Aaron Sorkin’s Spin Cycle

Between anthrax-laced letters, Gary Condit and Chandra Levy, premature presidential election calls and questions regarding patriotism--or a lack thereof--since the events of Sept. 11, the news media have taken a bit of a beating image-wise over the last year.

Some of the latest broadsides, however, have emanated from an unexpected source--a television series that has basked in critical adulation and shed positive light on the press in the past. Moreover, said show has worn liberal viewpoints on its sleeve, at a time when most media-bashing tends to originate on the right side of the political aisle.

The series, of course, is NBC’s “The West Wing,” where the relationship between the fictional Bartlet administration and the White House press corps has grown more contentious and adversarial this season, with series creator Aaron Sorkin using his characters in recent episodes to engage in speechifying--as is his habit--about the press’ shortcomings.

An amateur psychologist, however, might see the inspiration as extending beyond the press’ well-documented excesses. Both Sorkin and the show received plenty of unwelcome headlines during the off-season, beginning with the writer’s arrest on a charge of drug possession at Burbank Airport last spring. A public spat followed with the writing staff, who complained about being denied promised raises despite the riches showered on the Emmy-winning program’s producers and stars, four of whom publicly held out for sizable salary increases despite being under contract.

As is so often the case, critics who championed the program in its infancy have also grown more critical as “West Wing” has blossomed into a commercial success, drawing just over 20 million viewers a week in its third season to rank as the seventh-most-watched show in prime time.

In particular, Sorkin’s insistence on quickly producing an episode providing himself a forum to address the roots of terrorism generated some scathing reviews, with the Washington Post’s Tom Shales opining, “No network series takes itself more seriously than ‘The West Wing’ does, but even by its own standards the episode ... came across as pretentious and pietistic hubris.”

One can legitimately argue the change in tone within the show is primarily a function of the current plot line, as the Bartlet administration finds itself under siege for failing to disclose that the president, played by Martin Sheen, has multiple sclerosis.

Yet whatever the reason, the shift hasn’t gone unnoticed. As one correspondent put it on JedBartlet .com, a Web site devoted to the series, “Why is the show taking so many potshots at political journalism as of late?”

This became most apparent during the Nov. 7 episode, when communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) rounded up his staff after a damaging comment he made was leaked to a reporter. “By and large, the press doesn’t care who really knows what as long as they’ve got a quote,” he told them, adding that by cozying up to reporters, “the press becomes your constituents, and you sell out the team.”

In the same episode, a principled reporter explains why he has little interest in the White House beat by saying, “I don’t like being a stenographer.” He then proceeded to ridicule a columnist who complained about the scandals she’d covered over the past decade, “as if the news was to blame for the quality of journalism. I don’t know if there’s ever been a more important time to be good at what I do.”

The week before, meanwhile, White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) humiliated a TV reporter depicted as caring more about fashions than facts. And in the prior episode, Cregg deftly manipulated the press corps to serve administration objectives, dropping bread crumbs that reporters happily followed.

Compare these moments with previous seasons, when reporter Danny Concannon, played by Timothy Busfield, was presented as being every bit as principled and dedicated as those he covers, steadfastly doing his job despite harboring a humanizing romantic interest toward Cregg. Though the Concannon character has been absent this season, a spokeswoman said he could return in the future.

If all this sounds like much ado about nothing, it bears notice for several reasons. While many have discussed “The West Wing’s” status as a weekly civics lesson on government, the program has also done more than any previous series to illustrate the relationship between politics and the press. Bartlet aides, in fact, are chronically preoccupied with how stories will be perceived in the media and controlling the news cycle.

Moreover, few TV series devoted to the press have come close to exploring such issues with the depth or complexity witnessed on “The West Wing.” Indeed, since “Lou Grant” premiered in 1977 (a year after “All the President’s Men”), most programs set in newsrooms, print or broadcast--from “WIOU” and “Capital News” in 1990 to last summer’s “The Beast” and a never-televised TNT series “Breaking News”--were either soon canceled or wallowed in melodrama to spice up what executives no doubt deemed the less-than-riveting art of journalism.

A recovering cocaine addict, Sorkin has been apologetic since his arrest, saying he had done something “stupid” and regretted any embarrassment he might have caused. He also went out of his way to acknowledge the current writing staff when accepting “The West Wing’s” second Emmy as outstanding drama series a few weeks ago, a seeming reaction to accusations he was unwilling to share credit for the show.

Still, several articles published this summer nevertheless painted a less-than-flattering portrait of the 40-year-old writer as an enormous talent victimized, to a certain extent, by his own ego and excesses. And at the Emmys, when “The Sopranos’” James Gandolfini was announced as best actor in a drama--an honor most pundits felt Sheen would claim after his showy Latin-spouting monologue to God during the second-season finale--reporters watching on monitors across from the Shubert Theatre erupted in cheers.

So is there a critical backlash against “The West Wing,” and has Sorkin--consciously or not--used the show, as he so often does, to articulate his response?

Attempts to reach Sorkin to discuss the matter were nixed by his representatives at the publicity firm PMK/HBH, who first asked that an interview request be faxed over in writing before saying Sorkin was busy working and had no time for interviews.

Fair enough, but it makes you wonder how C.J.--or maybe even Sigmund Freud--would try spinning that.

Brian Lowry’s column appears Wednesdays. He can be reached via e-mail at brian.lowry@latimes .com.