"A news organization has a much different responsibility. I might not be telling you the whole story. I might not be telling you a story in a manner that is properly sophisticated"
About this Quote
Sorkin is doing a sly bit of boundary-setting here: he’s both confessing and insulating himself. By admitting he “might not be telling you the whole story,” he acknowledges the seductive incompleteness of narrative craft - the way drama thrives on selection, compression, and angle. Then he pivots to the real thesis: a news organization can’t afford that luxury. The line lands because it treats “responsibility” as a structural constraint, not a moral accessory. Entertainment is allowed to be partial; journalism, at least in the ideal Sorkin is invoking, is obligated to be proportionate.
The subtext is also defensive, and very Sorkin. He’s arguing with a criticism that follows him around: that his scripts sound like eloquent civics lectures delivered by impossibly articulate people, and that eloquence can masquerade as truth. “Properly sophisticated” reads like a wink at his own style - his dialogue is polished, rhythmic, engineered. He’s saying: I can make something feel smart and complete, even when it’s neither. A newsroom can’t lean on that aesthetic sheen without becoming propaganda-by-pace.
Contextually, this belongs to a post-9/11, post-cable-news world where “the story” is constantly competing with “the narrative.” Sorkin’s career is built on dramatizing institutions (newsrooms, courts, the White House) as arenas of ethical performance. This quote reveals his awareness that performance cuts both ways: it can clarify values, or it can replace facts with a well-timed monologue. The discomfort is the point.
The subtext is also defensive, and very Sorkin. He’s arguing with a criticism that follows him around: that his scripts sound like eloquent civics lectures delivered by impossibly articulate people, and that eloquence can masquerade as truth. “Properly sophisticated” reads like a wink at his own style - his dialogue is polished, rhythmic, engineered. He’s saying: I can make something feel smart and complete, even when it’s neither. A newsroom can’t lean on that aesthetic sheen without becoming propaganda-by-pace.
Contextually, this belongs to a post-9/11, post-cable-news world where “the story” is constantly competing with “the narrative.” Sorkin’s career is built on dramatizing institutions (newsrooms, courts, the White House) as arenas of ethical performance. This quote reveals his awareness that performance cuts both ways: it can clarify values, or it can replace facts with a well-timed monologue. The discomfort is the point.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
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