The Newsroom s03e05 Episode Script
Oh Shenandoah
_ 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 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 - 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? I'm the one here she knows the best.
Didn't she have an affair with Will? It wasn't an affair.
Neither of them were married.
No, that didn't happen.
Will's in jail at the moment.
And none of this is the point.
The paparazzi knew she was in there because of our creepy stalker app.
I'm coming to you as my superior, which I mean only in a sense of our organizational chart, and pleading with you to have what's his name - Bree.
- Bree shut down the app.
Mac's been fighting that battle for six weeks.
- And what have you been doing? - Just, you know, my job.
Which should now include getting the assassin's helper taken down.
- I'm on it.
- When? Well, I'm in the middle of a tricky Now.
- Right now.
- There you go.
Excuse me, Bree.
Excuse me.
Hey, easy.
- I just wanted to talk to you about something.
- You are? He's Don Keefer, executive producer You know who he is.
- And you run our website until Neal Sampat's back.
- I wanted to I'm senior editor of ACN Digital, if you're going to be insulting.
- Nobody wants to be insulting.
- I badly want to be insulting.
Here's the thing Sloan got a call from Erin Andrews - You know Erin Andrews? - Yes.
Yowza.
I want to get with that so bad.
I'll pass that on.
I'm sure she'll want you to have her number.
- Hey, fuck you.
- Yeah? - You can't talk to her like that, my friend.
- What's the problem here? Erin Andrews got stopped by paparazzi last night coming out of the movies.
- I know, we've got it up.
- Now we're in Peabody country.
You're here to give me shit about the app again.
Yes.
Restraining Order.
Scum Bottle Guide.
- Whatever it's called.
- ACNgage.
It should be called ACinvoluntary Engage.
I'll bring that up at our next staff meeting.
You guys like ACinvoluntary Engage? - No.
- It got voted down.
Listen, no kidding around, you need to disable the app until we can figure this out, - 'cause it's a little not what we do.
- What's not what you do? Giving deranged people with access to semiautomatic weapons the locations of their targets while simultaneously turning the rest of our brains into Wheatena.
That app's driving a lot of traffic.
I don't care if it's driving in the Grand Prix of Monaco.
I need you to temporarily take it down.
- Then permanently take it down.
- You need to speak to my boss.
- He's your boss.
- I'm your boss.
Lucas Pruit is my boss.
I pitched him the app and he loved it, which is why we have it.
This is a warmed-over version of the same app Gawker had and took down five years ago.
They still have a version of it, but this one's better.
- Look - No, you look.
We're all a little tired of being treated like we're not Neal Sampat.
I like my app and it makes money, both of which are more than I can say for your 10:00 hour.
So if you have a problem, and I got a hunch you got more than a few, why don't you take it to Pruit? Beat him up.
No, he's right.
Yeah, he's What? About the last thing he said.
About the last thing you said.
We haven't been very welcoming and in a weird way we've been blaming him for Neal.
If Digital can help us, we should be supporting Digital.
- That's right.
- Yeah.
Come on the show and tell people about your app.
Seriously? I'll ask MacKenzie for a block and I'll interview you.
All right.
Awesome.
An associate producer will give you the details.
- You should apologize.
- Sorry.
- To him.
- Habit.
Sorry.
Were you serious about that phone number? Yeah, but I think you can do better.
- For real? - I'm on it.
Okay, so when you vivisect this guy and especially his app, Pruit's not gonna be happy.
I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
You usually blow up that bridge when you come to it.
Would you mind giving me some space? I have a show to prepare.
Sure, but this is my office.
Yes, it is.
Sorry.
Hang on.
There's an undergrad at Princeton who started a website for students who have been raped, but who don't have enough evidence for the police to take action.
Victims can go onto the site either anonymously or not and name names and describe their experiences.
Pruit wants the undergrad and one of the accused in the studio.
- That's a terrible idea.
- I know.
- Do you have a better one? - Don't do it? Do you have a better one where I get to keep my job? - Charlie's gonna back you.
- Charlie told me to do it.
What's happening to him? I think you should consider letting me do the talking.
At least at the top.
We won't have much time with him and I want to ask him, obviously, the extent to which they've been keeping metadata, how much the agency learns from this kind of information, and in what ways the FISA reports have provided insufficient oversight of the NSA.
I want to ask him at what point he decided to declare war on the United States.
So I think you should let me get the ball rolling.
You and your whole generation's contempt for institutions.
I'm two years younger than you.
With your hair and your clothes and your music.
Here it is.
Here's the gate.
You sure? It says departs for Havana at 11:55 PM.
- Are you sure? - We had a nine-hour flight from New York.
I was brushing up on my Russian with my Russian phrase book, or Russkiy razgovornik, while you were watching Star Wars on your iPad.
Trek.
Star Trek.
Both excellent examples of genius, - but different in every imaginable - Yeah, shut up.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
Then we'll speak in English.
You're American press, yes? I have not seen Edward Snowden.
I do not know where he is.
That's all right.
We just want to check in for the midnight flight to Havana.
That's Aeroflot seven, departing 11:55? Yes.
Margaret Jordan and James Humdrum.
Harper.
That guy's from ABC's Moscow bureau.
And that's Reuters and that's Le Monde.
He's going to Cuba.
He's gonna be on this flight.
I do not show reservation for Margaret Jordan.
- Really? - I'll try Humdrum.
Harper.
James Harper.
The office bought our tickets while we were in the air.
I do not show reservation for Harper.
Would you mind checking again? What do you think will happen the second time? Would you ask her to check again? - Would you mind checking again? - In Russian.
I understood in English.
And I have checked again.
And lo and behold, got the same result.
All right.
Can we have two coach seats to Havana? - The flight is sold out.
- Of course it is.
I'll call the office.
Unless the office can build two seats and install them on the plane in the next four hours, it's not gonna do any good.
Excuse me.
Do you speak English? - Agence France.
- You speak French.
Great.
- I speak English, too.
- Okay.
'Cause when I said It doesn't matter.
I would like to buy your ticket from you at a substantial markup.
- How substantial? - Twice what your office paid for it.
You can catch the next flight and pocket the difference.
- That's a good deal.
- Yes, it is.
I don't have a ticket for the flight.
- You don't? - No.
What are you doing here? I'm here to photograph Mr.
Snowden.
This is a very big story.
You agree? I do.
I do agree.
We have to get on this flight.
When did you decide you wanted to be a TV news anchor? Do you know how long this interview is gonna take? - You've got someplace else you're going? - No.
When did you decide you wanted to be a TV news anchor? I didn't.
I was a prosecutor.
Then I was a speechwriter.
Then I was the legal correspondent for my network and I got promoted.
- You were a prosecutor? - The Brooklyn DA's office.
You aren't afraid you're gonna run into some of the people you sent here? That's why I'm supposed to be in solitary.
And you were what kind of writer? Speechwriter.
What does that mean? I helped write speeches for the first President Bush.
I worked on his campaign and when he won, they brought me to the White House.
No kidding? George H.
W.
? - Yeah.
- Did you ever meet him? Yeah.
Ah.
I liked him.
He was an elite Harvard silver spoon and all that, but he didn't rub it in your face, you know? - He went to Yale.
- He didn't do that.
He didn't make people feel stupid.
- That's not what I was doing.
- What? You were just saying that to the fatheads, there's no difference between Yale and Harvard.
But to the refined palate of the eastern elite, - the subtle nuances - Jesus, I'm from Nebraska! You still got that northeastern air of superiority.
- I'm in jail! - And even in here you still think you're better than me.
You hit a woman, man.
You don't set the bar very high.
- Will.
- Yeah? - You got visitors.
- On a Monday? - I'll be outside the door.
- You look good.
- Yeah, you say that every week.
- It's true every week.
How you holding up? I'm good.
What's this about? He's going to ask you a couple of questions I've already approved.
But if you need a minute, take a minute.
- He'll step outside.
- What's going on? The day before yesterday, Saturday morning, a woman named Lilly Hart committed suicide by shooting herself in the head on the steps of the Justice Department.
Does the name Lilly Hart mean anything to you? That wasn't one of the questions we went over.
- All right.
- Stick to the script.
Lilly Hart worked for BCD.
Her roommate and some of her friends were trying to put the pieces together, trying to figure out why she killed herself and so theatrically.
- Mm-hmm.
- Her roommate starts going through her emails and then some files, and she finds some things which are alarming enough for her to bring to the attention of some agents who sweep the entire laptop.
Will you confirm Lilly Hart as your source? No, sir.
- Will you deny that she was your source? - No, sir.
- You're not under oath.
- I understand.
Lilly Hart has no family.
Both her parents died in a car crash years ago.
She's single with no children.
There's no one to protect anymore.
Confirm the name, and I'll inform the judge that the government no longer needs your testimony and has withdrawn their subpoena and you'll be having dinner with your wife in your home tonight.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I'm not allowed to reveal the name of a source without their permission.
Well, that option was taken off the table when your source put a loaded Beretta 9mm Nano in her mouth and squeezed the trigger.
Don't do that.
Don't try the side door.
Look, confirm that she's the source and Neal comes home from Venezuela.
We'll buy the ticket.
First class.
And you won't pursue criminal prosecution? We'll give him an ice cream cone.
Will you confirm that Lilly Hart was your source? No, sir.
- Will you deny it? - No, sir.
Neal would pummel me if I got him back by giving up the name of a source.
Did you think I was gonna consider a deal like this? I wrote down exactly what I thought you'd say and sealed it in this envelope.
_ Can I speak to him? He's back in his cell.
Mac.
When are they gonna be absolutely sure? What percent of certainty will it take? - I'm gonna find out.
- What if we switch places? - I have the exact same information Will has.
- Mac.
What if you convinced them I was softer and more likely to give up the name? - Are you? - No.
Just a second.
- What if you told them that - Listen to me.
'Cause here's your $20 worth.
You don't tell anyone you know what Will knows.
You want your friends to be subpoenaed and get sworn in? No.
Come on in.
Keep calling me.
I want to hear from you once an hour.
- What's going on? - I need a block tonight.
Five minutes, 4:30.
- For what? - I want to interview Bree Dorrit.
Isn't that the temporary ACN Digital editor? - Yeah.
- Why do you want to interview someone who works for us? I want to discuss an app he has We have called Human Flesh Hunter or something.
I know I've missed some meetings, but we really don't have an app called Hunting Human Flesh? No.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I don't like to do stories about us.
I know, but this is about everyone.
Lady Gaga has been relatively silent on Twitter since her hip surgery last February.
But today she broke her silence and tweeted in support of In defense of In support of overturning the Defense of Marriage Act.
Sloan's going to interview her manager.
You're still able to hear yourself when you speak, right? - Yeah.
- I'm glad Lady Gaga wants to engage people She has 40 million Twitter followers.
Does her manager bring expertise to the table on marriage equality? What kind of expertise is there on that subject? - Someone who's familiar with state legislature.
- Just block out the time.
We don't have the time tonight.
We only have him for one night.
Well, I don't want to get scooped on Gaga's manager.
Hey, you know what, Mac? How about she brings 40 million people to a civil rights debate? I don't think gay couples who'd just like to move the fuck on with their lives are as choosy about that discussion.
It was trending, Charlie.
It still is.
Lady Gaga's tweets, they're trending number one.
So Pruit picked up the phone and said, "Do this.
" That's why you book her manager, to report on the tweets.
Whatever.
Put it in the rundown.
- I don't have room.
- There's always room.
Tell me what you'd like to cut.
The Supreme Court struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act this morning.
IAF fighter jets attacked the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired at southern Israel.
Ed Markey won John Kerry's seat in the Senate.
- Snowden's on his way to Cuba.
- Cut my thing.
I didn't have the time for it anyway.
- What was it? - Nothing.
- ACNgage? - Yeah, how'd you know? - Pruit wants it.
- How did he know? The guy, Bree, he's got a relationship with Pruit.
He told him you were putting him on the air and Pruit liked it.
It's a promo for the site.
Yeah, that is what it is.
You'll have to cut something else or make trims.
In an historic the US Supreme Court did something that we'll tell you about tomorrow.
- We're clear, right? - We are.
- I'm really sorry.
- Not your fault.
Tell me about the five-minute interview we're going to do with ourselves.
You sure you wouldn't rather do this someplace else? Those are the Footnotes.
The pitch pipe lives in the room next door and they practice there sometimes.
You get used to it.
It's kind of nice.
I just meant If I can avoid it, I'd rather not be alone with a young woman in her dorm room.
You want witnesses in case I say you forced yourself on me.
- No, no.
- Don.
- Yeah? - I was raped.
- I wasn't worried - I was raped.
I went to a party at one of the eating clubs.
I drank too much tequila.
There was molly, there was coke, there were mushrooms, and I took anything that was put in front of me.
I wound up in a bathroom throwing up and then passing out.
And the next thing I knew, two guys were helping me into a bedroom.
They told me I needed to lie down.
When we got in there, they took my clothes off and they took turns raping me.
And the next day you called the police? City police, campus police, and the DA's office.
I know who the two guys are and I know where they live.
That should be the easiest arrest they're ever going to make.
- Nobody pursued it.
- The kind of rape you're talking about - is difficult and usually impossible to prove.
- It's not a kind of rape.
Sure.
How did you find me? - The original email? - Yeah.
Just some detective work.
I really want to know.
Well, on the web page there's a bio.
You say you're a third-year psych major.
And later you say you live across from Dillon Gym and one of these days you're gonna start working out.
- You also wrote that you love the Phat Lady.
- Right.
I got a list of all female psych majors on campus and cross-referenced it with students living in the upperclassmen dorms across from the gym, which brought me to Cuyler Hall.
- Wow.
- I asked some people in my office if they knew the band the Phat Lady.
- Really? - And a Princeton grad laughed and said - It's a sandwich.
- It is the most popular sandwich not on the menu at Hoagie Haven.
So we went to Costa, one of the managers at Hoagie Haven, with pictures of the four female psych majors living at Cuyler Hall and asked him if any were regular customers.
He pointed at your picture and said, "That's my girl Mary.
" That's a lot of detective work.
That's old school.
I was trying to impress my boss.
- My boss's boss.
- Did it work? He wants you in the studio along with Jeff.
At the same time.
Elliot Hirsch would be moderating, I guess you'd call it.
It's very promotable.
It'd bring a lot of new viewers to my show, a lot of younger viewers who drive a lot of Internet traffic.
And I'd score some points at work.
And you're here for a preinterview.
I'm here to beg you not to do it.
The travel office transferred me to talent relations, who transferred me to Tess, who said, "It's so romantic that you guys are on a stakeout together in the Moscow Airport.
You're his destiny.
" I said, "Tess, we were supposed to have tickets waiting to Havana.
" She said, "Hang on, let me check.
" Then she got back on the phone and said, "Did you know there's more than one city named Havana?" We have tickets to Spain? There are layovers in Dvinsk, Rotterdam, and Berlin.
And we change planes in Madrid.
How's it looking here? There are three people in front of us, five people in back of us.
As passengers come to claim their seats, the people in back get dismissed.
It's like that last helicopter out of Saigon.
I know how standby works.
I was answering your question.
It really would have killed you to apologize to Hallie? You would have gotten sick and died? As soon as you said the word romantic - I didn't say it, Tess did.
- You recounted it.
I was telling a funny story.
As soon as you said romantic, I knew we were heading for Hallie.
After all, it's been two hours.
- You would have tragically died from - I did apologize.
"I'm sorry I overreacted.
In fact, I'm so sorry that I sent this apology in a text.
" How should it have been delivered? - In person for starters.
- She doesn't want to see me.
You know what you should do? Tess thinks you're my destiny? - Call her right now.
- Tess? Hallie.
Call her right now.
You're halfway around the world on a big story, but you just wanted to hear her voice.
Do you want her back, Jim? - Those two are on the plane.
- Do you want her back? - Of course.
- Then do what I'm telling you and wait for further instructions.
- Do it.
- You can hold our place? Yeah, I think I can handle standing on the ground.
'Cause it's not a bad idea.
Don't get into any, you know, areas.
Just tell her you wanted to hear her voice and that you love her and that you'll call her from Cuba.
All right, I'll be right back.
- What happened? - It was voicemail.
I hung up.
- You'll keep trying, right? - Yeah.
You did good.
I already know what he'll say.
So do I.
I've spoken to him.
- He denied it? - Yeah.
What did he say happened? You don't want to hear it.
- Yes, I do.
- It's upsetting.
I have a new standard for what upsets me.
- He said it was consensual? - Yeah.
How can it be consensual if one of the consenting parties isn't conscious? - It can't be.
- So what did he say? Mary, he says you said, "Fuck me.
Fuck me.
Fuck me.
Get two guys in here who will fuck me.
" Yeah, that That sounds like me.
And he's changing his story a little.
That's something that would come out in a trial.
There's not gonna be a trial.
There's not gonna be an arrest.
And there's not gonna be an investigation.
Mine's gonna be one of the so I started this website.
- Do you know who Sloan Sabbith is? - Sure.
- She's my girlfriend.
- Well done.
About, I don't know, a year and a half ago, she was dating this guy and they broke up and he was pissed.
She'd posed for him, some naked pictures, and he posted them on a site called RevengePorn.
com.
I remember.
What did she do? She broke his jaw, but I'm not recommending that.
This isn't revenge.
It's a warning.
It's a public service.
Do not go on a date with these guys.
Do not go to a party with these guys.
Do not give these guys a job ever.
Wait, they're avoiding jail and you think I'm being too harsh? Don't you think there's a chance that somebody's gonna use the site as revenge? That somebody's gonna make up a story and ruin a kid's life? Jeff got into Stanford Medical School.
Not anymore.
There were NFL teams looking at Brandon.
Not anymore.
Yeah, you can imagine how sad that makes me.
Don't you think there's a chance that somebody, a woman who feels rejected Yeah, bitches be bitches.
I get it.
I'm just saying that if a grown man who works in arbitrage at one of the biggest banks in the world can post naked pictures of his ex on RevengePorn.
com Yes, I think there's a chance and I've weighed the cost benefit.
I have.
If another girl got raped because I didn't say anything or because someone else didn't say anything - I know.
- You don't know.
And you're right about that, too.
Then what am I wrong about? What am I wrong about? I don't like Jews.
I said it.
People are afraid to speak their mind these days.
I haven't noticed that.
First of all, we've got, what, 3%? - Is that how many Jews there are, 3% of America? - A little less.
Less than 3% of Americans controlling the banks, the media, Hollywood.
They didn't take those things in an armed assault.
That's exactly how they did it.
Their grandparents came here from the Polish ghettos and the Russian villages and they told their sons, "Don't work with your hands.
" Go to law school.
You go to medical school.
You go to business school.
You don't get calluses on your hands.
You wear a suit to work.
Given the time they came from and the one that was coming, it was pretty good advice.
And guys like you worship them.
You'd give anything to be Jewish.
You're Protestant, right? - Catholic.
- Nah, not on both sides.
- My mother was Catholic.
- So is my wife.
- Is that why you hit her? - No, I'm not prejudiced.
You assume I am 'cause I do real work.
- What do I do? - Please, buddy.
- You want to trade jobs with me? - No.
'Cause you're too smart for what I do.
Just like the Jews.
That's why your father drank.
I'm making an executive decision.
Should I quiet everyone down? We can't be in this line because A You know, and B He'll have already talked to everyone who's boarded.
We need to be on the plane early.
Let's go back to the first plan.
No reporter is gonna sell us their ticket.
There are people on this flight who aren't reporters.
Let's look around and identify them.
Those two are on their honeymoon.
I do, just a little.
My husband does not.
I'm Maggie Jordan and this is Jim Harper.
We are from an American news agency.
Atlantis Cable News.
He says Atlantis is a lost Hercules, Zeus.
- Mythological.
- Mythological city.
It is, but the news agency is real.
- Go faster.
- Shut up.
Are you on your honeymoon, too? No, we're reporting an important story and we need to get on that flight.
And we'd like to buy your tickets to Havana and give you two free tickets to Madrid.
- Tell them Madrid's closer.
- They know where Madrid is.
- Just remind them.
- We know where Madrid is.
He wants your watch.
He wants your watch.
This watch was a graduation present from my parents.
Could I write you a check for some money instead? We'll take the money, too.
He liked my shirt and my pants, too.
And everything that was in my suitcase and my suitcase.
Hey, she took my News Night baseball cap.
I think we have more of those.
These are our seats.
All right.
We'll see him come on from here.
- I look like an idiot.
- You look kind of cute.
I look like I just really, really, really like the Olympics.
You never called Hallie, did you? No.
Jesus Christ, Jim.
The law is plainly failing rape victims.
That must be obvious to you.
It is, but in fairness, the law wasn't built to serve victims.
- In fairness? - I know.
Do you believe me? Do I believe you? Of course I do.
- Seriously.
- I'm not here on a fact-finding mission.
I'm just curious.
Be really honest.
Okay.
I've heard two competing stories.
One from a very credible woman who as far as I can see has no reason to lie.
The other from a guy I judge to be a little sketchy who has every reason to lie and I am I'm obligated to believe the sketchy guy.
This isn't a courtroom.
You're not legally obligated to presume innocence.
- I believe I'm morally obligated.
- You know, you're a good guy, but do people tell you a lot that your head's up your ass? They do, and I absolutely allow for that possibility.
I'm the guy who goes around saying OJ's not guilty because a jury said so.
I'm not gonna get a jury.
I know, and I can imagine how frustrating No, you can't imagine.
No, I can't.
But it is a huge, dangerous, scary-as-shit mistake to convene your own trial in front of a television audience where there's no due process, no lawyers, no discovery, no rules of procedure, no decisions on admissible evidence, threat of perjury, confrontation of witnesses or any of the things we do To ensure that rapists go to Stanford Medical School.
To ensure an innocent person isn't destroyed.
The law can acquit.
The Internet never will.
The Internet is used for vigilantism every day.
But this is a whole new level and if we go there, we're truly fucked.
- I'm not a vigilante.
- Do you want to live in a world where Do you want to hear the advice I get? I mean, this is real advice.
In pamphlets.
Say you have a boyfriend.
Wear a wedding ring.
I'm supposed to protect myself from a man by pretending I'm the property of another man.
And, of course, there's no shortage of good fashion advice.
- Mary.
- When you came in here, you wanted to go to a public place because you were scared I'd cry rape.
I'm scared of getting raped.
I'm scared all the time.
All the time.
So you know what my site does? It scares you.
It scares the living shit out of any guy who thinks even once about putting his hands on someone without an invitation.
You're right to name your attacker.
You may even be obligated to.
But the site is gonna clobber an innocent person and there is no chance that it won't.
And if you face off with the guy you've accused on TV, it is going to be a lawless food fight with irreversible, irretrievable consequences.
Teams will be formed, you will be slut-shamed, and you won't get the justice you're looking for.
That's why I'm asking you to refuse.
I don't understand why you need me to refuse.
It's your show.
Why don't you just not do it? I've been overruled.
It's a promotable story that'll bring in a younger audience.
I don't have a problem with that.
It's sports, Mary.
It'll be covered like sports.
I'm gonna win this time.
All right.
Thanks for hearing me out.
We'll be in touch with you.
- You miss your wife? - Yes.
Uh, yes.
Yes, Mr.
Chairman.
I miss my wife.
That's affirmative.
I was married to her for 11 minutes before I was taken to jail.
Yes, I miss my wife.
So is she like you or is she like, I don't know, what do you call it? - I don't know what you're asking.
- A trophy wife.
A guy like you could get, you know.
Is she a trophy wife or is she smart? She's very smart.
Is that something you're saying because people say that? She went to school at Cambridge in England.
She's considered one of the best in the world at her job - You've got to stop being a prick.
- What did I do now? I know that Cambridge is in goddamn England, shithead.
Why is the first thing you tell me is where she went to school? My wife is smarter than I am in every way imaginable and it never makes me mad.
I don't feel a crippling inferiority complex turn into rage and bad decisions when I think about her being smart.
- You're saying I do? - It seems to come up a lot.
I don't like media types.
- East Coast elites.
- Yeah.
That's a thoroughly original opinion.
I've never heard that before.
See, you people think we can't recognize sarcasm.
We can.
We just call it being an asshole.
And we call you a shit kicker.
And you still don't think you look down at some people.
Down is where some people are.
Hmm.
What's your mission to civilize? Who told you about that? - You did.
- When? - A while ago.
- I don't remember that.
Mission to civilize, what is that? Nothing.
- It's not nothing.
- It's just a joke.
- No, it's not.
- It's nothing.
What is it? It's a reference to Don Quixote.
- The knight? - He wasn't a real knight.
He was an old man who was delusional.
He thought he was a knight.
He took on a world that was bleak and morally corrupt.
How'd he do? He got his ass kicked.
See? And that's the thing.
I don't want to see you get your ass kicked.
That's That's not true.
That was dishonest.
I badly want to see you get your ass kicked.
I know.
And that picture of you and your father, I'll bet he wasn't trying to teach you about civic morality.
I'll bet he was just trying to teach you to fish.
Please, you have to take your seats now.
We're pushing back from the gate and all passengers must take their seats, please.
Thank you.
We had seats across the aisle from him.
The honeymooners had two seats across the aisle from Edward Snowden.
Boris and Natasha had the golden tickets.
We'd have had him the whole flight except for one thing.
- He's not - He's not on the plane.
You know where he is? - Probably back in the airport.
- Yeah.
So we'll be flying 600 miles an hour away from the story.
Fuck! Why didn't you call her? What? Why didn't you call Hallie? You're a noodge, Maggie.
You know that? I'm just asking.
If you really like her, it's a stupid thing I like you.
And I don't really know why you don't know that.
Because Because if you wanted to be with me, you'd be with me.
That's just not at all true.
You were with Don when I met you.
You never called me from New Hampshire.
- Yes, I did.
- No, you didn't.
Ever.
And you knew I had split up with Don and you knew why.
You went through Lisa, you went through Hallie.
And you never called me from New Hampshire.
So it's really not as obvious as you think it is.
And it's also probably not true.
Well, the rest might be right It's not, but it had potential but the last thing was unambiguously wrong.
- What language are you - I do like you.
I like you and I'm glad I said it.
Even though now I wish I had said it at the end of a 13-hour flight.
Yeah, this is gonna be uncomfortable.
I'm gonna switch seats with someone.
I'll switch seats.
I'll sit in Snowden's seat.
That's not far enough.
It's gonna be weird if we can see each other.
Okay.
I'm making a motion that the court vacate its initial contempt finding because enough is enough.
Do I need grounds? Sure.
The government now possesses information that will help it independently find the source.
But mostly, enough is enough.
You can't lock up a man for 52 days without him knowing when or even if he's ever getting out.
You can't lock up a reporter for protecting his source.
- You can't have everything.
And you - Rebecca.
I have not yielded the floor.
I won't be contesting your motion.
I'm sorry? I won't be contesting your motion.
I'll be joining it.
This isn't supposed to be punitive.
It's supposed to be coercive.
And plainly he's not giving up the name.
He'll sleep at home tonight.
Follow me.
Follow me.
Where are we going? Exactly where you think we're going.
I don't know what I'm confused.
We're running into turbulence.
You have to go to your seats and put your seat belts on.
This is awkward.
I was sitting far away from you.
I was watching episode four.
I'm sorry, would you mind trading back? We're in the middle of turbulence.
It's nothing.
It's due to the action of molecular viscosity called laminar flow.
Okay.
- Where did that come from? - Sit down.
Put on your seat belt.
And we're joined now by Bree Dorrit, editor of ACN Digital and father of the ACNgage app.
- Thanks for joining us, Bree.
- Hi, Sloan.
We saw some of it in the package we just played, but tell us about ACNgage.
It's a map that tells you where celebrities have been sighted in New York or Los Angeles.
And soon we'll be expanding to Vegas and South Beach.
Any time you want, you can scroll around and see, you know, Jude Law was shopping for condoms at Duane Reade on 57th or So people are out there and they can post a message to us and say, "Kristen Bell and her kid are at the 4:00 PM showing of How to Train Your Dragon at the ArcLight"? And it goes right on our map instantly.
So that when Kristen Bell and her kid come out of the movies, there are a dozen sociopaths waiting for them? - I don't think that's likely.
- Why not? Well, it's the price of fame, isn't it? No, it's not.
It's a punishment for it.
Celebrities have been stalked and celebrities have been murdered.
What this app is best at is assisting in that, right? I'm sorry you feel that way.
ACNgage is citizen journalism.
Can you talk about the vetting process - the citizen journalism undergoes? - The vetting? People can post more than locations.
- They can post observations.
- That's right.
I'm asking if those posts are fact-checked.
This is one specific element of the site For instance, in a post today a citizen journalist tells us that Jimmy Kimmel was visibly intoxicated last night - at the Soho House in West Hollywood.
- That's right.
Jimmy Kimmel was with his family in Cabo San Lucas last night.
People don't read this with the expectation of it being true.
- Everyone - Excuse me? - Everyone - People don't have an expectation that what they're reading is true? They read it for the immediacy.
But you're using the word journalism, which means there is an expectation that what they're reading is true.
But let me take it a step further.
Let's pretend it was true that Jimmy Kimmel was intoxicated last night at the Soho House in West Hollywood.
It's not true, but we don't care, so let's pretend that it is since that's what we're doing anyway.
Why does that belong on our website? Leave her on as long as she wants.
Honestly, I think there's a shifting definition of what's public and private space.
There is, and we should care about that.
But my question is why should we care about a talk show host drinking at a bar? Don't you think it's great that we're not putting people up on a pedestal and worshipping them anymore? I don't think celebrities are one of the bigger problems facing us, but aren't we the ones building the pedestal? You've got a map that gives us their location.
The idea is that we're acknowledging that they're real people.
I wonder how many of us didn't already know that.
But you're doing more than acknowledging they're real people.
You're beating them up for it.
Aren't they protected by the piles of money they're surrounded by? Okay, what's the line of demarcation? You make over X dollars a year and now you get to be treated by us as a regular person who's basically had an electronic bracelet slapped on their ankle.
What does X equal? It would be silly to name an exact dollar amount.
- You're paid $55,000 a year.
- Well, that's private.
Sorry.
That's almost twice the national average for a family of four.
Do your piles of cash protect you from this interview in which I'm intentionally stripping you of your dignity? And, by the way, I've managed to do it without lying once.
So I'm going to give you another chance to answer my question before I answer it myself.
What's the value of an unsourced, unvetted story about a grown man drinking at a bar? I can't give you all the time in the world.
It's entertainment.
My concern isn't for the celebrities, even though as sure as we're sitting here, someone's gonna get hurt.
My concern is for the rest of us who you're turning into a wild pack of prideless punks.
That's News Night for June 24.
I'm Sloan Sabbith filling in for Will McAvoy.
Terry Smith's up next with the Capitol Report.
We're clear.
Pruit's gonna kill you for this.
I know.
- Did you put her up to that?! - Let's go in my office.
- No! We'll go where I fucking say we go! - Charlie.
- Did you put her up to it? - Nobody put me up to anything.
What did you think you were doing? - You saw the questions she was gonna ask? - 'Course I saw the questions.
I was doing the interview the only way that made sense to me.
You were openly insubordinate! I was told to do this interview.
You knew what I was looking for! I did and I didn't like it, but I did it anyway.
- That was my interview.
Mac wasn't responsible.
- I tried to do the best I could, but I didn't I'm tired of this.
Did you get the Princeton kid? Charlie, let's go into my office and sit down for a minute.
Did you get the Princeton kid? - No.
- Why not? Couldn't find her.
You couldn't No.
- You couldn't find her?! - No.
Is this a mutiny?! It's an intervention.
I'm trying to keep this together! Her and her, tell 'em to pack their shit and get out of here.
- I apologize for the interview.
- I don't.
- Pack up your shit and get out of here, lady.
- Look She tore apart our network, except it isn't ours, it's mine.
So either Thelma and Louise vacate the premises in the next five minutes or I will fire the motherfucking lot of you right now.
No, you won't.
'Cause you can't.
Only I can.
A parting gift from Mrs.
Lansing.
Who on her worst day would never We need to talk.
You and me, right now, okay? Upstairs.
Nobody leaves the premises until we figure out how to fix this fucking calamity.
I'll be back in a minute.
- Let's meet in my office.
- I'm there.
It's okay.
It's over.
Charlie had a heart attack a few hours ago.
He died.
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 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 - 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? I'm the one here she knows the best.
Didn't she have an affair with Will? It wasn't an affair.
Neither of them were married.
No, that didn't happen.
Will's in jail at the moment.
And none of this is the point.
The paparazzi knew she was in there because of our creepy stalker app.
I'm coming to you as my superior, which I mean only in a sense of our organizational chart, and pleading with you to have what's his name - Bree.
- Bree shut down the app.
Mac's been fighting that battle for six weeks.
- And what have you been doing? - Just, you know, my job.
Which should now include getting the assassin's helper taken down.
- I'm on it.
- When? Well, I'm in the middle of a tricky Now.
- Right now.
- There you go.
Excuse me, Bree.
Excuse me.
Hey, easy.
- I just wanted to talk to you about something.
- You are? He's Don Keefer, executive producer You know who he is.
- And you run our website until Neal Sampat's back.
- I wanted to I'm senior editor of ACN Digital, if you're going to be insulting.
- Nobody wants to be insulting.
- I badly want to be insulting.
Here's the thing Sloan got a call from Erin Andrews - You know Erin Andrews? - Yes.
Yowza.
I want to get with that so bad.
I'll pass that on.
I'm sure she'll want you to have her number.
- Hey, fuck you.
- Yeah? - You can't talk to her like that, my friend.
- What's the problem here? Erin Andrews got stopped by paparazzi last night coming out of the movies.
- I know, we've got it up.
- Now we're in Peabody country.
You're here to give me shit about the app again.
Yes.
Restraining Order.
Scum Bottle Guide.
- Whatever it's called.
- ACNgage.
It should be called ACinvoluntary Engage.
I'll bring that up at our next staff meeting.
You guys like ACinvoluntary Engage? - No.
- It got voted down.
Listen, no kidding around, you need to disable the app until we can figure this out, - 'cause it's a little not what we do.
- What's not what you do? Giving deranged people with access to semiautomatic weapons the locations of their targets while simultaneously turning the rest of our brains into Wheatena.
That app's driving a lot of traffic.
I don't care if it's driving in the Grand Prix of Monaco.
I need you to temporarily take it down.
- Then permanently take it down.
- You need to speak to my boss.
- He's your boss.
- I'm your boss.
Lucas Pruit is my boss.
I pitched him the app and he loved it, which is why we have it.
This is a warmed-over version of the same app Gawker had and took down five years ago.
They still have a version of it, but this one's better.
- Look - No, you look.
We're all a little tired of being treated like we're not Neal Sampat.
I like my app and it makes money, both of which are more than I can say for your 10:00 hour.
So if you have a problem, and I got a hunch you got more than a few, why don't you take it to Pruit? Beat him up.
No, he's right.
Yeah, he's What? About the last thing he said.
About the last thing you said.
We haven't been very welcoming and in a weird way we've been blaming him for Neal.
If Digital can help us, we should be supporting Digital.
- That's right.
- Yeah.
Come on the show and tell people about your app.
Seriously? I'll ask MacKenzie for a block and I'll interview you.
All right.
Awesome.
An associate producer will give you the details.
- You should apologize.
- Sorry.
- To him.
- Habit.
Sorry.
Were you serious about that phone number? Yeah, but I think you can do better.
- For real? - I'm on it.
Okay, so when you vivisect this guy and especially his app, Pruit's not gonna be happy.
I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
You usually blow up that bridge when you come to it.
Would you mind giving me some space? I have a show to prepare.
Sure, but this is my office.
Yes, it is.
Sorry.
Hang on.
There's an undergrad at Princeton who started a website for students who have been raped, but who don't have enough evidence for the police to take action.
Victims can go onto the site either anonymously or not and name names and describe their experiences.
Pruit wants the undergrad and one of the accused in the studio.
- That's a terrible idea.
- I know.
- Do you have a better one? - Don't do it? Do you have a better one where I get to keep my job? - Charlie's gonna back you.
- Charlie told me to do it.
What's happening to him? I think you should consider letting me do the talking.
At least at the top.
We won't have much time with him and I want to ask him, obviously, the extent to which they've been keeping metadata, how much the agency learns from this kind of information, and in what ways the FISA reports have provided insufficient oversight of the NSA.
I want to ask him at what point he decided to declare war on the United States.
So I think you should let me get the ball rolling.
You and your whole generation's contempt for institutions.
I'm two years younger than you.
With your hair and your clothes and your music.
Here it is.
Here's the gate.
You sure? It says departs for Havana at 11:55 PM.
- Are you sure? - We had a nine-hour flight from New York.
I was brushing up on my Russian with my Russian phrase book, or Russkiy razgovornik, while you were watching Star Wars on your iPad.
Trek.
Star Trek.
Both excellent examples of genius, - but different in every imaginable - Yeah, shut up.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
Then we'll speak in English.
You're American press, yes? I have not seen Edward Snowden.
I do not know where he is.
That's all right.
We just want to check in for the midnight flight to Havana.
That's Aeroflot seven, departing 11:55? Yes.
Margaret Jordan and James Humdrum.
Harper.
That guy's from ABC's Moscow bureau.
And that's Reuters and that's Le Monde.
He's going to Cuba.
He's gonna be on this flight.
I do not show reservation for Margaret Jordan.
- Really? - I'll try Humdrum.
Harper.
James Harper.
The office bought our tickets while we were in the air.
I do not show reservation for Harper.
Would you mind checking again? What do you think will happen the second time? Would you ask her to check again? - Would you mind checking again? - In Russian.
I understood in English.
And I have checked again.
And lo and behold, got the same result.
All right.
Can we have two coach seats to Havana? - The flight is sold out.
- Of course it is.
I'll call the office.
Unless the office can build two seats and install them on the plane in the next four hours, it's not gonna do any good.
Excuse me.
Do you speak English? - Agence France.
- You speak French.
Great.
- I speak English, too.
- Okay.
'Cause when I said It doesn't matter.
I would like to buy your ticket from you at a substantial markup.
- How substantial? - Twice what your office paid for it.
You can catch the next flight and pocket the difference.
- That's a good deal.
- Yes, it is.
I don't have a ticket for the flight.
- You don't? - No.
What are you doing here? I'm here to photograph Mr.
Snowden.
This is a very big story.
You agree? I do.
I do agree.
We have to get on this flight.
When did you decide you wanted to be a TV news anchor? Do you know how long this interview is gonna take? - You've got someplace else you're going? - No.
When did you decide you wanted to be a TV news anchor? I didn't.
I was a prosecutor.
Then I was a speechwriter.
Then I was the legal correspondent for my network and I got promoted.
- You were a prosecutor? - The Brooklyn DA's office.
You aren't afraid you're gonna run into some of the people you sent here? That's why I'm supposed to be in solitary.
And you were what kind of writer? Speechwriter.
What does that mean? I helped write speeches for the first President Bush.
I worked on his campaign and when he won, they brought me to the White House.
No kidding? George H.
W.
? - Yeah.
- Did you ever meet him? Yeah.
Ah.
I liked him.
He was an elite Harvard silver spoon and all that, but he didn't rub it in your face, you know? - He went to Yale.
- He didn't do that.
He didn't make people feel stupid.
- That's not what I was doing.
- What? You were just saying that to the fatheads, there's no difference between Yale and Harvard.
But to the refined palate of the eastern elite, - the subtle nuances - Jesus, I'm from Nebraska! You still got that northeastern air of superiority.
- I'm in jail! - And even in here you still think you're better than me.
You hit a woman, man.
You don't set the bar very high.
- Will.
- Yeah? - You got visitors.
- On a Monday? - I'll be outside the door.
- You look good.
- Yeah, you say that every week.
- It's true every week.
How you holding up? I'm good.
What's this about? He's going to ask you a couple of questions I've already approved.
But if you need a minute, take a minute.
- He'll step outside.
- What's going on? The day before yesterday, Saturday morning, a woman named Lilly Hart committed suicide by shooting herself in the head on the steps of the Justice Department.
Does the name Lilly Hart mean anything to you? That wasn't one of the questions we went over.
- All right.
- Stick to the script.
Lilly Hart worked for BCD.
Her roommate and some of her friends were trying to put the pieces together, trying to figure out why she killed herself and so theatrically.
- Mm-hmm.
- Her roommate starts going through her emails and then some files, and she finds some things which are alarming enough for her to bring to the attention of some agents who sweep the entire laptop.
Will you confirm Lilly Hart as your source? No, sir.
- Will you deny that she was your source? - No, sir.
- You're not under oath.
- I understand.
Lilly Hart has no family.
Both her parents died in a car crash years ago.
She's single with no children.
There's no one to protect anymore.
Confirm the name, and I'll inform the judge that the government no longer needs your testimony and has withdrawn their subpoena and you'll be having dinner with your wife in your home tonight.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I'm not allowed to reveal the name of a source without their permission.
Well, that option was taken off the table when your source put a loaded Beretta 9mm Nano in her mouth and squeezed the trigger.
Don't do that.
Don't try the side door.
Look, confirm that she's the source and Neal comes home from Venezuela.
We'll buy the ticket.
First class.
And you won't pursue criminal prosecution? We'll give him an ice cream cone.
Will you confirm that Lilly Hart was your source? No, sir.
- Will you deny it? - No, sir.
Neal would pummel me if I got him back by giving up the name of a source.
Did you think I was gonna consider a deal like this? I wrote down exactly what I thought you'd say and sealed it in this envelope.
_ Can I speak to him? He's back in his cell.
Mac.
When are they gonna be absolutely sure? What percent of certainty will it take? - I'm gonna find out.
- What if we switch places? - I have the exact same information Will has.
- Mac.
What if you convinced them I was softer and more likely to give up the name? - Are you? - No.
Just a second.
- What if you told them that - Listen to me.
'Cause here's your $20 worth.
You don't tell anyone you know what Will knows.
You want your friends to be subpoenaed and get sworn in? No.
Come on in.
Keep calling me.
I want to hear from you once an hour.
- What's going on? - I need a block tonight.
Five minutes, 4:30.
- For what? - I want to interview Bree Dorrit.
Isn't that the temporary ACN Digital editor? - Yeah.
- Why do you want to interview someone who works for us? I want to discuss an app he has We have called Human Flesh Hunter or something.
I know I've missed some meetings, but we really don't have an app called Hunting Human Flesh? No.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I don't like to do stories about us.
I know, but this is about everyone.
Lady Gaga has been relatively silent on Twitter since her hip surgery last February.
But today she broke her silence and tweeted in support of In defense of In support of overturning the Defense of Marriage Act.
Sloan's going to interview her manager.
You're still able to hear yourself when you speak, right? - Yeah.
- I'm glad Lady Gaga wants to engage people She has 40 million Twitter followers.
Does her manager bring expertise to the table on marriage equality? What kind of expertise is there on that subject? - Someone who's familiar with state legislature.
- Just block out the time.
We don't have the time tonight.
We only have him for one night.
Well, I don't want to get scooped on Gaga's manager.
Hey, you know what, Mac? How about she brings 40 million people to a civil rights debate? I don't think gay couples who'd just like to move the fuck on with their lives are as choosy about that discussion.
It was trending, Charlie.
It still is.
Lady Gaga's tweets, they're trending number one.
So Pruit picked up the phone and said, "Do this.
" That's why you book her manager, to report on the tweets.
Whatever.
Put it in the rundown.
- I don't have room.
- There's always room.
Tell me what you'd like to cut.
The Supreme Court struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act this morning.
IAF fighter jets attacked the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired at southern Israel.
Ed Markey won John Kerry's seat in the Senate.
- Snowden's on his way to Cuba.
- Cut my thing.
I didn't have the time for it anyway.
- What was it? - Nothing.
- ACNgage? - Yeah, how'd you know? - Pruit wants it.
- How did he know? The guy, Bree, he's got a relationship with Pruit.
He told him you were putting him on the air and Pruit liked it.
It's a promo for the site.
Yeah, that is what it is.
You'll have to cut something else or make trims.
In an historic the US Supreme Court did something that we'll tell you about tomorrow.
- We're clear, right? - We are.
- I'm really sorry.
- Not your fault.
Tell me about the five-minute interview we're going to do with ourselves.
You sure you wouldn't rather do this someplace else? Those are the Footnotes.
The pitch pipe lives in the room next door and they practice there sometimes.
You get used to it.
It's kind of nice.
I just meant If I can avoid it, I'd rather not be alone with a young woman in her dorm room.
You want witnesses in case I say you forced yourself on me.
- No, no.
- Don.
- Yeah? - I was raped.
- I wasn't worried - I was raped.
I went to a party at one of the eating clubs.
I drank too much tequila.
There was molly, there was coke, there were mushrooms, and I took anything that was put in front of me.
I wound up in a bathroom throwing up and then passing out.
And the next thing I knew, two guys were helping me into a bedroom.
They told me I needed to lie down.
When we got in there, they took my clothes off and they took turns raping me.
And the next day you called the police? City police, campus police, and the DA's office.
I know who the two guys are and I know where they live.
That should be the easiest arrest they're ever going to make.
- Nobody pursued it.
- The kind of rape you're talking about - is difficult and usually impossible to prove.
- It's not a kind of rape.
Sure.
How did you find me? - The original email? - Yeah.
Just some detective work.
I really want to know.
Well, on the web page there's a bio.
You say you're a third-year psych major.
And later you say you live across from Dillon Gym and one of these days you're gonna start working out.
- You also wrote that you love the Phat Lady.
- Right.
I got a list of all female psych majors on campus and cross-referenced it with students living in the upperclassmen dorms across from the gym, which brought me to Cuyler Hall.
- Wow.
- I asked some people in my office if they knew the band the Phat Lady.
- Really? - And a Princeton grad laughed and said - It's a sandwich.
- It is the most popular sandwich not on the menu at Hoagie Haven.
So we went to Costa, one of the managers at Hoagie Haven, with pictures of the four female psych majors living at Cuyler Hall and asked him if any were regular customers.
He pointed at your picture and said, "That's my girl Mary.
" That's a lot of detective work.
That's old school.
I was trying to impress my boss.
- My boss's boss.
- Did it work? He wants you in the studio along with Jeff.
At the same time.
Elliot Hirsch would be moderating, I guess you'd call it.
It's very promotable.
It'd bring a lot of new viewers to my show, a lot of younger viewers who drive a lot of Internet traffic.
And I'd score some points at work.
And you're here for a preinterview.
I'm here to beg you not to do it.
The travel office transferred me to talent relations, who transferred me to Tess, who said, "It's so romantic that you guys are on a stakeout together in the Moscow Airport.
You're his destiny.
" I said, "Tess, we were supposed to have tickets waiting to Havana.
" She said, "Hang on, let me check.
" Then she got back on the phone and said, "Did you know there's more than one city named Havana?" We have tickets to Spain? There are layovers in Dvinsk, Rotterdam, and Berlin.
And we change planes in Madrid.
How's it looking here? There are three people in front of us, five people in back of us.
As passengers come to claim their seats, the people in back get dismissed.
It's like that last helicopter out of Saigon.
I know how standby works.
I was answering your question.
It really would have killed you to apologize to Hallie? You would have gotten sick and died? As soon as you said the word romantic - I didn't say it, Tess did.
- You recounted it.
I was telling a funny story.
As soon as you said romantic, I knew we were heading for Hallie.
After all, it's been two hours.
- You would have tragically died from - I did apologize.
"I'm sorry I overreacted.
In fact, I'm so sorry that I sent this apology in a text.
" How should it have been delivered? - In person for starters.
- She doesn't want to see me.
You know what you should do? Tess thinks you're my destiny? - Call her right now.
- Tess? Hallie.
Call her right now.
You're halfway around the world on a big story, but you just wanted to hear her voice.
Do you want her back, Jim? - Those two are on the plane.
- Do you want her back? - Of course.
- Then do what I'm telling you and wait for further instructions.
- Do it.
- You can hold our place? Yeah, I think I can handle standing on the ground.
'Cause it's not a bad idea.
Don't get into any, you know, areas.
Just tell her you wanted to hear her voice and that you love her and that you'll call her from Cuba.
All right, I'll be right back.
- What happened? - It was voicemail.
I hung up.
- You'll keep trying, right? - Yeah.
You did good.
I already know what he'll say.
So do I.
I've spoken to him.
- He denied it? - Yeah.
What did he say happened? You don't want to hear it.
- Yes, I do.
- It's upsetting.
I have a new standard for what upsets me.
- He said it was consensual? - Yeah.
How can it be consensual if one of the consenting parties isn't conscious? - It can't be.
- So what did he say? Mary, he says you said, "Fuck me.
Fuck me.
Fuck me.
Get two guys in here who will fuck me.
" Yeah, that That sounds like me.
And he's changing his story a little.
That's something that would come out in a trial.
There's not gonna be a trial.
There's not gonna be an arrest.
And there's not gonna be an investigation.
Mine's gonna be one of the so I started this website.
- Do you know who Sloan Sabbith is? - Sure.
- She's my girlfriend.
- Well done.
About, I don't know, a year and a half ago, she was dating this guy and they broke up and he was pissed.
She'd posed for him, some naked pictures, and he posted them on a site called RevengePorn.
com.
I remember.
What did she do? She broke his jaw, but I'm not recommending that.
This isn't revenge.
It's a warning.
It's a public service.
Do not go on a date with these guys.
Do not go to a party with these guys.
Do not give these guys a job ever.
Wait, they're avoiding jail and you think I'm being too harsh? Don't you think there's a chance that somebody's gonna use the site as revenge? That somebody's gonna make up a story and ruin a kid's life? Jeff got into Stanford Medical School.
Not anymore.
There were NFL teams looking at Brandon.
Not anymore.
Yeah, you can imagine how sad that makes me.
Don't you think there's a chance that somebody, a woman who feels rejected Yeah, bitches be bitches.
I get it.
I'm just saying that if a grown man who works in arbitrage at one of the biggest banks in the world can post naked pictures of his ex on RevengePorn.
com Yes, I think there's a chance and I've weighed the cost benefit.
I have.
If another girl got raped because I didn't say anything or because someone else didn't say anything - I know.
- You don't know.
And you're right about that, too.
Then what am I wrong about? What am I wrong about? I don't like Jews.
I said it.
People are afraid to speak their mind these days.
I haven't noticed that.
First of all, we've got, what, 3%? - Is that how many Jews there are, 3% of America? - A little less.
Less than 3% of Americans controlling the banks, the media, Hollywood.
They didn't take those things in an armed assault.
That's exactly how they did it.
Their grandparents came here from the Polish ghettos and the Russian villages and they told their sons, "Don't work with your hands.
" Go to law school.
You go to medical school.
You go to business school.
You don't get calluses on your hands.
You wear a suit to work.
Given the time they came from and the one that was coming, it was pretty good advice.
And guys like you worship them.
You'd give anything to be Jewish.
You're Protestant, right? - Catholic.
- Nah, not on both sides.
- My mother was Catholic.
- So is my wife.
- Is that why you hit her? - No, I'm not prejudiced.
You assume I am 'cause I do real work.
- What do I do? - Please, buddy.
- You want to trade jobs with me? - No.
'Cause you're too smart for what I do.
Just like the Jews.
That's why your father drank.
I'm making an executive decision.
Should I quiet everyone down? We can't be in this line because A You know, and B He'll have already talked to everyone who's boarded.
We need to be on the plane early.
Let's go back to the first plan.
No reporter is gonna sell us their ticket.
There are people on this flight who aren't reporters.
Let's look around and identify them.
Those two are on their honeymoon.
I do, just a little.
My husband does not.
I'm Maggie Jordan and this is Jim Harper.
We are from an American news agency.
Atlantis Cable News.
He says Atlantis is a lost Hercules, Zeus.
- Mythological.
- Mythological city.
It is, but the news agency is real.
- Go faster.
- Shut up.
Are you on your honeymoon, too? No, we're reporting an important story and we need to get on that flight.
And we'd like to buy your tickets to Havana and give you two free tickets to Madrid.
- Tell them Madrid's closer.
- They know where Madrid is.
- Just remind them.
- We know where Madrid is.
He wants your watch.
He wants your watch.
This watch was a graduation present from my parents.
Could I write you a check for some money instead? We'll take the money, too.
He liked my shirt and my pants, too.
And everything that was in my suitcase and my suitcase.
Hey, she took my News Night baseball cap.
I think we have more of those.
These are our seats.
All right.
We'll see him come on from here.
- I look like an idiot.
- You look kind of cute.
I look like I just really, really, really like the Olympics.
You never called Hallie, did you? No.
Jesus Christ, Jim.
The law is plainly failing rape victims.
That must be obvious to you.
It is, but in fairness, the law wasn't built to serve victims.
- In fairness? - I know.
Do you believe me? Do I believe you? Of course I do.
- Seriously.
- I'm not here on a fact-finding mission.
I'm just curious.
Be really honest.
Okay.
I've heard two competing stories.
One from a very credible woman who as far as I can see has no reason to lie.
The other from a guy I judge to be a little sketchy who has every reason to lie and I am I'm obligated to believe the sketchy guy.
This isn't a courtroom.
You're not legally obligated to presume innocence.
- I believe I'm morally obligated.
- You know, you're a good guy, but do people tell you a lot that your head's up your ass? They do, and I absolutely allow for that possibility.
I'm the guy who goes around saying OJ's not guilty because a jury said so.
I'm not gonna get a jury.
I know, and I can imagine how frustrating No, you can't imagine.
No, I can't.
But it is a huge, dangerous, scary-as-shit mistake to convene your own trial in front of a television audience where there's no due process, no lawyers, no discovery, no rules of procedure, no decisions on admissible evidence, threat of perjury, confrontation of witnesses or any of the things we do To ensure that rapists go to Stanford Medical School.
To ensure an innocent person isn't destroyed.
The law can acquit.
The Internet never will.
The Internet is used for vigilantism every day.
But this is a whole new level and if we go there, we're truly fucked.
- I'm not a vigilante.
- Do you want to live in a world where Do you want to hear the advice I get? I mean, this is real advice.
In pamphlets.
Say you have a boyfriend.
Wear a wedding ring.
I'm supposed to protect myself from a man by pretending I'm the property of another man.
And, of course, there's no shortage of good fashion advice.
- Mary.
- When you came in here, you wanted to go to a public place because you were scared I'd cry rape.
I'm scared of getting raped.
I'm scared all the time.
All the time.
So you know what my site does? It scares you.
It scares the living shit out of any guy who thinks even once about putting his hands on someone without an invitation.
You're right to name your attacker.
You may even be obligated to.
But the site is gonna clobber an innocent person and there is no chance that it won't.
And if you face off with the guy you've accused on TV, it is going to be a lawless food fight with irreversible, irretrievable consequences.
Teams will be formed, you will be slut-shamed, and you won't get the justice you're looking for.
That's why I'm asking you to refuse.
I don't understand why you need me to refuse.
It's your show.
Why don't you just not do it? I've been overruled.
It's a promotable story that'll bring in a younger audience.
I don't have a problem with that.
It's sports, Mary.
It'll be covered like sports.
I'm gonna win this time.
All right.
Thanks for hearing me out.
We'll be in touch with you.
- You miss your wife? - Yes.
Uh, yes.
Yes, Mr.
Chairman.
I miss my wife.
That's affirmative.
I was married to her for 11 minutes before I was taken to jail.
Yes, I miss my wife.
So is she like you or is she like, I don't know, what do you call it? - I don't know what you're asking.
- A trophy wife.
A guy like you could get, you know.
Is she a trophy wife or is she smart? She's very smart.
Is that something you're saying because people say that? She went to school at Cambridge in England.
She's considered one of the best in the world at her job - You've got to stop being a prick.
- What did I do now? I know that Cambridge is in goddamn England, shithead.
Why is the first thing you tell me is where she went to school? My wife is smarter than I am in every way imaginable and it never makes me mad.
I don't feel a crippling inferiority complex turn into rage and bad decisions when I think about her being smart.
- You're saying I do? - It seems to come up a lot.
I don't like media types.
- East Coast elites.
- Yeah.
That's a thoroughly original opinion.
I've never heard that before.
See, you people think we can't recognize sarcasm.
We can.
We just call it being an asshole.
And we call you a shit kicker.
And you still don't think you look down at some people.
Down is where some people are.
Hmm.
What's your mission to civilize? Who told you about that? - You did.
- When? - A while ago.
- I don't remember that.
Mission to civilize, what is that? Nothing.
- It's not nothing.
- It's just a joke.
- No, it's not.
- It's nothing.
What is it? It's a reference to Don Quixote.
- The knight? - He wasn't a real knight.
He was an old man who was delusional.
He thought he was a knight.
He took on a world that was bleak and morally corrupt.
How'd he do? He got his ass kicked.
See? And that's the thing.
I don't want to see you get your ass kicked.
That's That's not true.
That was dishonest.
I badly want to see you get your ass kicked.
I know.
And that picture of you and your father, I'll bet he wasn't trying to teach you about civic morality.
I'll bet he was just trying to teach you to fish.
Please, you have to take your seats now.
We're pushing back from the gate and all passengers must take their seats, please.
Thank you.
We had seats across the aisle from him.
The honeymooners had two seats across the aisle from Edward Snowden.
Boris and Natasha had the golden tickets.
We'd have had him the whole flight except for one thing.
- He's not - He's not on the plane.
You know where he is? - Probably back in the airport.
- Yeah.
So we'll be flying 600 miles an hour away from the story.
Fuck! Why didn't you call her? What? Why didn't you call Hallie? You're a noodge, Maggie.
You know that? I'm just asking.
If you really like her, it's a stupid thing I like you.
And I don't really know why you don't know that.
Because Because if you wanted to be with me, you'd be with me.
That's just not at all true.
You were with Don when I met you.
You never called me from New Hampshire.
- Yes, I did.
- No, you didn't.
Ever.
And you knew I had split up with Don and you knew why.
You went through Lisa, you went through Hallie.
And you never called me from New Hampshire.
So it's really not as obvious as you think it is.
And it's also probably not true.
Well, the rest might be right It's not, but it had potential but the last thing was unambiguously wrong.
- What language are you - I do like you.
I like you and I'm glad I said it.
Even though now I wish I had said it at the end of a 13-hour flight.
Yeah, this is gonna be uncomfortable.
I'm gonna switch seats with someone.
I'll switch seats.
I'll sit in Snowden's seat.
That's not far enough.
It's gonna be weird if we can see each other.
Okay.
I'm making a motion that the court vacate its initial contempt finding because enough is enough.
Do I need grounds? Sure.
The government now possesses information that will help it independently find the source.
But mostly, enough is enough.
You can't lock up a man for 52 days without him knowing when or even if he's ever getting out.
You can't lock up a reporter for protecting his source.
- You can't have everything.
And you - Rebecca.
I have not yielded the floor.
I won't be contesting your motion.
I'm sorry? I won't be contesting your motion.
I'll be joining it.
This isn't supposed to be punitive.
It's supposed to be coercive.
And plainly he's not giving up the name.
He'll sleep at home tonight.
Follow me.
Follow me.
Where are we going? Exactly where you think we're going.
I don't know what I'm confused.
We're running into turbulence.
You have to go to your seats and put your seat belts on.
This is awkward.
I was sitting far away from you.
I was watching episode four.
I'm sorry, would you mind trading back? We're in the middle of turbulence.
It's nothing.
It's due to the action of molecular viscosity called laminar flow.
Okay.
- Where did that come from? - Sit down.
Put on your seat belt.
And we're joined now by Bree Dorrit, editor of ACN Digital and father of the ACNgage app.
- Thanks for joining us, Bree.
- Hi, Sloan.
We saw some of it in the package we just played, but tell us about ACNgage.
It's a map that tells you where celebrities have been sighted in New York or Los Angeles.
And soon we'll be expanding to Vegas and South Beach.
Any time you want, you can scroll around and see, you know, Jude Law was shopping for condoms at Duane Reade on 57th or So people are out there and they can post a message to us and say, "Kristen Bell and her kid are at the 4:00 PM showing of How to Train Your Dragon at the ArcLight"? And it goes right on our map instantly.
So that when Kristen Bell and her kid come out of the movies, there are a dozen sociopaths waiting for them? - I don't think that's likely.
- Why not? Well, it's the price of fame, isn't it? No, it's not.
It's a punishment for it.
Celebrities have been stalked and celebrities have been murdered.
What this app is best at is assisting in that, right? I'm sorry you feel that way.
ACNgage is citizen journalism.
Can you talk about the vetting process - the citizen journalism undergoes? - The vetting? People can post more than locations.
- They can post observations.
- That's right.
I'm asking if those posts are fact-checked.
This is one specific element of the site For instance, in a post today a citizen journalist tells us that Jimmy Kimmel was visibly intoxicated last night - at the Soho House in West Hollywood.
- That's right.
Jimmy Kimmel was with his family in Cabo San Lucas last night.
People don't read this with the expectation of it being true.
- Everyone - Excuse me? - Everyone - People don't have an expectation that what they're reading is true? They read it for the immediacy.
But you're using the word journalism, which means there is an expectation that what they're reading is true.
But let me take it a step further.
Let's pretend it was true that Jimmy Kimmel was intoxicated last night at the Soho House in West Hollywood.
It's not true, but we don't care, so let's pretend that it is since that's what we're doing anyway.
Why does that belong on our website? Leave her on as long as she wants.
Honestly, I think there's a shifting definition of what's public and private space.
There is, and we should care about that.
But my question is why should we care about a talk show host drinking at a bar? Don't you think it's great that we're not putting people up on a pedestal and worshipping them anymore? I don't think celebrities are one of the bigger problems facing us, but aren't we the ones building the pedestal? You've got a map that gives us their location.
The idea is that we're acknowledging that they're real people.
I wonder how many of us didn't already know that.
But you're doing more than acknowledging they're real people.
You're beating them up for it.
Aren't they protected by the piles of money they're surrounded by? Okay, what's the line of demarcation? You make over X dollars a year and now you get to be treated by us as a regular person who's basically had an electronic bracelet slapped on their ankle.
What does X equal? It would be silly to name an exact dollar amount.
- You're paid $55,000 a year.
- Well, that's private.
Sorry.
That's almost twice the national average for a family of four.
Do your piles of cash protect you from this interview in which I'm intentionally stripping you of your dignity? And, by the way, I've managed to do it without lying once.
So I'm going to give you another chance to answer my question before I answer it myself.
What's the value of an unsourced, unvetted story about a grown man drinking at a bar? I can't give you all the time in the world.
It's entertainment.
My concern isn't for the celebrities, even though as sure as we're sitting here, someone's gonna get hurt.
My concern is for the rest of us who you're turning into a wild pack of prideless punks.
That's News Night for June 24.
I'm Sloan Sabbith filling in for Will McAvoy.
Terry Smith's up next with the Capitol Report.
We're clear.
Pruit's gonna kill you for this.
I know.
- Did you put her up to that?! - Let's go in my office.
- No! We'll go where I fucking say we go! - Charlie.
- Did you put her up to it? - Nobody put me up to anything.
What did you think you were doing? - You saw the questions she was gonna ask? - 'Course I saw the questions.
I was doing the interview the only way that made sense to me.
You were openly insubordinate! I was told to do this interview.
You knew what I was looking for! I did and I didn't like it, but I did it anyway.
- That was my interview.
Mac wasn't responsible.
- I tried to do the best I could, but I didn't I'm tired of this.
Did you get the Princeton kid? Charlie, let's go into my office and sit down for a minute.
Did you get the Princeton kid? - No.
- Why not? Couldn't find her.
You couldn't No.
- You couldn't find her?! - No.
Is this a mutiny?! It's an intervention.
I'm trying to keep this together! Her and her, tell 'em to pack their shit and get out of here.
- I apologize for the interview.
- I don't.
- Pack up your shit and get out of here, lady.
- Look She tore apart our network, except it isn't ours, it's mine.
So either Thelma and Louise vacate the premises in the next five minutes or I will fire the motherfucking lot of you right now.
No, you won't.
'Cause you can't.
Only I can.
A parting gift from Mrs.
Lansing.
Who on her worst day would never We need to talk.
You and me, right now, okay? Upstairs.
Nobody leaves the premises until we figure out how to fix this fucking calamity.
I'll be back in a minute.
- Let's meet in my office.
- I'm there.
It's okay.
It's over.
Charlie had a heart attack a few hours ago.
He died.