The Shot Clock Heard Around the World
Values drive decisions. Big ones in hairy times. Small ones when no one’s looking. Gnarly ones deeply embedded beneath shrouds of bells and whistles and tangled tresses. What we really believe in the core of our gut serves as our navigational rudder. It keeps our heads clear, allowing us to move quickly. Act consistently. Find our way through the mud and the muck. Our principles function as both a lighthouse and a compass to help us make our way.
When we keep them top of mind, that is.
In season two of Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series, Newsroom, the senior executive team at Atlantis Cable Network (Sorkin’s fictional news station) finds themselves under fire for an erroneous story they aired condemning the American government for their use of sarin gas in WWII. Though the ACN staff had reservations about running the story, key evidence from a Washington D.C. correspondent—a video interview with a former Army General who admitted: “We used sarin gas”—gave them little choice. Despite internal consternation and fear of ramifications for both our military and our country, their job was to report the facts.
So they did.
And almost as fast as the numbers rolled in prompting an unprecedented rating’s soar, the people who ran the story wished they hadn’t. A series of reactions and non-reactions from the important public (the quoted General threatening to sue and the Pentagon not saying a word) made them antsy. As the senior team began to once again re-trace their tracks, Mackenzie, the executive producer, stumbles upon a shot clock in the corner of the TV screen showing a basketball game playing in the background of the General’s interview. When she slows the video, the shot clock numbers show a skip.
The interview had been doctored. The D.C. reporter had spliced the tape to make the General say what he wanted him to say.
ACN immediately retracted the story. But the damage was already done. They lost the public trust. Ratings plummeted. The fraudulent, maligned reporter even sued the network for damages. The station was in a tailspin. In hopes of saving ACN, the president, on-air talent, lead executive team and all in-house employees who had worked on the story attempted to resign. But the owners wouldn’t let them. The stand-off turned their days into an ugly slog.
The bulk of episode seven chronicles the ACN leadership team’s desperate attempts to swallow the sword. Even though they knew they did due diligence, checking and re-checking all the facts, self-removal was the only way forward they could see.
Then, suddenly, at the 11th hour, Charlie, the president of the news division, jolted. All ACN had done was stand for the truth. He could see that he and his people had been fighting the wrong battle by trying to resign amidst the waves of public attack. Mired in self-flagellation, the crew had looked right past the most important thing. Charlie was reminded of what he had forgotten. He remembered who the Atlantis Cable Network was at the core of their core—truth seekers who owned their own mistakes.
No one would resign.
Clarity can easily get clouded when the noise around us escalates enough. But principles drive behavior. Decisions are simple even when they aren’t easy if looked at through the lens of purpose. True north carves and craves an obvious path.