Aaron Sorkin Slams Media Covering Sony Hack In NY Times Op-Ed
Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is not pleased with how the media is handling the Sony hack.
In an Op-Ed in the New York Times, Sorkin slams and calls out news outlets for doing exactly what the hackers, who call themselves "Guardians of Peace," hoped would happen.
"The Guardians just had to lob the ball; they knew our media would crash the boards and slam it in," the "Newsroom" creator writes. "First, salaries were published. Not by the hackers, but by American news outlets."
Sorkin goes on to explain that he is "not a disinterested third party" in the scandal because "much of the squabbling between Ms. Pascal and Mr. Rudin was about a movie that's about to begin shooting, 'Steve Jobs,' for which I wrote the screenplay, so my name comes up from time to time."
Sorkin then took the opportunity to clear up a few reports that have been circulating about himself based on the leaked emails:
The widely published documents that were stolen include an email to Ms. Pascal in which I advocated going to Tom Cruise for the lead role (I did), a second email from one executive to another speculating that I'm broke (I'm fine) and a third that suggested that I might be romantically involved with a woman whose book I'm using as source material for a new script (I wish).
Sorkin goes on to compare the situation to the Pentagon Papers, which were also stolen documents used by the press, but he concludes that "there is nothing in these documents remotely rising to the level of public interest of the information found in the Pentagon Papers."
"Do the emails contain any information about Sony breaking the law? No," Sorking writes. "Misleading the public? No. Acting in direct harm to customers, the way the tobacco companies or Enron did? No. Is there even one sentence in one private email that was stolen that even hints at wrongdoing of any kind? Anything that can help, inform or protect anyone?"
Sorkin calls for the media to stop covering the documents and for Hollywood to come together in support of Sony and demanding a response from Washington.
Read Sorkin's full Op-Ed in the NY Times here >