Neo-Aristotelian Analysis of The Newsroom: Episode 1 The Newsroom is a political drama series that premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012. It was created and written by award winning producer Aaron Sorkin. The drama centers on a fictional cable news network, Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel, and its hard-headed anchor Will McAvoy. The series chronicles the trials and tribulations of the staff behind the scenes, attempting to create a new show “in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles and their own personal entanglements,” (Hibbard, 2011). Through a Neo-Aristotelian analysis, I will investigate how the dramatic presentation is used to influence the viewer’s critical approach to news media. By identifying what prompted the speaker to craft his speech, what the speaker hoped to accomplish, and if the speech had its intended effect, I will be able to see the speaker’s true intentions and base meaning. The series premiere of the newsroom was watched by over 2.1 million viewers, one of HBO’s most-watched-premieres since 2008, (De Moraes, 2012). The show also aired simultaneously on multiple networks across the world, including; Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. Although its viewership was strong, season one …show more content…
The audience begins to frantically take pictures and videos as the scene cuts away, further indicating that this is a shocking moment in this characters life. Backstage Wills peers run to him asking “what the hell is wrong with you,” (Sorkin, 2012). The viewer begins to understand that Will has always played it safe, avoiding angering his own viewers by not taking a side. It becomes apparent that Will’s reaction was due to the bottled up emotion that he could not suppress for one moment longer. His opinions have caught up with him and he can no longer play along with the news fueled idea that America is the greatest country in the