Newsroom Factroom - The Genoa Tip

For some reason, the first few episodes of season 2 of the The Newsroom seem to be under intense scrutiny by those who have first-hand experiences of the events being portrayed. Maybe, it being an off-year for elections has left everyone in politics without a target for their opinions, so Sorkin's latest brainchild is now the ugly stepchild at whom it's cool to laugh and call names. The biggest name lately is probably Romney's former spokesperson. The sooner political aficionados realize the show isn't trying to portray their exact reality but dramatize pieces of it to build a larger, entertaining puzzle of relatable events for the audience, the more they'll enjoy it. But until then, poking and prodding at the divergence from reality without comparing facts tells the world that you're watching, and reduces the price on that normally high-priced earned media.

The secret key: accurate, potentially accurate, or inaccurate. And, go...

• "...18 percent more viewers stay watching past the first quarter of the show if the show features ... an engaged twitter audience."
• Just... no... and I'm not sure if this was altered or simply made-up.
• From what can be 'internetified' on this one, the 18 percent actually refers to the number of viewers out of 1000 surveyed who noticed a hashtag while watching TV and knew how to interact with it. This wouldn't have made Charlie's point as strong in the episode, so the fake version is better for argument's sake.
  
• There's a law on the books in New York that prevents people from wearing masks when in a group.
• Yes...but it was the update in 1965 that accounts for the mask part.
• Neal definitely got arrested exactly like the real occupy wall streeters did... The video he streamed using Ustream did really look strikingly similar to the actual arrests. In case you need to demonstrate in NYC, the movement created a 'legal fact sheet' for you to do it legally.
• The blue part of this fact check is a nitpick: the mask-wearing protesters were actually arrested on September 20th, 2011, not the 21st as is shown on the screen in the program as Neal shows up. The date was fuzzed a little to align with the execution of Troy Davis which really was on September 21st, 2011, while the date for Anwar al-Awlaki's death was moved up to the 21st from the 30th.
•  Operation Genoa
• The investigation rages on..
• As promised, Project Genoa will be checked as they appear. Unfortunately, there weren't any this week. The one witness name that was mentioned was not real, but that's expected.

Light facts on this episode as well, but hopefully as Romney coverage continues things will get more factual. We might be able to compare new confessions to this fictional version, since the politicos are obviously watching.

facebook.com/Newsroom