Chris Matthews And Ashleigh Banfield Among ‘The Newsroom’ Paid Consultants

By Alex Weprin 

With season two of HBO’s “The Newsroom” right around the corner, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that HBO and Aaron Sorkin put together an all-star list of paid consultants to help make the show as “real” as possible.

Among the notable names: MSNBC host Chris Matthews (whose son Thomas Matthews is an actor on the show), CNN anchors Ashleigh Banfield and Natalie Allen (CNN is a sister network to HBO), MSNBC’s S.E. Cupp and Alex Wagner and former CNN and MSNBC president Rick Kaplan. The full list is here.

“I’ll be coming to you for everything from simple research questions to: ‘What kinds of conversations would there be about how to cover Trayvon Martin? Sandra Fluke? The contradictory stories about the circumstances under which Bin Laden was shot?'” he wrote in a lengthy welcome note to the group last fall.

Advertisement

THR also wrote a lengthy cover story about season two of “The Newsroom.” You can read it here.

Advertisement