Ann Oldenburg

USA TODAY

Sony Pictures Entertainment has been the target of a computer hack that has resulted in the reveal of secret salaries, snide memos and Social Security numbers. It's serious stuff.

And Aaron Sorkin says the media has played right into the hands of the attackers, making the situation worse by publishing all the dirt. The latest fallout: An early version of the script of the upcoming James Bond movie, SPECTRE, has made its way to the Web.

In a New York Timesop-ed piece, screenwriter Sorkin writes of his personal involvement — and his reaction:

"I'm not a disinterested third party. Much of the squabbling between (Amy) Pascal and (Scott) Rudin was about a movie that's about to begin shooting, Steve Jobs, for which I wrote the screenplay, so my name comes up from time to time. The widely published documents that were stolen include an email to Ms. Pascal in which I advocated going to Tom Cruise for the lead role (I did), a second email from one executive to another speculating that I'm broke (I'm fine) and a third that suggested that I might be romantically involved with a woman whose book I'm using as source material for a new script (I wish)."

He writes that even though he and two of his movies "get a little dinged up," he wants to make it clear: "I don't care. Because the minor insults that were revealed are such small potatoes compared to the fact that they were revealed. Not by the hackers, but by American journalists helping them."

And the Hollywood veteran raises some questions:

"Do the emails contain any information about Sony breaking the law? No. Misleading the public? No. Acting in direct harm to customers, the way the tobacco companies or Enron did? No. Is there even one sentence in one private email that was stolen that even hints at wrongdoing of any kind? Anything that can help, inform or protect anyone?

The co-editor in chief of Variety tells us he decided that the leaks were — to use his word — 'newsworthy.' I'm dying to ask him what part of the studio's post-production notes on Cameron Crowe's new project is newsworthy. So newsworthy that it's worth carrying out the wishes of people who've said they're going to murder families and who have so far done everything they've threatened to do. Newsworthy. As the character Inigo Montoya said in The Princess Bride, I do not think it means what you think it means."

While he knows there is "juicy stuff" in the emails, and he knows there is more to come (hackers are promising that as a "Christmas gift"), Sorkin's argument is that we're making it all worse by paying attention to it.

"If you close your eyes you can imagine the hackers sitting in a room, combing through the documents to find the ones that will draw the most blood. And in a room next door are American journalists doing the same thing. As demented and criminal as it is, at least the hackers are doing it for a cause. The press is doing it for a nickel."

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton is holding a town hall meeting with employees today over the company's leaked emails.