Inglorious exit for The Newsroom

The Newsroom - which finishes on SoHo next Thursday - has polarised critics' opinions since it began

HBO show’s flawed treatment of female characters sinks to a new low in final episodes, say incensed critics.

Aaron Sorkin's much-panned The Newsroom has had a fraught relationship with critics, mostly because of the tendency of the HBO drama's many insufferable characters to repeatedly, condescendingly explain what journalism really is.

It's a low-rated show, but the kind that certain devotees (many of them in the media) hate-watch so they can tweet their thoughts.

The Newsroom is set to end next week after a six-episode third season, and at first, it appeared it might go out quietly: a lunatic billionaire taking over the ACN cable network; anchor Will McAvoy (Emmy winner Jeff Daniels) in jail for refusing to give up a source who leaked confidential documents; Jim and Maggie coupling up again.

Then last night's episode happened - and any goodwill the show collected was instantly blown with an unnerving-if-timely story about rape on a college campus. Though written many months ago, the broadcast coincided with the devastating Rolling Stone story about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia whose central claims the magazine has since disavowed, as well as the growing list of women accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault.

On The Newsroom, the story went like this: a Princeton student named Mary said she was raped by two men, and when the police did nothing, she set up an anonymous website inviting women to name their rapists.

ACN's new owner insisted on getting Mary in the studio for a moderated debate with a man accused of rape. Don, an executive producer, was in charge of putting together this segment, much against his will.

So Don tracked down Mary at her dorm room - and begged her not to do the TV appearance, arguing that it would be a regrettable spectacle.

This resulted in an episode-long argument in which Don explained her website could encourage scorned women to falsely accuse innocent men and ruin their lives. He compared it to "revenge porn" sites.

Mary argued that the site would serve as a warning for women not to date certain bad guys, and would thwart future sexual assaults. Don maintained that he had a "moral" obligation to believe her alleged rapist's point of view as well. Eventually, Don left and told his bosses he wasn't able to find Mary, so the segment couldn't happen.

Many TV critics were horrified with this storyline (and the episode in general, titled Oh Shenandoah).

"The most baldly offensive thing in Oh Shenandoah was watching Don mansplain rape to a woman," writes James Poniewozik at Time magazine. "He [Don] argues that the idealistic thing to do is not to believe her story," writes Emily Nussbaum at the New Yorker.

"Don's fighting for no coverage: he's so identified with falsely accused men and so focused on his sorrowful, courtly discomfort that, mainly, he just wants the issue to go away. And Don is our hero!"

While some acknowledge that Sorkin presents a chewy debate on an important subject, they say the way it was presented epitomises many of the show's flaws, especially its treatment of female characters.

"The presentation of the debate is all wrong," writes the Atlantic's David Sims.

"Don comes off as a stable, reasoned beacon of truth, and Mary as an understandably upset, hysterical creature of emotion, blinded from logic by her tragic circumstances."

The Newsroom final screens on SoHo on Thursday, 9.30pm