Watertown was repeatedly pronounced Waterton in Sunday night’s Season 3 premier of HBO’s The Newsroom. Judging by the tweets that rolled in during and immediately after the conclusion of the episode, viewers took notice of what was – or seemed to be – a mispronunciation of the town name.

But this may very well have been intentional. Waterton may have actually been a fictional name created for the purposes of HBO’s show.

Synopsis: Episode 20 of The Newsroom, bluntly titled “Boston,” spotlights the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombings and the media’s coverage of the events – as well as some office romances. Specifically, Sunday night’s episode is, for the most part, writer/creator Aaron Sorkin’s latest hour-long takedown of American journalism vis-ŕ-vis the actions of the fictional ACN news team – helmed by News Night lead-anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), producer MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), and old-timey president Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston) – and their coverage of the Marathon bombings.

Overall, the collective consensus of casual viewers and critics of last night’s episode was that there was no consensus. Some loved it, others thought it was too-Aaron Sorkin (i.e. pretentious and preachy.)

Example A: Local MassLive reporter Garrett Quinn’s take.

 

Example B: Ex-CNN staffer Brittany Kaplan’s take.

 

But viewers could agree on at least one thing: Watertown was repeatedly pronounced Waterton. Which was either an epic troll job by HBO…

 

…a rather ironic instance of inaccurate reporting or an inexplicable oversight, like some have suggested…

 

…maybe just an honest mistake…

 

…or it was an intentional decision.

First off, readers should know that BostInno has contacted Watertown City Hall about whether anyone with HBO had reached out about the town’s depiction in The Newsroom. The woman who answered our call in the Town Manager’s office could not say herself, though, her immediate guess was that it was just a “pronunciation thing.” She did say she would pass along the message to the Watertown Police Department. We’re expecting a callback at some point today; we’ll update the post as necessary.

Second, here’s a link to the 1964 US Supreme Court landmark ruling on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.. Basically, this case established actual malice and set the precedent in defamation and libel cases involving the press.

Unlike Boston, neighboring Watertown hasn’t been the setting – or the subject – of many commercial productions. Millions of people around the world watching the real life news coverage – which climaxed Friday night, April 19, 2013, with the emergence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from under the white tarp covering “Slip Away,” the boat owned by and dry-docked on resident David Henneberry’s Franklin Street property – were given a distinctly negative first-look at Watertown.

The town’s residents were locked inside their homes all day, as tanks and heavily-armed law enforcement agencies searched door-to-door for the surviving marathon bombing suspect. Indeed, Watertown residents were watching – on live television – police with assault rifles and riot gear approach their neighbors’ doors.

One suspects, citizens of Watertown would like to avoid talking about these events – as much as possible. So, perhaps, The Newsroom, didn’t mispronounce the town name; it’s possible Waterton was the fictional name used to depict Watertown in the episode.

If so, then why?

Well: despite The Newsroom’s focus on actual – nonfiction – major news stories, ACN and its staff are fictional characters, created by Sorkin for the purpose of entertainment. It just so happens that these fictional story lines mesh with real-life events.

Most, if not all, viewers knew ACN was talking about Watertown Sunday night. Further, when McAvoy screams, “He’s hiding in a boat in someone’s back yard? “I’d like confirmation before I say that on TV,” people watching The Newsroom, who are familiar with the manhunt for Tsarnaev, know this is a reference to Watertown; some likely even knew the name of the boat and who its owner was – “Slip Away” and David Henneberry. In this specific, fictional instance, however, McAvoy is referring to an unnamed someone’s back yard in made-up Waterton, Massachusetts.

(By the way: ACN isn’t real and neither is anchor Will McAvoy. But news networks are, and so is Jeff Daniels.)

But, I digress. If Waterton was intentional, why not rename Boston for the purposes of one episode? Well, even though Boston is and forever will be home to one of the most infamous terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, it’s not specifically known for the Marathon bombings. The same way it isn’t known as Good Will Hunting’s house; like it is, but this isn’t, in the grand scheme of things, the reason people have heard about the city.

Watertown, on the other hand, is not nearly as popular, in terms of sheer name-recognition. One wouldn’t, for example, while on vacation in, say, Paris, tell a local that he or she is from Watertown and expect that to mean anything. At least, not without some context – I’m from just outside of Boston, Watertown.

In her explanation of whether to use the names of real places in fiction, mystery novelist Shannon Baker writes: “By basing my fictional town on a real place, I ground the story in reality, but have the freedom to make up things as needed. Whether you choose to write about a real place or a fictional one, drawing inspiration from real settings can help you create a vivid world your readers will want to visit again and again.”

By using Waterton not Watertown, The Newsroom, was free to dramatize and create fictional conflicts surrounding the Marathon bombings coverage, while also offer the audience some real, relatable context. Additionally, this offers HBO a defense against any potential backlash from the people of Watertown, who were indirectly associated with a major network’s fictional portrayal of a horrific and very real event.

Seems Sorkin and HBO would rather have viewers call them out for an apparent inaccuracy, then be the ones responsible for reminding millions of viewers of what did happen in Watertown.

Or was 'Waterton' actually an intentional name The Newsroom creators chose to run with during its Boston Marathon Season 3 premier?
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