The Newsroom

_

Since I got here, you're my third contempt of court.

First one was a contested traffic ticket.

The guy cursed at the judge. The second one was a lawyer.

- What'd he do? - He cursed at the judge.

You're my first reporter.

I'm Will. I'd shake your hand...

I know who you are.

So the traffic ticket, he was just here for a night.

But the lawyer was here for a weekend.

Three nights, and you could tell he was starting to go a little...

You know, it affected him.

You're gonna be locked in a cage now,

and it's not a natural thing.

Go ahead.

That's yours over here.

- You got toiletries? - I'm sorry?

You didn't bring toiletries?

Uh, no, I didn't.

I'll bring you toothpaste and a brush.

I can bring you a book from the library if you want.

- You might get the whole weekend. - Sure, thanks.

You'll be fine.

_

You fish.

I'm sorry?

You're a fisherman.

Yeah. No. Not in a long time.

That's a nice fish.

- Yeah. - Eight pounds.

You know, I don't really remember.

And that's your father there next to you?

- Yeah. - That's a wholesome picture.

Looks like it came with the frame.

- Yeah. - And that's your wife?

Yeah, her name is MacKenzie.

- Whew, she's a knockout. - She is.

- It's okay if I say that, right? - Sure.

And those are your, what? Your friends, your colleagues?

Yeah, they're some of the people I work with.

We work close together.

- You have to explain it to me one more time. - Really?

'Cause every time you say it, it sounds like you're in here voluntarily.

I promise you, I'm not.

But you can walk out any time you want.

No, I can't. I can only walk out

if I reveal the identity of a source.

- You want to read your book. - I don't want to be rude.

You didn't ask me what I was in for. I appreciate that.

Domestic battery.

Nine women on the jury.

My PD was a woman, so she wasn't exactly my champion.

The prosecutor was a woman. The judge was a woman.

I mean, is that even constitutional?

The PD wanted me to plea... Six months.

But I wanted to fight it... Two years.

That wasn't your first offense, though.

How do you know?

You wouldn't have gotten two years for domestic battery if it was your first...

It was my third. Strike three.

Oh, are you judging me now?

'Cause a judge just did that. I don't need it.

- No. - Yeah, you are.

I have an idea.

Tell me the name of the source.

I didn't make a pledge or anything.

I'll tell it to them on the condition they let us both go.

It's a hell of a plan.

Or I could just shake the name out of you.

Stand up.

I want you to see that I got four inches on you

and you're giving up 30 pounds. I'm not your wife.

Raise your hands above your hips

and I'll knock you the fuck into next week.

Your father was a drunk, wasn't he?

You aren't a consumer, you're a citizen.

You aren't an audience, you're an activist.

You aren't a viewer, you're ACN.

You are ACN.

Which one of you...

It's as offensive as I thought it was gonna be when I heard about it.

- Offensive to whom? - Me. And him.

And Will and Sloan and everyone who works here and you.

We are ACN.

It's a slogan. It doesn't mean anything.

First, I wouldn't be relieved that our new slogan doesn't mean anything.

- I meant... - But it isn't a slogan.

It's a statement of our new direction.

We're gonna cover the conversation because this is just the first one.

Next one's gonna show citizen journalists

filing stories from the Coffee Bean.

- Don? - It looks like urine.

It doesn't. You're just complaining for the sake of it.

The best graphics house in the UK

was paid $700,000 to build that spot.

I don't mean the animation. U-R-A-C-N.

Our brains are trained to see groups of letters as a word

and visually that group of letters looks like urine.

Maybe if we separate the U and the R.

Maybe, but the best you can hope for

is something with the gravitas of a vanity license plate.

- Maybe we should ask people to vote. - After all, they are ACN.

- You know, Mac... - Young people know when they're being patronized.

Everybody knows when they're being patronized.

I've been hearing this for 52 days.

Because in 52 days,

I've put three Twitter monitors on our set.

Passing weather systems are reported like al-Qaeda sleeper cells.

And a total of 84 air minutes have been spent on the mayor of Toronto

while zero minutes have been spent on the mayor of Detroit

whose city is about two minutes away from bankruptcy.

Also in that 52 days, we've gone from fourth

to third in households and second in the demo.

In seven weeks, the average age of our audience

has dropped three years.

And we did all that while still managing to cover

a military takeover in Egypt

and most recently, a pretty big scandal involving the NSA.

We've got two reporters at the Moscow Airport right now.

Two. So can you do me a favor and not worry

that the world's most benign promo

is a threat to democracy?

- Sure. - You?

- Can I have a second? - Yeah.

So, the Princeton story. The website.

There is an epidemic

of campus sexual assaults in this country.

It's a perfectly legitimate story.

In fact, it's an important one, so what's your fucking problem?

I agree.

I just don't know how to do the story.

- I don't understand. - I don't know how to do it. I'm looking for some guidance.

You interview the student with the website.

You interview one of the guys who's been accused. Why is it complicated?

Well, it's complicated for a lot of reasons,

and one of them is that Pruit wants them both in the studio.

- He told you that? - He called me.

He shouldn't be speaking directly to you.

And he shouldn't be making those decisions.

But if that's what he wants, why don't you just do it?

Well, like I said, I don't know how to.

Bullshit.

You do know how.

And if you don't, I need to hire someone who does, man.

Okay?

Yeah.

Anything else?

No.

Anything happen over the weekend I should know about?

Not much.

Dilma Rousseff pledged to speak with protestors.

- The House voted down the Farm Bill. - Yeah, I saw that.

France is sending Syrian rebels 17.6 tons of medical aid.

I'm sure that's going to get where it's supposed to go.

A woman named Lilly M. Hart shot herself in the mouth

on the steps in front of the Justice Department.

We're not sure what she was protesting,

but her bio had a lot of gun control advocacy in it.

She was protesting guns by shooting herself?

The FBI isn't releasing any information right now.

- You mean DC Police. - No, the FBI is handling it.

- Why? - They won't release that information either.

Anything else?

Kim and Kanye named their baby North.

There's our top story.

What was her name?

North. North West.

No, the woman who shot herself in front of the DOJ.

Lilly Hart.

Again, I don't know how...

What?

She wasn't protesting guns.

They said it was an emergency. Is everything okay?

Do we have attorney-client privilege, you and me?

- I'm not your lawyer. - What if you were?

Then we would have that privilege.

I'm hiring you right now on a $20 retainer.

- Do I need to sign something? - No. What's going on?

I know the name of the source.

I've known since the party after the Correspondents' Dinner.

And the day before yesterday, she shot

and killed herself on the steps outside the DOJ.

The woman... She was the source?

Yeah.

Who else knows the name?

Neal, obviously, Will, and I. That's it.

- Not the DC Police? - I think they must...

Excuse me.

Thank you.

Lasenthal on the phone.

You know what?

Your husband is getting out of jail today.

_

I was just chewed out for 10 minutes by Erin Andrews.

- Why? - She was accosted by paparazzi last night

coming out of Man of Steel at the El Capitan in LA.

Paparazzi were coming out of the El Capitan?

- She... - She was coming.

She'd just seen the movie and waiting for her were a pack of paparazzi.

Got it. Why was she chewing you out?