‘The Newsroom’ recap: Ambitious agenda for final 6 episodes

There are just six installments in the third and final season of HBO’s “The Newsroom.” But that doesn’t stop this dramatic series from ambitiously taking on far-reaching stories and thorny journalistic issues, starting with Episode 20: “Boston.”

It’s April 15, 2013, about six months after the ACN cable news network was devastated by the “Operation Genoa” fiasco, in which an unethical producer falsely alleged that U.S. Special Forces killed Pakistani civilians with nerve gas.

Determined to restore their credibility, “News Night” anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) and his team decide they’d rather be accurate than first in reporting a breaking story about the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Since the terrorists are still at large, news executive Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston) prepares his staff for intense and lengthy coverage.

“It’s going to be a manhunt like we haven’t seen since Dallas in ’63,” Charlie predicts, as reporter Elliot Hirsch (David Harbour) and associate producer Maggie Jordan (Alison Pill) hurry to join the media crush in Boston.

The pitfalls of overly competitive journalism and misinformed blogging become glaringly evident when a rival network retracts a story about a suspect’s arrest. ACN employees applaud the embarrassing blunder, prompting an immediate reproach by Charlie.

“He got knocked down,” Charlie says of the discredited reporter. “You didn’t get taller.”

Maggie gets her chance to shine in Boston when Elliot suffers an allergic reaction from eating walnuts. She takes his place on air with a story about a former wrestling teammate of one of the terrorists who says his college buddy “thought 9/11 was justified because of what the U.S. does in other countries.”

Back at the ACN newsroom in New York City, techie Neal Sampat (Dev Patel) obtains thousands of classified documents from a U.S. Department of Defense whistle-blower.

“I think he’s real. He’s paranoid,” Neal says of the Edward Snowden-like informant.

The stolen documents reveal how a public relations firm working for the Pentagon planted bogus and inflammatory news stories in a troubled African country. Ensuing riots killed 38 people, including three Americans.

Neal fatefully crosses a legal line by coaching his informant on how to obtain additional documents.

“You induced him to commit a felony,” Will says ominously. “You conspired to commit espionage!”

Now it’s time to bring in ACN’s high-powered attorney, Rebecca Halliday (Marcia Gay Harden), for some expert 1st Amendment advice.

In other developments, ACN President Reese Lansing (Chris Messina) tips off financial analyst Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) that their company will miss its quarterly revenue projections “by a little.”

“By a little?” Sloan asks incredulously as she studies the scary figures. “Did the ‘Titanic’ miss New York Harbor by a little?”

When the company’s share price fails to take a hit, Sloan hunkers down to solve this Wall Street puzzle. She detects a stock-buying spree, meaning someone intends to acquire the money-losing network.

“You’re in the middle of a hostile takeover,” Sloan shouts at Reese, urging him to call an emergency board meeting.

That’s not the only bad news. ACN is lagging behind three other networks in the TV news ratings.

“Somehow in regaining our credibility we went from second to fourth place,” Will tells his executive producer and future bride Mackenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer).

Rather than depress Will, this setback ignites his fighting spirit. He’s also motivated by the fact that wildly inaccurate social media reports about the Boston attack are endangering lives and forcing law enforcement officials into sharing investigation details prematurely.

“I’m not so easily surrendering to citizen journalists and citizen detectives,” Will firmly declares.

Looks like this embattled news anchor just regained his mojo.