Aaron Sorkin shedding ‘Newsroom’ writing staff

Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama The Newsroom is shaking up its writing staff for season 2. The series is getting rid of some of its scribes, HBO confirms. One report said Sorkin fired most of the writers on the show except his “ex-girlfriend [Corinne Kinsbury].” One source close to the show, however, says the Newsroom layoff body count isn’t quite that high.

“Every year each show reassesses the needs of its writing staffs,” HBO said in a statement. “This process is nothing out of the ordinary.” In other words, the network is telling us news writers that The Newsroom firings are not newsworthy. As a critique of the media by a writer as esteemed as Sorkin, however, HBO has to know that what’s going on behind the scenes at The Newsroom is going to draw heavy media interest. Sorkin has also recently been defending the show against critics.

So far, The Newsroom has performed fair in the ratings, averaging around 2 million viewers for its premiere episodes.