by Gen LaGreca
"And maybe get kicked off the team," added Irene, her voice a threat.
The group fell silent.
Slowly, all of them turned their heads toward their father for the final word. Clark looked at his children and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Irene has a point," he said. "Laura, we can't let you get us embroiled in another cause that backfires—like the Miller fiasco!" He bristled. "The board of directors wasn't happy with that."
"Dad, are you ever going to forgive Laura?" Kate asked indignantly. "I think she was right to side with Reed."
"And right to sleep with him, too?" needled Irene.
"A blunder she's yet to apologize for," said Clark. He looked at Laura pointedly, as if a belated apology might be forthcoming.
It wasn't.
Instead, Laura looked as if her patience was running out, too, as she replied to her accusers, "The issue before us now is that the Feds changed the entire election process. They took control of the presidential election away from the states and gave it to themselves. And things don't add up. Doesn't that bother you?"
"What things?" Clark asked. "If they made a few accounting errors or omissions, so what?"
"Just when the administration needs to be especially transparent, they're hiding things. What would JT think of a federal agency refusing to answer legitimate questions and the president's administration smearing us instead? Dad, where's your anger at this?"
Clark sighed.
"Why should I be angry? I can see why the administration had to put pressure on Pinnacle, and Pinnacle had to pull out of its deal with Irene. A savvy businessperson anticipates these conflicts and avoids them. It's part of doing business today. You get along with the people in power, you make accommodations for their needs—they have needs, too, you know—and you accept that," Clark said with finality. "It's time to drop your crusade, Laura, and move on to something else."
"But Dad," protested Kate, "what about JT's motto: Find the truth wherever it hides?"
"What about it?" said Clark indifferently. "That was then. Now's now."
"A better motto is: Avoid becoming red meat for the media's barbecue," offered Billie.
"It's better to be red meat than stale bread, which is what all of you wimps are," Kate snapped.
Her family looked annoyed at being dressed down by their youngest member—except for Laura, who laughed.
Chapter 7
"You can't go ahead with this, Laura! Your Daily Memo goes way too far," said Tom Shiner, the executive producer of Just the Truth. He stood by a flip chart detailing the night's lineup of stories, nervously rolling a marker in his hand. He and his two associates were trying to talk some sense into Laura.
"We're asking for trouble with this story," said Karen Doyle, the show's associate producer. Karen faced the group with keen eyes behind black-rimmed glasses on an unsmiling face.
"The president took a snipe at us at his news conference today," said senior producer Gill Barton. "It's time for us to back off." With a soft voice and conciliatory smile, Gill delivered the same appraisal as his colleague Karen.
"We can open with the Senate race that's heating up in New York," added Tom, pointing to an item on the flip chart. He brushed his hand across the other topics he had listed. "We have plenty of other news to cover."
The small meeting room off the set of Just the Truth felt stuffy to Laura that afternoon. She fanned herself with the printed copy of the Daily Memo she'd written to open the evening's show. After the combative encounter with her family that morning, she now faced the mutiny of her producers.
"The cyber world is burning you, Laura," said Gill.
Karen added, "The comments posted on our own website are overwhelmingly negative. Under our article about the Bureau of Elections, I'm reading comments like this: What some people will do to get ratings! This is pretty far-fetched. Laura's been reading too many spy thrillers."
"There was even a thread panning our story on the back-to-school charity event you hosted to raise money to help kids buy school supplies. There are people accusing you of setting up that appearance and exploiting the kids just to improve your public image," added Gill.
"But I host that event every year," said Laura.
"The comments made it sound as if you've started hosting it just now to counteract your bad press."
"We know Martin's supporters troll our website with these comments. We know they lie. That never bothered us before," said Laura.
"This time, there's a petition circulating to take us off the air," said Gill.
"We need to kill this story and move on," Tom said in summary.
She had hired staff who were strong-willed and outspoken. Now she was experiencing the consequences.
"Since when do we back off?" she told her crew. "Why would we start now?"
"Because," said Tom, "your Daily Memo is as much as accusing the president of the United States of sabotaging Taninger Enterprises and even being involved in a murder in order to commit election fraud. We all have reservations about going that far."
The others nodded.
"And no other network has mentioned the Spenser murder for a week. It's old news," added Karen.
"The police said it was a street crime, not a political hit job. The police, Laura," said Gill.
"But our viewers are loyal," Laura replied. "They're onboard with our ideas. They want to see us investigate their leaders' suspicious activity, which the rest of the media largely ignores."
"Even if our fans agree with our perspective and will support us, our advertisers have no such loyalty, and they're starting to buckle. Their customer base is much wider than the viewers of one show," Tom said, delivering the ultimate admonition. "The Impartial Citizens for Responsible Media is demanding our sponsors pull out."
"That group is anything but impartial," said Laura. "We know they're a mouthpiece for the president's party."
"But they can put a lot of pressure on our sponsors because most people don't know who funds the group or what they stand for," said Tom. "If their attacks on you sound credible to the public, it's enough for skittish sponsors to bail."
"But the attacks aren't true."
"We can't afford to lose any sponsors," said Gill. "We could reach a tipping point, where the pressure on them becomes too great."
She listened, engaged and respectful. She let their shots fly until she received no more incoming fire and the smoke cleared. They looked at her anxiously, waiting for her reply.
"I hear you, and I recognize how much you care about the show," she said. "But here's how I see it. There are anomalies in a very important matter about which we're being kept in the dark. A powerful government agency is blowing us off. The administration is intervening to try to smear me and harm my family. An informant died moments before he could talk to me. It's our job to shed light on what's going on in the backrooms of power. If we cave, if we take the easy way out, if we don't do what it's our job and responsibility to do, then who will hold our elected officials accountable? If we give up, then . . . anything goes. Right?"
The crew listened.
"That's why I need to go ahead with the open as planned."
Thoughtful faces studied hers.
"A show called Just the Truth can't skirt the truth, the hard truth, the difficult stories that no one else wants to cover."
Her staff finally nodded, accepting her points. She had succeeded—at least for the moment—in tempering their misgivings.
That evening, a technician adjusted the lighting on Laura as she sat at her desk on the set of Just the Truth. An attendant refreshed her lipstick. Another adjusted the microphone pinned to her dress. Her Daily Memo was entered in the teleprompter. She saw Tom and other crew members in the control room. Their headsets were in place. She looked into the camera. Through her earpiece, she heard the countdown from the control room.
"Five, four, three, two, one—"
"Good evening and welcome to Just the Truth. I'm Laura Taninger.
Tonight, we continue our series on how corrupt governments try to impede a free press, and we'll examine how the Martin administration fares in its treatment of the press. We already addressed how government agencies can delay giving out information the public has a right to know and stonewall those trying to get it. Now, we turn to other tactics. The subject of my Daily Memo tonight is: Tools of Silence: Favors, Threats, and Smears."
A split screen showed Laura on one side and a graphic on the other displaying the title of her Daily Memo. Beneath the title, her key points would appear as she made them.
"A powerful politician can have a big impact on a company. If the politician makes an appearance at a business and endorses it, that can create lots of good publicity, which increases revenues. On the other hand, if the leader cancels an appearance, withdraws an endorsement, and says outright negative things about a business, that can create very bad publicity, which decreases revenues. Because powerful politicians can bestow or take away special favors from a business, it puts pressure on the owner of a company to agree with the politicians' policies and avoid attacking them.
"If you add to that the threat of levying taxes on businesses and industries whose executives don't get onboard with an administration's policies, you have a potent way of suppressing free speech.
"Would the Martin administration stoop to using favors, threats, and smears to keep political opponents from voicing objections to their policies? The answer is yes.
"As you, my viewers, know, Just the Truth has been trying to obtain information from the Bureau of Elections about the contractors used and the work performed in developing SafeVote. The agency is required to release this information so the public can feel confident that this unprecedented new election system is above board and beyond suspicion. However, the Bureau of Elections has not yet given us the information we petitioned for in our Public Disclosure Request.
"Instead, the Martin administration has chosen to attack me personally and to punish my family's corporation.
"Recently, President Martin granted a favor to our sister network, Taninger Entertainment, when he agreed to make a live appearance at the Pinnacle Awards ceremony, which Taninger Entertainment was going to broadcast. But after Just the Truth filed our Public Disclosure Request, President Martin suddenly had a scheduling conflict and canceled his appearance. The favor was pulled.
"Then came the threat. The Fairness Tax on Movie Theaters, a bill proposing a new levy that would hit the film industry hard, was suddenly pushed through committee by the president's party and scheduled for a House vote. Then, a spokesperson for the president announced that he would sign the bill, which reversed prior reports that he would oppose it. At that point—I believe for fear of this tax being enacted—Pinnacle pulled out of its arrangement with Taninger Entertainment to air the Awards ceremony, and the company decided instead to give another network this highly sought event. After Pinnacle broke ties with Taninger Entertainment, it went further. It issued a public denunciation of Taninger News for its probe into SafeVote. Then, lo and behold, the Fairness Tax on Movie Theaters lost the president's support and was withdrawn from this year's legislative agenda. And miraculously, the president no longer has a scheduling conflict, so he will appear at the Pinnacle Awards ceremony after all—but on another network.
"All of this has been accompanied by media stories smearing Taninger Enterprises, our founder, Julius Taninger, and me." She calmly made her case. "Why is a flurry of media stories suddenly appearing about a man who founded a newspaper seventy years ago? I suggest these stories were deliberately planted by the Martin administration to silence Just the Truth."
Laura smiled wryly.
"As Pinnacle Awards was manipulated to break ties with Taninger Entertainment and to say derogatory things about Taninger News, and as my family's corporation was manipulated to pressure me to drop my investigation of SafeVote, you too—the people—are being manipulated to receive only news approved by the government. Is that how we want to be treated—like puppets controlled by those in power?" She looked into the camera with resolve. "We're cutting our strings to get at the facts. So stay tuned."
At the same hour on the Miller News Network, News and Views with Sean Browne was airing. The handsome host addressed the same issue, not as the first item covered, but as one of the last.
"The Martin administration has been the target of charges made by a competing news network of strong-arm tactics to silence critics of the SafeVote system. Earlier today, we caught up with the president's chief advisor, Darcy Egan, and asked her about that. Here's what she had to say."
The next shot captured Darcy entering her office and pausing to address a team from Miller News that followed her. She stood beside an artificial tree, the foliage towering over her diminutive height. She formed a geometric pattern of a small sphere of face over a larger ellipse of body, held up by two cylinders of legs. A close-up of her face showed the pious poise of someone who bore no risk of being challenged.
"We welcome all inquiries into our activities," she said, "especially into SafeVote. No one is being silenced. We are complying with all disclosure requests."
The broadcast returned to Sean in the studio.
"Then, we interviewed the president's senior strategist, Zack Walker, about the charges."
The next shot featured Zack outside the People's Manor, the familiar O shaping his mouth to give his trademark look of innocence.
"We are the most transparent administration in history," Zack said. "Every expenditure is posted online and accounted for in SafeVote. We welcome all legitimate questions. This assumes the questions are sincere, and the questioner can be satisfied with reasonable answers. Of course, if some people, in an attempt to gain ratings for their shows, persist in attacking us, no matter how transparent we are and no matter how many of their questions we've already, tirelessly answered, then," he shrugged his shoulders, "there's really nothing more we can do."
Sean ended his show with a special programming note for his viewers.
"Remember to tune in this weekend for a Miller News Special Report, featuring my personal interview with President Ken Martin." Sean's smile held a hint of gloating. "You won't want to miss this chance to see Ken Martin, relaxed and candid, in this rare one-on-one interview, which he granted exclusively to Miller News."
Chapter 8
Since his interview with President Ken Martin had aired that past weekend, Sean's face had displayed a dreamy, drug-happy look. His drug of choice was public acclaim—it gave the best high of all. His interview was widely praised and quoted in the national and international press. Driving to pick up Laura for dinner, he dared to hope that she, too, had been impressed. This time it was she who had made the date with him. Was that a sign? Had his interview with the president opened a door? As he drove to Laura's row house, he not only basked in the praise he had received from the media orb that was his sun, but he also hoped Laura would echo their acclamations.
Replaying the interview in his mind, he marveled at how comfortable he had felt talking to the president of the United States! Having been the one chosen for this rare, in-depth look at the most important man in the world boosted his stature in the news industry. He'd met the challenge, he thought. He was fair—even tough—in his questioning. Prominent news anchors and television personalities had said as much. During his weekend special, ratings for his network had surged.
Laura, he thought, had been completely wrong about Darcy Egan. Far from being controlling, the president's chief confidante was a joy to work with. She politely offered a few suggestions. Might he find them useful? The questions Darcy had suggested were ones he had in mind anyway—or at least some of them—so why not let her believe he was accommodating the administration? Her request that he not ask certain questions, and the rationale she gave, sounded reasonable, so why not be as pleasant to work with as she was?
Later that evening, sitting across from Laura at The Waves, with its aquamarine glass walls creating a deep
-sea backdrop for their rendezvous, Sean's fond musings about his triumph quickly vanished.
"Did you catch my interview this weekend, Laura?"
"I did," she replied, without further comment.
He paused, hoping she'd say more. With her silence, his confidence waned, and his defenses kicked in.
"I think it went pretty well!" he said.
"How could it not go well, when Darcy spoon-fed you the questions?"
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the charge.
"Darcy made a few suggestions that were good, so why not incorporate them?"
"Did you really have to ask the president of the United States which baseball teams he thinks will win the league championships? And why did you need to know what his favorite barbecue food is? And whether his children had seen the new animated movie that's in the theaters this week? Those were Darcy's questions, weren't they?"
"The president has constituents who are interested in these topics, and they want to know how he weighs in. Those constituents are also an important demographic for my show."
"But no question about SafeVote or James Spenser?"
"Those are closed issues. You can't beat a dead horse, Laura."
"And no questions from you on why the president allows the Bureau of Elections, which is part of his administration, to drag its feet in answering a Public Disclosure Request?"
"You know, Laura, you're the only one who's not impressed," Sean said, wounded. "You and Reed. I asked him what he thought of my interview, and he said he hadn't seen it. A major coup for his network that sent our ratings into the stratosphere, and he didn't watch it! Now you give me flak? Why? The interview went as smooth as silk."
"JT always said, 'If an interview with a politician goes well, it means the reporter didn't ask the hard questions.'"
"You made this date with me," he said. "If it wasn't to congratulate me on my blockbuster interview, then why are we sitting here?"