Xu Ran was furious.
He had spent hours climbing tothe rooftop and used a personal favor to finally locate the perfect filmingspot. Granted the building he was on was lower than the commercial building, hefelt his result was impeccable.
This was the first time Xu Ranfelt the adrenaline rush during the chase for news since he became a reporter.Now, not only did Se Cai refuse to accept Director Bai’s kindness, he wantedhim to join his script?! No wonder he was mad.
“Xu Ran, the precious shot yougot was when the plainclothes policeman tackled the jumper right? Could youpull it up for me?”
Se Cai walked calmly to Xu Ran’sside and said.
“The video is short and isblocked by the rooftop’s exhaust shaft but you could still see what’shappening. I don’t believe you have better materials…”
Xu Ran remarked sulkily as hepulled the video to the frame in question. Then he stopped talking, suddenly feelingill at ease.
“Why is that plainclothes policeso familiar…”
Hai Dong pulled himself closerto the computer screen and asked.
Xu Ran frowned. In a cartoonishway, he flitted between the ‘plainclothes police’ on his screen and Se Cai thatstood before him. He felt an ice shard lodged in his heart.
Both Se Cai and the ‘plainclothespolice’ were wearing the same striped T-shirt and faded blue jeans.
Even though the shot was takenfrom a distance away and thus was heavily pixelated, Xu Ran realized with asinking feeling that the 2 persons were one and the same!
“He’s wearing the same clothesas you… You’re him, isn’t it?”
Xu Ran finally spoke his mind,it was too much of a coincidence to not be true.
“You’re right. Where do youthink I was? I schlepped through 33 floors of stair and an air duct to procurethe best angle! Also, as luck would have it…”
Se Cai briefly went througheverything that had happened in the past few hours. Zhang Xin Yu even let out ascared cry when he got to the dangerous parts.
When Se Cai pulled out hiscamera and transferred its storage into the computer, everyone, Station managerWei included stood up with bated breath!
From the video, everyone saw SeCai put the camera down before he flew out to tackle w.a.n.g Da Fa. When the videoshowed Se Cai came back to retrieve the camera, a collective sigh of relief washeard.
When the video finished playing,the newsroom was as still as a funeral…
“Splendid! This is superb!”
Director Bai’s loud cheer brokethe silence.
“Just how did you manage to doall these and record them…”
Xu Ran breathed incredulously.
The tables had turned. Hethought himself lucky but Se Cai had completely showed him up.
His materials were taken using along focus from a street away. His pictures were fuzzy and he had no soundrecording. The 2 were incomparable.
The fact that Se Cai stilloffered him the chance of a joint script showed true grace on Se Cai’s part.
“Leave my name out of thebyline, I don’t like being given charity. Se Cai, consider yourself luckytoday!”
Xu Ran collected himself andsaid icily at Se Cai.
His pride didn’t allow him to oweSe Cai a favor. After all, he didn’t really care about getting into centralnews. His heart wasn’t in the journalistic field.
“It’s not my luck but my thirstfor a good news piece.”
Se Cai retorted.
It was true that the Eye of Newssystem had proved to be extremely helpful but without Se Cai’s pa.s.sion behindit, it would have been useless. Let’s not forget it was Se Cai’s owndetermination that pushed him up 33 floors and through a dusty old air duct.
The system was not a hack, itwas merely an a.s.sistant. Without Se Cai’s own drive and thirst for news, hewouldn’t end up with such precious materials!
Xu Ran stared at Se Cai withincomprehensibility. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he trulycouldn’t fathom what was this thirst that Se Cai spoke of.
“Great job! Get your newsreeland script ready, then send them to the central news station!”
Station Manager Wei ordered. Hepatted Se Cai’s shoulders encouragingly.
With his years of experience inthe broadcasting field, Station Manager Wei could ascertain the final news’ newsworthinessfrom its raw material.
If Xu Ran’s piece could possiblyget on central news, Se Cai’s piece was guaranteed a place there. It was only amatter of which program.
Central news station due to itssize was separated into multiple channels. The best program was channel 1’s. Like the name suggests, the program was known across thenation and Bai Dong Hai had became the youngest program producer because one ofhis lead news was picked up by . The next best program was alsochannel 1’s <30 minutes="" news="">. Its influence and rating was second onlyto . Lagging by quite a distance behind was . Its rating suffered because of its awkward time slot. These 3 werethe eminent news program on central tv station and they were miles ahead of theother channels’ news shows.Having one’s news on the centralstation meant a free publicity for the county or city of news origin. It wouldgive a tremendous boost to the place’s name and image. That was why County S’sPublicity Department gave out bonuses for county media that got on centralstation. Other than bonuses, there were also the forced annual goals.
Se Cai heard from his friends in other formsof media that their companies had explicit policies regarding this. If theirarticle got on , there would be a 5000 RMB bonus, and a 10000RMB bonus if they got on . This desperation to get on centralnews though had bred some immoralities and hard-handedness within the county’sjournalistic circle. In reality, central station’schannel 1 still had one more program that was more influential than but all the authority avoided it like the plague.The program was . It was the most influential and famous news commentary program. Ithad enormous sway over public opinion and held a grand tradition of puttinggovernment official’s misdeeds under the spotlight. Needless to say, none ofthe government ministry would want their name mentioned on the show.Should your news get on, the only bonus waiting for you would be a blacklist inboth the governmental and journalistic circles.