Urmand o recomandare a lui Tolo, am devorat aseara primele 3 episoade ale Seriei 1 de “The Newsroom”. Ma abtin, momentan, de la a croniciza seria, am vazut prea putin din ea. Remarc, totusi, ritmul ametitor, cantitatea industriala de poante si aluzii si senzatia de vertij pe care dialogurile o introduc in capul cuiva prea putin obisnuit sa gandeasca atat de repede si destept. Continuu sa ma minunez de ecartul teribil dintre calitatea scenariilor de serial TV (“The Newsroom” si “Elementary” sunt doar doua exemple) si cea a productiilor contemporane de la Hollywood. Pare ca se adreseaza unor specii diferite.
Va propun, pentru acum, cateva vorbe din episoadele inaugurale. Evident, despre presa, evident, impotriva locurilor comune, nu, nu acele locuri comune banale (da, exista si asa ceva!), ci acele locuri comune aparent subtile, cu care alegem sa ne mobilam creierele dupa ce am ironizat si evacuat locurile comune banale.
Despre ponciful conform caruia doar politicienii gresesc pe lumea asta si noi, restul, n-avem nici o responsabilitate si, evident, nici o vina, iata ce spune Will McAvoy (jucat de Jeff Daniels), omul de televiziune, lider de piata pe segmentul stirilor de seara, care este eroul principal al seriei:
This is News Night and that was a clip of Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism chief to President George W. Bush, testifying before Congress on March 24, 2004. Americans liked that moment. I liked that moment.
Adults should hold themselves accountable for failure. And so tonight I’m beginning this newscast by joining Mr. Clarke in apologizing to the American people for our failure. The failure of this program during the time I’ve been in charge of it to successfully inform and educate the American electorate.
Let me be clear that I don’t apologize on behalf of all broadcast journalists, nor do all broadcast journalists owe an apology. I speak for myself.
I was an accomplice to a slow and repeated and unacknowledged and unamended train wreck of failures that have brought us to now.
I’m a leader in an industry that miscalled election results, hyped up terror scares, ginned up controversy, and failed to report on tectonic shifts in our country. From the collapse of the financial system to the truths about how strong we are to the dangers we actually face.
I’m a leader in an industry that misdirected your attention with the dexterity of Harry Houdini while sending hundreds of thousands of our bravest young men and women off to war without due diligence. The reason we failed isn’t a mystery. We took a dive for the ratings.”
Despre mantra-fariseica ce le cere jurnalistilor sa nu aiba opinii politice explicite, despre aberatia conform careia opusul presei partizane e informatia seaca, lipsita de creier ori emotie, ca si despre multe altele.
From this moment on, we’ll be deciding what goes on our air and how it’s presented to you based on the simple truth that nothing is more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate.
We’ll endeavor to put information in a broader context because we know that very little news is born at the moment it comes across our wire. We’ll be the champion of facts and the mortal enemy of innuendo, speculation, hyperbole, and nonsense.
We’re not waiters in a restaurant serving you the stories you asked for just the way you like them prepared. Nor are we computers dispensing only the facts because news is only useful in the context of humanity.
I’ll make no effort to subdue my personal opinions. I will make every effort to expose you to informed opinions that are different from my own.”
In fine, my very favourite, vorbele spuse intr-un interviu de Aaron Sorkin, scenaristul serialului, ce reproduc aproape ad litteram replicile lui Will McAvoy din episodul 3 al seriei 1:
“I don’t see the liberal bias — and I’m trying to — that I hear about. […] What I do see is a bias toward fairness, a bias toward neutrality, a bias toward false equivalency. That if a Republican has lied, it’s important that we find a Democrat who’s lied and make them equal, whether they are or not.
Most of us have been raised to believe that there are two sides to every story, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. And that’s simply not always the case.
Sometimes there are five sides to a story, but sometimes there’s just one. Sometimes the truth doesn’t lie in the middle, it lies squarely on one side or the other. […]
you’ll never hear the word ‘lie’ on network news when something is plainly a lie.”