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This 'West Wing' Clip About Internet News Proves How Far We've Come

'The West Wing's' Vision Of Internet News Will Make You Laugh
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In case you've forgotten just how much the Internet has sped up the news cycle, let this exchange from the first season of "The West Wing," back in 2000, remind you.

In the scene, C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) warns White House Chief Of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer) that a potentially explosive story about his past drug addiction is "on the Internet right now." In 2013, McGarry's panic would set in immediately.

But this is 2000. The White House expects this news to "break in the morning," meaning they'll prepare themselves and do a press briefing ... in the morning.

In a world where everything from the Osama Bin Laden raid to the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev manhunt now plays out in front of millions of people live through TV news and services like Twitter, it's clear that the crisis-management approach of this fictional White House is a relic of the past.

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