An Eye for News Chapter 16

Xu Ran was furious.

He had spent hours climbing to the rooftop and used a personal favor to finally locate the perfect filming spot. Granted the building he was on was lower than the commercial building, he felt his result was impeccable.

This was the first time Xu Ran felt 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 wanted him to join his script?! No wonder he was mad.

“Xu Ran, the precious shot you got was when the plainclothes policeman tackled the jumper right? Could you pull it up for me?”

Se Cai walked calmly to Xu Ran’s side and said.

“The video is short and is blocked by the rooftop’s exhaust shaft but you could still see what’s happening. I don’t believe you have better materials…”

Xu Ran remarked sulkily as he pulled the video to the frame in question. Then he stopped talking, suddenly feeling ill at ease.

“Why is that plainclothes police so familiar…”

Hai Dong pulled himself closer to the computer screen and asked.

Xu Ran frowned. In a cartoonish way, he flitted between the ‘plainclothes police’ on his screen and Se Cai that stood before him. He felt an ice shard lodged in his heart.

Both Se Cai and the ‘plainclothes police’ were wearing the same striped T-s.h.i.+rt and faded blue jeans.

Even though the shot was taken from a distance away and thus was heavily pixelated, Xu Ran realized with a sinking feeling that the 2 persons were one and the same!

“He’s wearing the same clothes as 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 you think I was? I schlepped through 33 floors of stair and an air duct to procure the best angle! Also, as luck would have it…”

Se Cai briefly went through everything that had happened in the past few hours. Zhang Xin Yu even let out a scared cry when he got to the dangerous parts.

When Se Cai pulled out his camera and transferred its storage into the computer, everyone, Station manager Wei included stood up with bated breath!

From the video, everyone saw Se Cai put the camera down before he flew out to tackle w.a.n.g Da Fa. When the video showed Se Cai came back to retrieve the camera, a collective sigh of relief was heard.

When the video finished playing, the newsroom was as still as a funeral…

“Splendid! This is superb!”

Director Bai’s loud cheer broke the silence.

“Just how did you manage to do all these and record them…”

Xu Ran breathed incredulously.

The tables had turned. He thought himself lucky but Se Cai had completely showed him up.

His materials were taken using a long focus from a street away. His pictures were fuzzy and he had no sound recording. The 2 were incomparable.

The fact that Se Cai still offered him the chance of a joint script showed true grace on Se Cai’s part.

“Leave my name out of the byline, I don’t like being given charity. Se Cai, consider yourself lucky today!”

Xu Ran collected himself and said icily at Se Cai.

His pride didn’t allow him to owe Se Cai a favor. After all, he didn’t really care about getting into central news. His heart wasn’t in the journalistic field.

“It’s not my luck but my thirst for a good news piece.”

Se Cai retorted.

It was true that the Eye of News system had proved to be extremely helpful but without Se Cai’s pa.s.sion behind it, it would have been useless. Let’s not forget it was Se Cai’s own determination that pushed him up 33 floors and through a dusty old air duct.

The system was not a hack, it was merely an a.s.sistant. Without Se Cai’s own drive and thirst for news, he wouldn’t end up with such precious materials!

Xu Ran stared at Se Cai with incomprehensibility. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he truly couldn’t fathom what was this thirst that Se Cai spoke of.

“Great job! Get your newsreel and script ready, then send them to the central news station!”

Station Manager Wei ordered. He patted Se Cai’s shoulders encouragingly.

With his years of experience in the broadcasting field, Station Manager Wei could ascertain the final news’ newsworthiness from its raw material.

If Xu Ran’s piece could possibly get on central news, Se Cai’s piece was guaranteed a place there. It was only a matter of which program.

Central news station due to its size was separated into multiple channels. The best program was channel 1’s . Like the name suggests, the program was known across the nation and Bai Dong Hai had became the youngest program producer because one of his lead news was picked up by . The next best program was also channel 1’s <30 minutes="" news="">. Its influence and rating was second only to . Lagging by quite a distance behind was . Its rating suffered because of its awkward time slot. These 3 were the eminent news program on central tv station and they were miles ahead of the other channels’ news shows.

Having one’s news on the central station meant a free publicity for the county or city of news origin. It would give a tremendous boost to the place’s name and image. That was why County S’s Publicity Department gave out bonuses for county media that got on central station. Other than bonuses, there were also the forced annual goals.

 Se Cai heard from his friends in other forms of media that their companies had explicit policies regarding this. If their article got on , there would be a 5000 RMB bonus, and a 10000 RMB bonus if they got on . This desperation to get on central news though had bred some immoralities and hard-handedness within the county’s journalistic circle.

In reality, central station’s channel 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. It had enormous sway over public opinion and held a grand tradition of putting government official’s misdeeds under the spotlight. Needless to say, none of the 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 in both the governmental and journalistic circles.