Category: media

Aaron Sorkin: “I understand that news outlets routinely use stolen information. That’s how we got the Pentagon Papers, to use an oft-used argument. But there is nothing in these documents remotely rising to the level of public interest of the information found in the Pentagon Papers. … Every news outlet that did the bidding of the Guardians of Peace is morally treasonous and spectacularly dishonorable.”

Andrew Wallenstein: “Let’s get real: The hackers are playing the press as pawns. Journalists are essentially doing their bidding by taking the choicest data excerpts and waving them around for the world to see, maximizing their visibility. … While I found a lot to question about the rationales, ultimately I’ve arrived at an uneasy peace with why the leaks just can’t be ignored.”

Over the weekend, star attorney David Boies wrote numerous news outlets on Sony’s behalf to warn that any leaked Sony documents should be destroyed, not published. Could the entertainment giant win a lawsuit over this? Probably not, argues law professor Eugene Volokh – if the media respect certain boundaries.

“If there was one scene that felt like it was looming over all those years, it was the good-bye scene. I knew that the last shot of the movie would be Mason at college meeting someone – I had that in my mind for ten years, and I was looking forward to that – but I knew that the scene before it had to be the emotional break of the movie, when son parted from mom. It’s where Boyhood kind of ends emotionally, although spiritually, it continues.”

“Escalating hostilities between the pair have brought legal challenges, Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearings and even a restraining order that prevents the landlord from entering his own building. … Now, though, peace may have broken out.”

“The early Variety review, Arentz says, ‘actually scared off all of our competitors. There was no bidding to speak of. We found out later there was one competing offer, and it was ridiculously low.'”

“Eric Abraham, one of the producers of the film, dedicated the award to the people whose relatives were victims of the Holocaust, which included members of his own family. He remarked on the fact that anti-semitism was again on the rise.”

“It’s an unsatisfactory system in all sorts of ways but, like ­democracy, it’s the best we have. The making of good programmes is an expensive business: if you do it on the cheap you just get poor-­quality, home-made programmes and a lot of bought-in stuff, much of which is rubbish.”

“The infrastructure of organised religion now seems to have passed to the fantasy writers and film-makers, Builders of Worlds, and we the followers obligingly immerse ourselves in their imaginings, arguing amongst ourselves about our various interpretations of their gospel with all the fervour of true believers.”

“The entire business world is fueled by secrecy, but the sort of secrecy kept behind Hollywood’s closed doors, notorious for its power plays, publicist machinations, and bloated egos — that’s sexy.”