HBO Show “Newsroom” Spotlights Scott Walker’s Attack on Bargaining
by Joye Barksdale | July 23, 2012
Fictional anchor Will McAvoy looks at public employee salaries during an episode of HBO’s “Newsroom”
Too bad Will McAvoy, anchor of “News Night,” exists only on television, in the HBO drama “Newsroom.” Public service workers could use a real-life journalist like him to delve into the facts and set the record straight.
In the latest episode of the drama, McAvoy – played by Jeff Daniels – does a feature on the Wisconsin uprising of public-service workers, students, retirees, and tens of thousands of others after Gov. Scott Walker’s attack on collective bargaining rights.
McAvoy shows an on-screen graphic that spotlights the salaries of various Wisconsin public employees, pointing out that ending bargaining rights won’t solve the state’s budget problems.
He also juxtaposes Wisconsin with the uprising in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and downfall of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, which occurred at about the same time as the Madison protests.
