered political drama TV series which revolves
around News Night TV anchor Will McAvoy and his new executive producer, MacKenzie
McHale. The fictional television series chronicles the behind-the-scenes of working at the
Atlantis Cable News channel as a TV news reporter (Weprin, 2012). It gives the viewers an
opportunity to relook at the real-world news of recent years from the perspective of a budding
journalist.
While the show is jam-packed with moving, adrenaline inducing episodes, perhaps
one of the most formative episodes of the show is the second episode of the first season titled
News Night 2.0. Aired on 1st July 2012 and set on 23rd April 2010, the episode marks the
beginning of a new chapter in the lives of the protagonist as they create and air a newer
incarnation of their already existing news telecasting show with the help of an intelligent yet
inexperienced newsroom staff. This latest version aims to be as close to a utopian news show
as it can possibly get, by focusing on reporting “the best news possible”(Alex Graves, 2012,
7:01) by ensuring that “ratings do not drive the content” (Alex Graves, 2012, 7:07) and
treating the “news studio as a courtroom” which only focuses on facts (Alex Graves, 2012,
9:47). It aims to try a new broadcast format for News Night 2.0 which “puts a priority on the
information voters need, puts the information in context, and then tries to present the best
possible versions of competing arguments” (Alex Graves, 2012, 22:24).
The episode opens with the first pitch meeting for the News Night 2.0 which
showcases the creative process of selecting stories, formulating narratives and deciding the
news rundown. The audience is also introduced to the antagonist of the episode, Reese
Lansing, the network president who places a lot of importance in the show’s ratings and
focuses more on the revenue the show generates than the quality and accuracy of the content
it produces. The first day of the news show opens with the top stories but primarily focuses
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