All language subtitles for The.Newsroom.S01E08.The.Blackout.Part.I.Tragedy.Porn.1080p.10bit.BluRay.AAC5.1.HEVC-Vyndros

I know maybe a dozen reporters,
guys you know, too,

who tell me they've been
pitching you this story

for almost a year with no luck.

Yeah, I'm not crazy
about being interviewed in print.

Print journalists play it fast
and loose with exclamation points.

"I love the news" becomes "I love the news!"

Suddenly I'm deranged.

- So why now?
- Huh?

Why are you agreeing to this piece now?

- You don't happen to have a cigarette?
- No.

- Why now?
- Ah! Right here.

Why do you want this now?

I want some sort of document
about what we've been trying to do here.

Like the king at the end of Camelot

telling the boy to run behind the lines
from village to village

telling people about, you know...

- Camelot.
- Yeah.

I'm asking why you reached out to me.

Because, your recent
complications notwithstanding,

you cover the media better
than anyone out there.

You haven't lost your touch

for complimenting and
insulting someone at the same time.

Thank you. I appreciate it.
But it wasn't meant as an insult, Brian.

Your life's been in news magazines,

- and news magazines aren't...
- I know.

...as many pages long as they used to be.

What kind of access are we talking about?

Here's what I'll offer.
You spend a few days here,

talk to whoever you want,
but it's all off the record.

- Not even background.
- What good does that do me?

If I like how it feels, then we go ahead.

But I still get to tell you what can retroactively
go on the record from the tryout period.

- You're asking me to audition?
- Yeah.

Why would I do that?

I can think of some reasons.

Four years ago, you were on
the masthead at Newsweek,

turning out 10 cover stories a year

and spending Sunday mornings on TV.

Today you have a blog.

Your fucking disdain for the Internet...

Is matched only by
your fucking disdain for the Internet.

You took a buyout when
Newsweek was sold to IAC

and rolled the money into a start-up,
thinking you'd be the next Huffington Post.

How'd it work out?

We filed for bankruptcy.

The Sunday Times Magazine, Vanity Fair,
GQ, The New Republic, The Atlantic,

everybody's offered the cover
and I get to pick the writer.

I'm going with New York Magazine and you.

So, you okay with the audition?

Are you prepared to talk
about your Republicanism?

You say that like I've got polio.

Are you prepared to talk about having polio?

I grew up in a town outside a town
outside Lincoln, Nebraska.

My hometown was a road.

I was a college freshman
before I met a Democrat.

What about our history?

Brian, your problem with me back in the day
was that I was a moderate, sane Republican

who refused to take a position on anything
for fear I would lose viewers.

Just as moderate,
sane Republicans on the Hill

refuse to take a position
for fear they'll lose primary voters.

I had a nightly rundown that went out
of its way to avoid reporting the news.

And then MacKenzie McHale came along
and I'm attacking my own party

for not standing up to its attackers.

Isn't that what you wanted me to do
when you were calling me a coward?

Yeah, but that's not
the history I'm talking about

and you already knew that,
so please stop fucking around with me.

One parenthetical sentence
in the second graph.

"Full disclosure.
I've been a friend of MacKenzie McHale's

- "since the late '90s."
- And you?

An email went to 178,000 people
and was reported on our own morning show.

That's all you know
and that's all you'll report.

That's fine with me. But that's the last time
you'll tell me what I will or won't report.

- I'm not your stenographer.
- Do we have a deal?

Yeah, now why do you need someone
to run from village to village?

Is something about to happen to Camelot?

Maybe.

First, you have to learn
what our whole philosophy is.

Hang out, we'll talk later.
I have to go to a meeting with Reese Lansing.

What's it about?

Suspending our whole philosophy.

Good to see you again, Brian.

He should be here any minute.

Sorry I'm late.

All right, I'm not gonna tell you
what to put on the air.

You're not allowed to tell us
what to put on the air.

So I'm just gonna tell you the facts.

You got mugged last week.
You got bludgeoned.

- It's Casey Anthony.
- Hang on, wait. She may just be right.

- We knew we'd take a small hit.
- There's nothing small.

Let me just give you the facts and then
invite you to draw your own conclusion.

Nancy Grace averages 283,000
viewers on HLN.

Her time period competitor, News Night,
averages 960,000.

One week ago, HLN begins coverage
of the Casey Anthony trial

and Nancy's audience increases
to 1.5 million viewers,

while News Night's audience
drops to 460,000,

sending you from second to fifth place
in the course of five days.

A feat I previously thought
was only accomplishable

by the New York Mets.

Whose idea was it to not cover
the Casey Anthony trial?

It was mine.

I think the three of you
should have a vaudeville act.

I'm not kidding.
I'm gonna send you on a fucking tour.

It was hers.

MacKenzie, I've never seen a more
vivid picture of why viewers left,

where they went to and why.

You said why twice.

You chose not to work for PBS.

You chose not to work for NPR.
You have a ratings obligation.

No, you have a ratings obligation.

You're in business with the advertisers.

I'm in business with the viewers.

You just lost their business.

That's all.

Do what you want with the information.

I'll not be taken down by this
psychotic cocktail waitress.

That's right, we just keep playing our game,
wait it out and just...

How long can the trial go on?

I've seen the witness list.
It'll run around six weeks

plus summations plus deliberation.

- We'll never make it.
- That's right, so...

Wait, when you said
we wouldn't be taken down

by this psychotic cocktail waitress,

did you mean we weren't
gonna cave or that we were?

- You're gonna cover Casey Anthony.
- Bullshit we are.

We have the three-day
weekend to gear up for it.

Charlie.

Starting Tuesday,
you'll lead with her in the A block.

Give it 15 minutes and a five-minute reset
on the half hour.

Seriously, I can't tell if you're joking or...

- Did you just hear those numbers?
- Yes.

Half our audience changed the channel
in one week.

- I understand.
- Do you?

- Do I understand math?
- Do you understand that it's unprecedented?

I'm not gonna argue with you
when Will can do it for me.

He's never gonna go for this. Tell him.

Have marketing promo the living shit
out of Casey Anthony.

Oh, my God.

Rename the show "Casey Anthony Night
with Casey Anthony."

- Will, hang on.
- Right here on the Casey Anthony Network.

- Mac.
- 'Cause any second I'm going to wake up

and be back in a room with Don Quixote
and the mission to civilize.

- Listen to me.
- No.

How many drinks were thrown in your face

because you didn't think
people should watch

The Real Morons of South Beach
or whatever the hell it's called?

- It's not the same thing.
- It's exactly the same thing.

It's just worse. A child is dead.

A very troubled young mother
either did or didn't murder her.

Her parents are waiting to find out if
she's going to get the needle,

So thank God for TiVo,
otherwise we wouldn't be able to sit down...

It's news.

Yeah, say that three times
and click your heels.

It's entertainment.

And it's just, just this side of a snuff film.

- Sit down, Mac.
- No, I don't want to sit.

- Do it anyway, please.
- 15 at the top, that's a quarter of the show.

- Mac.
- And five at the bottom for a reset?

Please sit!

- Think I like it?
- I know you don't.

It makes me sick.
There isn't enough bourbon in Kentucky.

Okay? We're in the same place on this.

So, let's be in the same place on this.

We've had ratings dips before.

First of all, not like this. Nothing like this.

Second, I want the debate.

The three of us have talked
about a new debate format

for months and
we're not going to be able to do it

if they don't give us a debate.

- I just really...
- They're not gonna give us a debate

if we're in fifth place.
I want the debate.

I want to fundamentally change the way

we interview presidential
candidates for their job.

If that means we have to be Jerry Springer
for a few weeks, I'm willing to pay that price.

When the going gets tough,
the two of you really man up.

Then go with your principles, Mac, but know
a ratings hit like this is all Leona needs

to fire Will without having to explain why.

- All right.
- You'll do it as classy as you can.

I'll have Will wear a top hat and monocle

while he's showing
pictures of the wet T-shirt contest.

I'm sorry about the outburst in there.

Yeah, I'm not sure it was
all about Casey Anthony.

- How did it go?
- He's doing it.

Then he has to disclose that we were...

I told him one parenthetical
in the second graph.

That's it.

He needs to be seen
as a heavyweight again, Mac.

He's not gonna write a tell-all. You're fine.

Murrow did Person to Person.

Celebrity interviews. It was a deal with Paley.

One for them, one for him.

He interviewed Liberace, Mac,
just so he could keep going after McCarthy.

Those were puff pieces. This is poison.

If we're gonna do this,
let's not pretend we're not doing this.

- Jim Harper.
- Hey.

- Brian Brenner.
- I know.

I wasn't sure if you remembered.
It's been a few years.

Sure. It's good to see you.

Are you looking at BigGoverment.com?

- Yeah.
- Don't make me write

that you're using Andrew Breitbart
to research this show.

No, we're gonna be doing a mock debate
at the end of next week.

A mock debate?

The RNC is looking at Will
to possibly host a debate,

and Will and Mac
have an idea for a new debate format.

We want to show them,
so we're each playing a candidate

and we're gonna do a mock debate
on Michele Bachmann, so...

- Andrew Breitbart.
- Yeah.

Tell me about this new
debate format you guys want.

You know, I'm not really sure
what I'm allowed to talk to you about yet.

Do you mind if we wait
until I get some instructions?

- Sure.
- Thanks.

Hey.

- Hey.
- I heard you were here.

You're not getting out of town
for the weekend?

- Nope. How about you?
- Yeah.

I'm going to a think tank
conference outside Baltimore.

The Institute For Capital
Studies and Economic Growth.

- It's gonna be a raver.
- I think it's called a rager.

- Are you sure?
- No.

It's either a rave or a rager or a raver.

Don't think the Institute For
Capital Studies and Economic Growth's

gonna be any of them.

So I stopped in to give you a heads up.

I might need a couple extra
minutes Tuesday night.

I don't think I can give it to you.

The House is going to vote
up or down on increasing the debt ceiling.

- It's a cosmetic vote, but...
- If it's a cosmetic vote, why...

It's news because first of all,
it'll be the first time

in history the House lets
the US default on its debt.

But moreover, it'll be the first shot
in the beginning of a very reckless,

extremely dangerous partisan fight
that could end in catastrophe.

- Let me explain.
- I can't give you the time.

- If Congress doesn't raise...
- I can't give you the extra time.

Starting Tuesday, I have
to cover Casey Anthony.

- I really liked that we weren't doing that.
- I really liked it, too.

By putting the debt ceiling
vote in the A block, we'd be sending...

I can't, Sloan.
We lost half our audience last week.

That's not hyperbole.
That's an actual number.

- Half our audience went to HLN at 8:00.
- Half?

If we don't bring them home this week,
we'll have lost most of them for good

and we could lose the debate.

Kenzie, I'm not just trying to get more airtime.

This is an incredibly important...

I had 42 and a half minutes to work with.

I now have 22 and a half.

Do you know how you're gonna
budget the 22 and a half?

Do you know what Tuesday's news is?

We want the debate. That's the prize.

Those guys are studying
on a Friday night of a three-day weekend.

- Okay, next question.
- Congresswoman Bachmann,

you're a proponent of reforming
Social Security and Medicare.

Can you give us some details of the reforms
you have in mind?

I'd start by reducing benefits for all
but current recipients

as part of an effort to
reduce the federal deficit.

I'd like to add that President Obama
has already transferred

over $500 billion out of
Medicare and into Obamacare,

which I will repeal on my first day in office.

Ms. Bachmann, are you aware that presidents
can't repeal laws?

I, Jim, am aware of that, but...

Where are you getting the quote?

BigGovernment.com. It's right here.

- Hmm.
- What?

Anthony Weiner's Twitter account got hacked.

Can I suggest a way to
turn lemons into lemonade?

Sure.

First you squeeze the juice from the lemons.
Then add sugar and water.

And you're not really into this joke,

so I'm just going to say
what I really wanted to say.

The Casey Anthony story
actually gives us a chance to show

how important the debt ceiling
story is if we lead

with the debt ceiling
instead of Casey Anthony.

When do you have to go to your raver?

- I've got plenty of time.
- Tea, can I have another?

- Yeah.
- Hey, how about Brian Brenner?

I've been reading him for years
and didn't know what he looked like.

- He's cute.
- Yeah.

- Is he single?
- He is.

- Are you interested?
- Nope.

That's contempt prior to investigation.

No, it's contempt after
thorough investigation.

- You dated him?
- I did.

- When?
- About six years ago.

That's... Wait.

- That's...
- Yeah.

Six years ago, you were
with the guy you were with before Will.

Yeah.

- But that would...
- Oh, my God, Sloan.

It's like the land where time stands still.

Brian Brenner is the guy
I cheated on Will with.

I'd been with Will for a year
and Brian started calling me again.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

- Why would he do the piece?
- Brian?

- Yeah.
- He needs a cover story.

And why would Will have Brian do the piece?

That's a perfectly fair question
to which I have no answer.

This is really messed up.

Look, I'll do my best to find you
the time you need for the story.

We just need to hope there's
no new piece of nonsense

I have to jam into my 22 minutes
of Short Attention Span Theater.

Anthony Weiner accidentally tweeted
a picture of his groin to 40,000 followers.

And I don't consider it
that big a federal offense,

but people want to pay attention
to it and I guess I get it.

When you're named Weiner,
it kind of goes with the territory.

Have you ever taken a picture
like this of yourself?

I can tell you this, that there are...

I have photographs.

I don't know what photographs
are out there in the world of me.

I don't know what things have
been manipulated and doctored.

And we're gonna try
to find out what happened.

But the most important reason I want to
find out what happened is to make sure...

Weiner, McAvoy. Call me.
You're getting terrible advice.

Well, the choices are
to do something or to do nothing.

If we do nothing, then the audience turns
to the nearest guy doing something.

What exactly would our report be?

That he's not answering questions very well?

- I don't know. Give me three minutes.
- To report what?

I don't know.
But if I do nothing,

it's gonna look like I'm protecting a liberal.

Since when did we start
caring about

what it looks like
instead of what it is?

Reports on the Tea Party won't have
credibility if we're not balanced.

Will, you're the one who said that balance

for its own sake doesn't
have any place in reporting.

One from column A
and one from column B is bullshit.

And boorish behavior isn't the same
as taking the US Treasury hostage.

When the RNC boys come here on Friday,
they won't see it the same way.

And you'll explain to them
we don't care that he's sexting.

- We care how he votes.
- And they'll understand, give us the debate,

let us use the format we want,
and we'll all go out for chocolate milkshakes.

Three minutes in the B block, please,
after Casey Anthony.

Okay.

I know it seems like a story that only affects

300,000 people in Queens,
but since there's sex involved,

we can't deny its national importance.

Especially since we don't know all
or even any of the facts.

Three minutes.
I assume you want the pictures.

Good meeting.

I'm pretty familiar with that tone of voice.

- I guess you are, too?
- I am.

No one's been hitting the Tea Party
as hard as you've been.

- Certainly no Republican.
- That's not true.

David Frum, Mark McKinnon, Alan Simpson,
Steve Schmidt, Andrew Sullivan.

Okay, but none of them
work for Leona Lansing.

I don't know.
I think everybody works for Leona Lansing.

She can't be happy that you're beating
up people AWM needs on the Hill.

I'm really not an expert on what
does or doesn't make Leona happy.

Has she ever asked you to tone it down?

I'm not doing your reporting for you, Brian.

I'm doing my reporting myself.
I'm asking you a question.

I'm not commenting on or off the record
about either Leona or Reese Lansing.

- Does she want you fired?
- If she wanted me fired, I'd be fired.

All she has to do is buy my contract,

which she can do with the money
under her sofa cushions.

But then she'd have to explain
why she was firing

the second most watched anchor on cable

and she can't do that.

Is it a coincidence that
the tabloid stories about you

started right after the election?

I don't know.

Do you think she's using
her own tabloid magazine

to manufacture a reason to fire you?

That would be a smart way to do it.

And, of course, if you lost half your audience

because your show was too highbrow
to cover Casey Anthony,

she wouldn't even need
to work that hard to do it.

Firing an anchor for losing half
his audience isn't unreasonable,

if that's what you're asking.

It wasn't and you know it.

You're trying to get me to write
this story without your fingerprints on it.

AWM has to do business with Congress
and you're making it much harder.

Leona wants you fired,
but can't do it unless she can explain it.

She's hoping the tabloid stories
build to a critical mass

or that your ratings tank.

Say something if I'm wrong,
say nothing if I'm right.

For what it's worth, I'd cave, too.

No serious journalist would ever agree
to the demands I made on Friday.

So for what it's worth, you already did.

Are you ready to answer
questions about the newsletter?

- I haven't read it.
- The mock debate's Friday.

No, I'm being Ron Paul right now.

I didn't write it. I've never read it.
I've never heard of it.

It's got my name on it,
I've made money from it.

The newsletters would get
a standing ovation at a Klan rally,

but you should stop asking me
questions about them.

- You need a better answer.
- He needs a better answer.

Tell you what question I'd start off with.

- Congresswoman Bachmann.
- Yes?

You've said that you were told
to run for president by God.

- Please, I don't...
- You have, right?

You've said on a number of occasions
that God told you to run for president.

I have some clips here if you'd like me
to refresh your memory.

- Nope, my memory is fresh.
- Here's my question.

- Good.
- What does God's voice sound like?

- I'm completely serious.

She's saying that God spoke directly to her.

How is this not the first
question asked in a debate?

How is it not the only question?

What does his voice sound like?

What did he say exactly, word for word?

Did he speak in Hebrew?
Acadian? Kiswahili-Bantu?

And to put it in a medical context,
is this the first time you've heard voices?

She's claiming to be a prophet.

The whole world is sitting
on the edge of their seat.

How is this not the first question Will asks?

First of all, can you stop pointing at me
and saying she and her?

You're the one who wanted to play a woman.

But tell me why that question is out of line.

Because it's not the best way
to demonstrate seriousness of intent

and it's not the best way to not insult people.

- Which people?
- Christians. 83% of the country.

I'm one of them. And she's insulting me.

Please, stop pointing at me when you are...

Relax, J. Edgar. She's insulting me,

she's insulting my family,
she's insulting my congregation,

and she's insulting my faith.

She's implying that Christians are imbeciles

who will believe anything while reducing God

to a party hack who endorses
political candidates.

Now, maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe this is the first time since Moses

that God has given direct
instructions to someone other than his son.

But if so, I think it deserves a follow-up.

We're not going to get the debate
if we're mocking their candidates.

The whole point of the new debate format
is to compel the candidates to tell the truth

and make them responsible
for their own rhetoric

by asking tougher questions
than a Match.com profile.

If she knows what God wants,
then I'm voting for her.

If she doesn't, she should stop saying so.

I'm not attacking Christians.
I'm defending them.

- All right.
- Just a moment, please.

What?

I'm standing up for the
tens of millions of Christians

who are tired of being represented
by having our identity...

There's been an identity theft.

That's it. That's the one I want.

I think you already know that starting tonight,
we're leading with Casey Anthony.

Does anyone have a problem with that?

All right, well, we lost almost
half a million viewers

to Nancy Grace last week.

Does anyone still have a problem with it?

We're gonna clear out
some of these stories to make room.

"Senate obstruction
becomes worst in US history."

That's a report by the Alliance For Justice.

The Senate's confirmed a smaller
percentage of Obama's judicial appointees

than any other Senate
and any other president.

No reason to care about that.

"Job situation dire, new stimulus needed."

This Congress ran on jobs,
but they're focused on debt.

According to the payroll company ADP...

I just solved unemployment.

"AFL-CIO sours on Obama."

We've got an analyst lined up
to give a report card

on Obama's union relationships.

Will the AFL-CIO still
be sour on him tomorrow?

- I don't know.
- Let's find out.

All right, to give us
a crash course in how best

to exploit this tragedy
and to erase all boundaries

of what should be used as entertainment,

I've enlisted the help
of a master of the dark arts.

I understand I'm needed.

- Thank you.
- Forget everything you know about the news.

Done. What's next?

I'm Charlie Skinner.

Good to meet you.

Should I just sit here?

Sure.

Should I call you Mr. Hancock?

It's Schneider.

- Schneider?
- Ezra Schneider.

How the hell many aliases do you have?

I beg your pardon?

Are you Late for Dinner?

Mister, I have no idea
what you're talking about.

Charlie.

That has to have been strange for you.

That's going to be a story you'll tell later.

Late for Dinner?

- Solomon Hancock.
- Charlie Skinner.

I thought because of the carnation.

Did we say anything about a carnation?

No, but it's usually the international sign for...

Doesn't matter.

I'm a busy guy
and if you're faffin' me around...

Would you mind taking the battery
out of your cell phone?

The walls in the New York Public Library
are three feet thick.

That's why we're meeting here,

but I'd like you to take the battery
out of your cell phone.

You have reason to believe
you're under surveillance?

Everyone's under surveillance.
If you've got a cell phone...

It's talk like that that makes me...

Did I or did I not establish
credibility on May 1st?

You correctly predicted that
we'd all be called to work, yes.

Sometimes at the NSA,
we download a rolling bug

onto smartphones to slave the microphone.

You ever get an unwanted text message?

All the time, but they're from my boss.

Here.

I'll never be able to put that back together.

They're coming out with
a better model in six months.

That's unusual for the tech industry.

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I started out chasing around
a Soviet Pacific Fleet

doing signal intelligence
cryptology for the Navy.

But when the Berlin Wall
came down, my war was over.

So I went into the private sector
like everybody else in the '90s,

only not for a dot-com,

doing data compression for fiber optics.

Then 9/11 happened and I decided

it was a good time to get back into
public service hunting bad guys.

You're an IT guy.

My title is Assistant Deputy Director

of Technology and Systems Cryptology
and Mathematics at NSA.

I'm gonna have to...

I product-test software.

- NSA software?
- Yes, sir.

Can you tell me about the software?

It's data mining.

One of the ways the NSA
was tracking bin Laden,

or any terrorist for that matter,

was to write code that would sift through
millions of electronic communications

looking for a needle in a giant haystack.

You know the machine that Batman
uses in The Dark Knight

to find the Joker, but when Morgan Freeman
finds out about it,

he says, "I'm quitting because no man
should have this much power"?

- No.
- "No" what?

I do not know that machine.

Well, it exists.

We gave the contract to
two defense contracting big boys

and it was my job mostly
to make sure that they delivered

and that it worked.

The project title is GLOBALCLARITY

and it intercepts 1.7 billion phone calls,
emails, and texts every day.

- Legally?
- By what standard?

- The law.
- No.

It involves a significant amount of illegal,
warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.

Just to be... When you say "warrantless,"
are you saying "unnecessary"?

"Without a warrant." Warrantless.

We could hunt for terrorists legally,

but due to our bosses'
devotion to GLOBALCLARITY,

the NSA has been happily
violating the Fourth Amendment,

USSID 18,

and about a dozen of the NSA's
own regulations about spying on Americans.

You've got guys listening in on ex-wives,
dropping in on calls from soldiers overseas,

checking out what movie stars are up to.

Am I the first person
you've talked to about this?

No, stop confusing me with
Donald Sutherland in JFK.

Well, a second ago,
you were Morgan Freeman.

I have testified in front of Congress

and to the Pentagon Inspector General.
I got nowhere.

Nobody on the Hill wants
to admit it's fucked up

because nobody wants to
be seen as post-9/11 soft.

Where does AWM come in?

Atlantis World Media
owns Atlantis Cable News.

- Yeah.
- It also owns the tabloid TMI!

- Yeah.
- The shit that's happening

at Murdoch's News of the World in London,

TMI! has been doing the same thing for years.

- How high does it go?
- I don't know.

Does it go as high as Leona Lansing?

- No.
- Good.

It goes as high as her son.

TMI! is doing phone and computer hacking
and Reese Lansing knows?

Reese has been ordering it.

- I'm gonna give you...
- Hang on.

I need to digest that.

Reese Lansing is James Murdoch,
but Lansing's been ordering it.

Digested yet?

These classified?

Yeah, because I'm dying
to violate the Espionage Act.

These are just transcripts of my testimony

before the House subcommittee
and the Pentagon.

Vet me, vet the material.
Take all the time you need.

Why are you whistle-blowing?

I fought the Soviets.

The way that government made
their people live their lives

was a very good reason to fight them.

After 9/11,
we started doing the exact same thing.

I didn't spend my life fighting Communists
to have it come to this.

Report on GLOBALCLARITY.

And once I see that report,
I'll give you what you need

to protect yourself from Leona Lansing.

How do you know we need
protecting from Leona Lansing?

Have you been listening? 'Cause we have.

This woman is the best I've ever seen.

Center screen is Nancy.

These three corners are live feeds of
the guest experts.

- What are they experts in?
- Agreeing with everything Nancy says.

- But what keeps your attention...
- Excuse me.

This is Brian Brenner, everyone.

It's possible he's going to
be writing a feature on 2.0.

But we're in a tryout period right now.

Everything's off the record.

Go ahead. What keeps our attention?

Is the bottom right corner
where they're playing

a loop of little Caylee from a home video.

Hell. Do you think
it's as bad as everyone says it is?

That was a tribute to Caylee.

But how will they explain the duct tape

around the child's mouth and nose?

And how will they explain

all the lies that Tot Mom told?

Now they're not talking about the tattoo

on Casey's back, but they put it full screen.
Why?

Because Tess was just about
to look somewhere else,

so they changed the frame
to anything that might keep her attention.

He's right.
I was gonna google Mac's hell question.

Plus tattoo equals bad mom.

No one's ever gone broke
in America serving up

a woman who makes other
women feel superior.

The series of lies

that finally came crashing down around her.

If she would lie about that,

why should I believe an accident is true?

Don't spend time thinking
about her airtight syllogism.

Her EP's showing duct tape and a plastic bag,

so you know you're watching
the real CSI: Miami.

...how to make weapons

out of home materials found in the home.

About breaking necks.

How can they explain that?

They can't explain it, Nancy.

The defense is doing
what the defense has to do.

Now, Bill Sheaffer has done his job.

He agreed with Nancy.
We don't need to see his face anymore.

Look how cute Caylee is.

She deserved better than a mom with a tattoo.

She deserved...

- She deserved...
- Me.

- Me.
- Me.

Tess, how's that Google search coming?

It does look pretty bad. A lot of fire.

You'll notice little of her coverage
in this instance is about the law.

You know, come to think of it,
I did notice that.

It's all based on an emotional appeal.

The way she would with a jury
if there was no judge there to stop her.

Watch how she breaks down
courtroom footage.

Liz, let's see the video of Tot Mom

and Jose Baez back at it in court again today.

Not a good look between
a death penalty defendant

and the lead defense attorney.

Two seconds.

Two seconds of Casey Anthony
walking past her lawyer,

and she'll show it to you in slow motion

and from a different angle

and at regular speed
and from the original angle again.

- What does that remind you of?
- Instant replay in sports.

And she looks pretty pissed at her lawyer.

And that's exactly why she's showing it
to you so many times.

So you have a chance to draw
your own thoroughly uninformed opinion

about an utterly innocuous exchange.

She looks pissed.

"I wonder if she's sleeping with her lawyer.
I bet she is."

"I wonder if that's what she looked like when
she killed Caylee."

"This is the best TV ever. I've got to go
on my Casey Anthony Facebook page

"and see if my Casey Anthony
Facebook friends just saw Casey Anthony

"make a Casey Anthony face
at her Casey Anthony lawyer."

All right, enough.
Will's a criminal prosecutor.

Maybe he can talk about how
our justice system wasn't built

to lock up guilty people.

It was built to keep innocent people free,

which is something Americans
should be proud of and fiercely protect.

No.

He can't ever imply that the viewer

doesn't already know everything
and that she might be innocent.

If we're gonna cover this,
we're gonna cover it our way.

What's the point of covering
it at all unless we do it

in a way that gets our audience back?

A modest proposal.
We could ourselves commit murder on our air.

In your face, Nancy Grace!

How do we get the best guests?

There's a guy you're gonna have to deal
with named Dylan Kagin.

He's like the Broadway Danny Rose
of tabloid suffering.

He's an agent?

You ever ask yourself
why of all the missing kids

and murdered coeds,
most of them go unnoticed

- and some become national scandals?
- Sex appeal.

Right, but someone's got to find
Lana Turner sitting at the drugstore counter.

Dylan Kagin gropes through the trailer park
of American jurisprudence

for what he calls "Oh, my God" stories.

Then he drops in on the victims,
the accused, the jurors, the cops,

whoever he can sell to the press,
the networks, and the studios.

He packages the missing white girl.

All right, that'll be the A block.

By 2:00, show me where we are.

The B block's gonna be Anthony Weiner,

so, Jim, start putting something together.

All we really have are the pictures
and Weiner not answering questions.

- I know that.
- You don't want to wait until we have...

Facts? No, that would be newsy and elitist.

Let's just call them the A and the B block.
Let's just think of them as a polished,

tightly produced abomination.

I've been sitting here
and I'm getting a little sick of this.

- You and me both.
- Jesus Christ.

For a few weeks, we're not gonna
ask the country to eat its vegetables.

Why? Because there's a debate we want to do

that trumps all of your Sarah Lawrence
ethical conundrums.

It shouldn't be too hard to understand.

So get it the fuck together.

He happens to be right.

"War on drugs a failure."

I know how it feels.

Show me where we are at 2:00.

- Mac, can I see you a second?
- Yeah.

- Do you mind if I sit in on...
- Yeah, sorry, no.

Not sure that's the best way
to get good press.

May 1st, the night we got bin Laden,
I got a call

from an anonymous source at 7:30

telling me the White House
would send an email blast

to all the news agencies in 90 minutes,

and obviously it turned out he was right.

He was demonstrating his credibility.

His name is Solomon Hancock.

He works in software engineering at the NSA

and he handed me a stack of documents,

transcripts of his testimony
describing illegal surveillance.

We have to start vetting
him and the documents.

It's gonna take at least a few days,
but that's part one.

What's part two?

If we air his story, he'll give us evidence

that TMI!'s been doing the same thing
as News of the World.

- Hacking?
- Everything.

- TMI!'s been hacking?
- Hancock says he's got the proof.

Jesus Christ.
How high does he say it goes?

Reese.

- Let's get on with the vet.
- I'll have Jim run it.

- Is he up for this?
- He is, Will.

I taught him how to do the news.

I taught them all how to do the news.

Can you give us a second?

I'm done.

Why did it have to be Brian?

Because I own him now.
He needs a cover story.

If he writes a negative one, he'll get slammed
with the whole soap opera of our history.

Are you lying right now?

- Anything else?
- Yeah.

Sloan says on Thursday, the House
is gonna vote to default on our loans,

leading to a global economic meltdown.

Should I put that before or after
Anthony Weiner in his underwear?

I'm sure you'll figure it out.

That's all for us tonight.

Tomorrow we'll be bringing
you all the highlights

from day seven of the trial
and Detective Yuri Melich,

the first officer to interview
Casey Anthony in 2008.

Terry Smith is coming up from Washington
with The Capital Report.

I'm Will McAvoy.

- Good night.

Will McAvoy,
your new choice for Casey Anthony coverage.

- They're coming home.
- Yeah?

We promoed the hell out of it.

We got 150,000 viewers back.

25-54, almost all women.

That's toasters, furniture, food, clothes,

kids' clothes, vacation plans.

Our heads are above water now,
so do not stop.

- We won't.
- How about this heat?

- Yeah.
- 9:00 in the morning, it's already 87.

It's gonna hit 98.
That would beat the record for this day

- that was set in 1933.
- Yeah.

- You're looking at me funny.
- Yeah?

- I know you hate this.
- I'm looking at you the regular way.

- If you say so.
- I do.

There are also tornado warnings.

- Reese.
- What?

- Nothing.
- All right, so it's gonna get up to 98.

That's a record. And there are tornado
warnings for New York City.

Well, you know, Aunt Bee,
tornadoes are just God's way

of destroying property and killing people.

People like hearing about extreme weather.

We're not doing a fucking
weather report, okay?

We're not coming up with
some "Tornado Watch" graphic.

We're a serious news organization.

Tonight we'll be reporting on the killer
cocktail waitress and the congressman...

- Is Mac bitching at you?
- Not nearly as much as she should be.

I came in here to tell you
you got back 150,000 viewers

you lost while you were trying to be above it.

We'll be sure not to try that again.

98 degrees is when we have power outages.

Wait a second. Wait a second.

I don't want to go all
conspiracy theory on you,

but I think the heat might
be related to power outages.

- Take it easy.
- Say hi to your mom.

Will do.

Visiting hours will be Tuesday and Friday.

Don't be nervous.

We got 150,000 viewers back last night.
Mostly women.

- I know.
- I was telling her.

You know, it's gonna get up to 98 degrees.

Next person who tells me
about the damn weather...

Do you know what you're doing here?

I've been asked to tell you about the weather.

Does it feel to you like anyone in this room
is in the mood for a joke?

It absolutely does not.

We want you to lead
the vetting of this source.

He's telling us about illegal
surveillance at the NSA.

He's also telling us that TMI! is in the
same game as News of the World.

Jesus.

We're looking at
a couple of scenarios, Jim.

One is that we're sitting on a scoop
that could shake up the NSA

and maybe have the country
take another look at the Patriot Act.

But the TMI! element, doesn't that...

Another is that someone's
trying to discredit us

by having Will get Dan Rather-ed.

You'll need to file a couple of hundred
Freedom of Information Act requests

and you'll need to get into
this guy's personal life

and you'll need to do it all

without raising any flags at the NSA.

Are you up for this?

- Yeah.
- We don't need it fast, we need it right.

- But we need it fast.
- I'll start mapping it out.

Jim, since the day you started working here,

I never felt the need
to remind you about confidentiality

and I don't feel that need now.

Okay.

- Gotcha.
- Oh, God.

- You feel like being interviewed?
- You read my mind.

I can't think of anything
I'd rather do right now

than be interviewed by my ex-boyfriend,

except maybe eat my desk.

- It seems like a bad week to be here.
- It is.

I came here to write a story about how Will
and News Night changed overnight.

- And then you changed overnight.
- Look.

- The old Will all over again.
- These are extraordinary circumstances.

That's what everyone says
when they abandon their principles.

I'm no longer required
to live up to your standards.

- Fair enough.
- Thank you.

What's so special about this debate?

If we get what we want,
no one will ever go back.

We'll have changed the debates forever.

And your concern is that if your ratings
are low, you'll lose leverage?

- Yes.
- Is that your concern or Will's concern?

Will's concerns are my concerns.

'Cause another way of looking at it
is that he lost his invisible friends

to Nancy Grace
and he's using the debate as an excuse

to dumb the show down.

That's a pretty bold statement from
a guy who's auditioning for a job.

He's gonna give me the job,
and it's not like I don't know why.

- Do you?
- I do because I'm not a fucking moron.

The email that was read
by everyone in the world,

"I cheated on Will."
You were talking about me, right?

Yes.

You were seeing Will while we were together?

If you count drunk dialing me
at midnight and saying,

"Just come on over and crawl into bed"
as being together, then yes.

- I count it.
- Then yes.

You cheated on me with Will?

Let's be as clear as anyone
has ever been about anything.

I cheated on Will with you.

And I'm paying the price.

I work 30 feet from the life I could have had

if I hadn't been so stupid.

And you're looking at
the life you could have had

if you hadn't been a douchebag.

How's the interview going so far?

Is douchebag one word or two?

- Come in.

- Sorry, I can come back.
- No, what do you need?

Well, there's a story I'd like to pitch.

Brian, this is Neal Sampat.
Neal writes Will's blog.

- Will doesn't write Will's blog?
- Will can't find Will's blog.

Neal wants to be a producer,
so from time to time,

he pitches stories. What do you got?

You know what a troll is, right?

A tiny creature that stands under a footbridge

and makes you answer a riddle
before you're allowed to pass.

- They're not real, man.
- I know that.

He means the other kind of troll.

You don't have the first clue what he means.

I mean the other kind of troll.

A little backup would have killed you?

Sorry, Internet trolls.
It's a play on a fishing term.

People who go to message boards

and try to hijack the conversation
by being incendiary.

- What about them?
- Turns out they have their own websites.

Like an online clubhouse.
And to be accepted into the group,

you have to be able to point
to a successful incident of trolling,

a recent time when you made
a whole bunch of posters lose their minds,

or better yet, got the site
monitor to shut down the board.

Actually, I like it.
And it's not about bigfoot.

Write this down, News Night
is gonna break the story on bigfoot.

We're not. Don't write that down.
Will they talk to you?

They won't talk to a reporter,
but I thought maybe I'd try to get in there.

Undercover? Aren't you gonna
have to say you trolled something?

I'm not gonna have to say it,
I'm gonna actually have to do it.

To who?

Well, I don't want to ding on
an innocent person for a story,

so I'm gonna have to do it to one of us.

You'd have to be anonymous on our website.

No, I mean do it to us on another website.

- What would it be?
- I don't know yet.

Come back when you know,
but you've made it past the first hurdle.

Thank you.

- Sloan.
- How's her mood in there?

It's not good, but let me ask you something.

For the sake of a story,

how would you feel about me going on
the Internet and saying vicious things

about you that might get an argument
started about misogyny?

- What kind of vicious things?
- I don't know.

- What would the general area be?
- I really don't know.

- Something about the way you look?
- Like what?

- I'd be making it up.
- What would you be making up?

It wouldn't be true. It'd be something like...

Something along the lines of,
"She screwed her way to the top

"and she's got a big ass."
Only it would have to be...

Listen to me, Sampat.

- Do I?
- Of course not.

Okay.

- I can do it?
- You cannot.

If you want, you can say that
I made it to the final round

of the K-through-six regionals
in the Scripps Howard Spelling Bee.

That's not gonna help me.

You know, a lot of guys like women with big...

- Do they really?

Never mind.

I don't know what you're talking about
and I have my own problems.

- Jim.
- Yeah?

I got a woman on the phone
who says she's got some tweets

from Anthony Weiner and wants to talk to us.

- What are you telling me for?
- Seniority?

Well, I'm handing her off to
the next most senior person.

Kendra, take the Weiner girl.

- Gary, take the Weiner girl.
- Tess.

- Tamara.
- We were hired as interns the same day.

I was hired in the morning. You were hired
after lunch. Take the Weiner girl.

Please, don't make me
take the Weiner girl.

Respect the seniority.

Who do I have seniority over?

Maggie.

- Can people still see me?
- On five.

Hi, this is Margaret Jordan.

I'm an associate producer at News Night.

Okay, can you spell that for me?

Okay, wait.

Hang on.

No, you're gonna get a chance.

Well, you certainly seem to
want to share your story.

You really can't just drop in on a doctor.

- What if it's an emergency?
- You go to the emergency room.

They don't have
psychiatric emergency rooms.

They should. You're a good reason why.

- You want a piece of me?
- Seriously?

- No.
- Yeah.

Does he look over at the red light?

Does he look every few minutes?

If I was your therapist,
I'd definitely look every few minutes.

Hey, hey, you can't do that.

It's okay. He likes me.

- Will.
- I'm sorry.

- I'm with a patient.
- I really just need a second.

I'm glad to see you back here, but you
need to come during your appointment.

I could be dead by then.

Are you having suicidal thoughts?

- No.
- Then why did you say that?

- Just to get your attention.
- I'm going back to my patient.

Listen to me.
I've been paying 250 a session for four years

without showing up to a single session.

You owe me $100,000 worth of therapy.

I'll forgive the debt, we'll be totally square,
just give me one minute.

I'm sorry. I'll be just a minute.

You caved for the money.
I'm kind of disappointed.

I didn't cave for the money.
You're getting the sessions you paid for.

You seem like you're in pain.

- He is.
- He said "in pain," not "a pain."

Oh. Never mind, then.

What is it?

I'm doing all these things that are wrong
because of ratings,

and I'm making the staff do things
that they don't want to do,

I'm cursing them out, I'm ignoring incredibly
important news stories,

and I'm betraying the trust
of people who respect me.

And I did it all in the blink of an eye.

- That can be traumatic.
- No, I'm fine with all of that.

Here's my thing. New York Magazine

is gonna do a story on my show
and I get to choose the writer.

And I could have chosen anybody
and I chose MacKenzie's ex-boyfriend.

Of course.

- The one she cheated on you with?
- Yeah.

- Why?
- That's what I came here to ask you.

You're holding your hand over the candle.

What do you mean?

You're holding your hand over the candle
because you think the trick is not minding.

Ahh.

So if I just get through this, I'll be fine.

- No.
- Why?

Because the trick isn't not minding.

The trick is forgiving MacKenzie.

It would be easier
to hold my hand over the candle.

I know.

Well, you've been no help at all, but thanks.
Sorry to barge in.

You know, while you're
working your way through this,

you're hurting MacKenzie.

I know that.

Show up for your appointment.

I'm not doing it on purpose.

Maggie.

Yeah.

- Sandy?
- Yes.

- Margaret Jordan. We talked on the phone.
- Nice to meet you.

- You got here okay?
- Yes.

I have a receipt for the cab.
Who do I give that to?

I'll take it.

So, you got some tweets
from Congressman Weiner.

And I've got copies of them right here.

"'I like the cute new pics of you.

"'Where'd you get those abs?'

'Glad you like them.
When do I get to see your swimsuit shot?'

'When are you coming to see me?
Or just coming?'

'Make me an offer.'

'My door's always open. Get it?'

'What's your plan for us?'

'To get us in the mood,
we watch The Daily Show and Colbert.

"'Then when we're really hot,
we go to the bookstore

"'and replace all the copies
of Glenn Beck books

"'with The Audacity of Hope.
Or, if that's not your thing,

"'we can just get drunk and fuck."'

Why are you doing this?

Because the world needs to know
what kind of guy he is.

It sort of seems like you
were a willing participant.

I didn't know about the other women.

- Did you know he was married?
- Of course.

I just didn't know about the other women.

I was fooled and I think the world needs
to know what kind of guy he is.

By any chance, have you heard
of a guy named Dylan Kagin?

He's gonna be my agent.

Sandy... Can I call you Sandy?

Sure.

Sandy, the congressman is in a lot of trouble.

He got himself into it

and he's probably not gonna
be able to get out of it.

Are you sure you want to pile on?

I think people need to know
what kind of person he is.

All right.

Would you like to be on our show tonight?

That's the thing.
I'm doing Access Hollywood, ET, and Fox.

The big three. No problem.

We can do a pre-tape in a few minutes.

You're a lifesaver.
I was hoping you'd say that.

No kidding? Stay here

and I'll talk to my EP and we'll get this going.

Could I possibly get a decaf latte?

You cannot possibly get that,
but I'll have someone bring you a coffee.

Well, I left it for you
on the left side of the desk.

And, yes, I signed it. Here you go.

I don't know anything about it.

Leona!

A word?

Okay, ask her to show it to me on the plane.

Let's not stand in the street.

Charlie, with that bow tie,
you look like a balloon salesman.

No, I get in the car and get out a minute later,

it looks like we're talking about a problem
or making a drug deal.

We're gonna stand here, smile and nod,
and do this and laugh.

We know where the tabloid stories
are coming from.

They're coming from reality.

Only if you define reality as fantasy,

and they're appearing
in a magazine you own.

How would it look if I had
one of our news magazines

go soft on our flagship anchor?

We're calling TMI! a news magazine?

People need to know if Taylor Swift is happy.

I provide a public service
for hundreds of thousands.

The public's grateful.

What did I tell you
the day after election night?

Friend to friend,
I'd stop coming after Will in the tabloids.

I told you to get him to lighten up
on the Tea Party

or a context would be created
whereby his firing would look reasonable.

- You need to hear me.
- I don't think I do.

The 112th Congress wasn't even seated

and he took the Tea Party out for a walk
on the 9/11 Responders Bill.

Congress, Democrats and Republicans

spent eight years using 9/11 as a justification

for everything from tax cuts
to a foreign invasion.

So Will questioned their change of heart

when it came to the police
and firemen's unions.

You made them look like hypocrites.

By rolling tape.

House Financial Services, insider trading,
Keystone XL, Joe Walsh, Allen West,

Paul Ryan, and who am I forgetting?

Oh, yes. Charles and David Koch.

Keep smiling.

We lost a couple of
awfully helpful tax loopholes

that were tailored to assets overseas.

And the FCC won't even let us bid
on the coming spectrum auction

because they want a full report
on whether or not

we're skirting antitrust.

So what was your request again?

You don't want to do this.

I don't.

I really don't.

But I have to and I will.

And friend to friend,

you let him know that he is
one tabloid fuck-up

and a ratings point away
from having his own podcast.

I have to make my plane.

Fly safe.

- Unless there's a rally...
- I'm sorry, I've got to...

- Listen.
- Sloan.

Unless there's a rally in the next 90 minutes,

the Dow's gonna close down about 2.5%,
S&P and NASDAQ will close down 2.3.

- Let me tell you why.
- I don't own a lot of stock.

- Let me tell you why.
- I really can't...

Stop avoiding this!

I just got off the phone with these guys.

Listen to these quotes.
These aren't from liberals.

These are hardcore Wall Street guys
who, whatever the world may think of them,

know what they're talking about and so do I.

Jamie Dimon at Chase says,

"Voting against raising the debt ceiling
would be a moral disaster."

The Barclays guys say,
"This debate is detached from reality."

My Goldman source says, "If the
House Republicans continue this debate,

"I hope they're willing to mark the end
of the dollar as a global reserve currency."

Please notice that he didn't say

"If the House Republicans
don't raise the debt ceiling."

He said, "If the House Republicans
continue this debate."

That's all it takes.
Just the uncertainty.

That's why the Dow's gonna
close down 230 points today.

Because just the debate, just the doubt,

just the possibility that the House Majority
might commit

the most self-inflicted damage to the country

since the secession of the South
has caused billions in value to disappear.

Sloan, I understand. I swear to God I do.

But you can't say the same
thing in the C block?

You know that most
people watch 10 minutes of news,

- the first 10 minutes.
- The vote isn't until tomorrow night.

And it's only the first vote.
You said yourself it was cosmetic.

Why do we have to feature it tonight?

We should have been featuring it weeks ago.

Why do we have to feature it tonight?

To give time for the people
to call their congressmen

and say, "If you fuck with the full faith
and credit of the US Treasury, you're fired."

To give time for the people to jam
the phone lines of the district offices.

To give the people time to say,

"I'm a fiscal conservative

"and you've got to put the pin back in
the grenade right now."

That's why.

I'm gonna do everything I can.

Please do.

Don't worry about it.

She's just frustrated because
she can't get the word out

that this is a global
emergency unless you let her.

Appreciate your clearing that up.

You know what, MacKenzie?

I'm not the one who put me here.

Say what you want about me,
but I wouldn't have done that.

Does Will have the questions?

Tess is giving him some cards now.

- Is that lighting okay for you?
- Yeah.

- How are we Chyroning her?
- I was gonna ask you.

Figure it out later.

- Sandy.
- Yes?

My name's MacKenzie. I'm the executive...

I'm the executive producer of News Night.

- Can you hear me okay?
- Yes.

Okay. Thanks for being patient with us.

Will's just throwing on a jacket and tie
and we'll be able to do this.

- Real easy.
- You got it.

Hi, I'm a big fan.

Hmm?

I'm Sandy.

How do you do?

- Are we ready for the pre-tape?
- Yeah.

- Just count me down.
- Will.

Yes, I'm sure I want to do this.

God, please give me a sign
I'm not doing a big thing badly.

We just lost power.

The whole building just lost power.

I didn't know he had
that kind of comic timing.