American Scandal King

Chapter 7 Exclusive News
Back in his room, Ian opened his laptop, uploaded the footage he had taken to the computer, and began editing.

He professionally segmented the content, modified the audio, and removed the inappropriate content. After confirming that there was no problem, he looked at the time and saw that it was already three o'clock in the morning.

Ian picked up the phone: "Director Harnett, it's me, Ian Carr. We've met before, but of course you may not remember me very well... I know it's not a good time to contact you, but I have important news... Yes, I think it's best to deal with it now, so that you may be able to catch up tomorrow... Oh, the report for today's noon. I've sent it to your email, you will like it."

What is the most important thing about news?
Just fast!
Publishing a report before others can have a huge impact.

Whoever can be the first to publish a heavyweight report will have a higher status in the industry, greater influence, and earn more money - the value of news speed even exceeds the comprehensiveness of news.

News! News!
What’s news if it’s not new?

Someone even famously said, "Any news older than four hours is old news!"

In order to obtain first-hand information as quickly as possible, major media outlets have tried every possible means.

Countless paparazzi and reporters were connected everywhere and took action as soon as they heard the news.

For example, a robbery occurred somewhere, or a gunfight or traffic accident occurred somewhere - Americans have no shortage of these anyway.

This kind of news needs to be timely, otherwise it will be worthless if the opportunity is missed. Therefore, in order to obtain first-hand news, low-level paparazzi chase the news everywhere, drive their cars at full speed on the road, hold cameras and chase various highway gun battles at high speed, rush to the scene and take pictures crazily, and then sell them to those media companies.

Their bravery far exceeds that of the police. The wealthy ones even use helicopters to shoot, so the police sometimes have to borrow communication tools from reporters - in Die Hard, Bliss Willis used exclusive reports to attract the media to provide helicopter services for themselves.

High-level paparazzi focus on big news.

In order to obtain news about celebrities, paparazzi can spend months or even years following a big shot. As long as they can break breaking news, they can earn hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

In addition, the use of devices such as eavesdropping devices and hidden cameras is also common.

The famous phone-hacking scandal was that Murdoch's News Corporation, in order to obtain first-hand information, conducted all-round wiretapping of politicians, celebrities, soldiers and even ordinary civil servants, and even used hacking methods.

To gain intelligence on Wen Zhang's infidelity, renowned domestic paparazzi Zhuo Wei investigated and analyzed his whereabouts, ultimately determining his target's likely accommodation and obtaining his room number through other means. Finding no tall buildings near the hotel, he sought out a water tower and climbed it, thus creating the legendary "cherish every moment" story.

In short, the dirty tricks used by the news media to obtain valuable intelligence are comparable to those of secret agents - they do everything except shoot.

"A good journalist must possess the skills of a secret agent, the stamina of an athlete, the perseverance of a wild dog, and a heart that can sell anything!"

This is the outside world's evaluation of journalists, which has aroused opposition from many journalists. They said that paparazzi are paparazzi and journalists are journalists, and the two are not in the same industry.

But to put it bluntly, isn’t it all about providing news?
In short, for the sake of speed, it is normal to release news in the middle of the night.

Because the Los Angeles Herald was such a rubbish publication, with an average daily sales of 4,000 copies, even exclusive and breaking news wouldn't boost sales much—there weren't enough channels. Plus, it couldn't use video, so Ian could only sell it to TV stations.

Of course, Ian split the news into several parts, and the part that is suitable for transcripts will be published exclusively by the Pioneer.

This can also produce a chain effect: leveraging the news effects brought by peers to further boost sales of Pioneer Newspaper.

Ten minutes later, Master Hannett called.

The station director, who was initially annoyed at being disturbed, now spoke excitedly, "Ian Carr, is this your report? You've astonished me! Who are you? A reporter from the Los Angeles Times?"

Ian laughed and said, "No, the Los Angeles Herald... It's okay, sir, it's just a small newspaper, it's normal that you don't remember it... I want one million for this news."

Harnett laughed: "No, no, it's not worth that much money." "This is only part of it, Mr. Harnett, there are other follow-ups."

"show me."

"No, you know the rules, but I can tell you the general idea."

Ian gave a brief account of the situation, and Hannett gasped.

Good job, you are good at journalism!
Very professional!
If what this guy said is true, then the subsequent news will be even more explosive. No wonder he wants one million.

But Ian won't give him all of it now, and Hannett doesn't dare to confirm it - it's normal for journalists to fabricate fake news. The key is that those who can fabricate fake news are generally excellent journalists. After all, it must not be easily exposed and will not cause bad consequences. Rubbish journalists don't have this ability, and even if they force it, it's still rubbish news.

There were such rubbish reporters in China before, who used their own families to make news, and were later discovered: So your family’s daily life can be considered news?

I can't even make up a good story!

At this moment he pondered for a moment and said, "Have you called the police?"

"not yet."

"exclusive?"

"The video is exclusive! The Herald will have some peripheral content, mainly photos and interviews with people, and their inner journeys. It's not crucial and won't affect the TV station. The core content will be your exclusive reporting. You know that the Herald will have no influence on you."

"Very good! This part is 50,000. If the follow-up is as you said, I can add more money."

Ian thought for a moment and smiled, "It's a bit low, but that's okay. Let's stick with this price for now. I hope to see the money in before eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

After hanging up, Ian called again: "Lloyd, it's me... I'm afraid you can't sleep now. There's a report you need to arrange immediately."

Ron Lloyd is the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Herald, a good friend of old Carl, and the only one who is still working wholeheartedly for the Los Angeles Herald.

On the phone, the old man's tone didn't show any anger at being woken up in the middle of the night. Instead, he sounded sad for his unworthy young master. "Did you go gambling, Ian? Garrick called yesterday and said you owed him twelve thousand dollars! I haven't told your mother yet!"

Fake!

I just lent him ten thousand!
You're already asking for the debt after just two days?

Ian said helplessly: "The press release and photos have been sent to your email. Please read the news first, okay?"

Five minutes later, editor-in-chief Lloyd called with great excitement: "Ian, did you get this?"

"Go and arrange the work. We'll talk about the details tomorrow. Don't worry, the money issue will be resolved." Ian said quickly and sharply, and hung up the phone neatly.

I looked at the time, it was half past three.

I can sleep less than four hours.

I stayed up late right after traveling through time, feeling melancholy!
(End of this chapter)