Raw Data: Red Team III

Thoughts and observations for Newsroom episode 2-07 "Red Team III".  There are two episodes remaining in the season, but the show will take a week off over Labor Day.  Booooo.  At least there will be other options.

Written by Aaron Sorkin,
Wrote "Malice" which is a good thriller

Directed by Anthony Hemingway of The Wire and Treme.
I wonder if Hemingway and Sorkin bonded over the unrealistic standards and expectations viewers have of great television producing talent following their masterpiece.

• Sierra Tuscon gets name checked, which is where Leo McGarry did his rehab
• Last week I posed that the unfolding of Genoa was too predictable and played into expectations when Gary Pajama edited the tape.  This week addressed that to some extent showing how the gumshoes are coming up juuuuuuust short in a lot of areas, which, when put together, show an institutional failure
• The show does a great job showing the errors made by the gumshoes to make them partially culpable for the retraction
• "Red Team III" brings to mind a decent episode of Elementary from earlier this year "The Red Team"

Gary Pajama is suing for millions of dollars despite the fact that, as Don plainly lays out, he was fired for journalistic fraud.  The cognitive bias occurring here is almost too much to handle, considering how actively and maliciously he edited the tape.  He feels justified because he "wouldln't have done it unless he was sure" which sounds like a justification for, well, anything unethical.  Gary's lawyers may be able to make a legal case enough to scare Atlantic Cable News.  But strictly in the legal, technical way that also relies on the public relations nightmare the company is experiencing, as well as blood lust for scapegoats beyond Mr. Pajama who is a relatively low man on the totem pole.  This despite Gary's egregious editing choice, realized too late by Mac for the same reasons we know Rock Bottom edited its interview with Homer Simpson. The gumshoes are far from innocent but much of the story relied on the edited tape.  It does raise the question of should they rely on a tape witnessed and edited by a single person?


The institutional failure in question is where a seemingly solid case goes down in flames as a result of the sources turning out to be not so reliable.  Unfortunately, the sources were all singing the same song until that point but a lack of follow through from several of the gumshoes brings us to the current state of affairs of NewsNight.  The whole is actually less than the sum of the parts of this investigation.

You know this is fiction because everyone argues about how they should be the one to take responsibility, and semi-hilariously Mac is told she can't be the one to go because she's not important enough.

The causes for the errors become apparently quickly.  Outside of Gary Pajama's editing fraud, each piece by itself may not contribute in a major way to the inaccuracy, but they do serve to confirm the other incorrect information or sources they are piecing together.  It brings to mind the chapter in Outliers where Malcolm Gladwell discusses the many factors that contribute to a plane crash (fatigue, fuel levels, weather, communication, etc).

Will has largely been in the background the last two episodes.  Being the face of NewsNight, he's going to get hung with this more than anyone, despite having probably the least to do with it.  Will is managing editor of the show so it does largely lie with him and he is the decider of things they air.

The biggest surprise was Charlie's source* acting even more maliciously than Gary did.  Actually, I take that back.  The biggest surprise is that NewsNight and Atlantic Media are brought to its knees and it's not solely due to Maggie, who is a terrible, drunk, moody spaz who is somehow employed as an incompetent associate producer on NewsNight with Will MacAvoy.  I am pretty sure it says "incompetent" in front of "associate producer" on her business card.

*  I know I've seen this actor, Frank Wood, in a few things, but I knew there was one in particular that stood out because his voice is so distinct.  After some serious IMDB hunting he played the dean in The Sopranos "Second Opinion" taking Carm to lunch and asking for $50k.  Fun Fact - Edie Falco won the Emmy for that episode, so give Frank Wood an assist.  The episode really focused on Carm and her internal conflict resolving her lifestyle with the means by which Tony earns it.  It also involves an awesome, maybe the most awesome, Furio scene.

I'd like to re-watch the conversation between Charlie and his source, who IMDB says is named Shep, and see if there's any indication Shep is the vengeful type.  Charlie's reaction to his son's death wasn't, "If only we'd known!" but "he deserved to be fired" which seemed a bit harsh.  Though understandable in trying to explain the rationale.