America 1982-Chapter 389 - 44: Again?_2
Before James took a step, the host had already cut the connection and announced to the camera:
"We have with us a guest on the scene, a PhD in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, a Yale professor, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Foreign Policy Research Institute, expert in international relations, Professor Adrian Hiren. We’ve invited him to provide us with the latest analysis of the situation after the end of the call."
Upon hearing this name, Marin turned his head with a relaxed expression and glanced at the television screen, saying, "Adrian, that old fox, he’s really cunning, seizing a great opportunity. I bet among the advisors to the new president, he’s already secured a spot for himself."
At the same time, much of the tension in his heart dissipated. He knew the guest currently visiting VOX, having met him many times. Adrian Hiren was a veteran member of the think tank of the Republican conservative faction and a strong contender for the position of Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under the new president, one of the stooges under Vice President George Bush. He probably wouldn’t make a scene just to grab attention with comments that defamed the government and embarrassed the president.
But before he could completely exhale, the host immediately spoke again with a gleeful face: "I have just received news that our colleagues, local journalists employed by VOX in North Africa, are risking being arrested by the Libyan government on charges of espionage to send a phone call connection back to the studio. He should be able to bring us more accurate news about this conflict."
Marin simply sat down in his seat, focusing intently on the screen.
The female secretary saw Marin’s action and reminded him, "Marin, you should go prepare for the press briefing."
Marin sighed, "Prepare my ass. I’ll go after watching the news; anyway, those reporters must all be in the conference room doing the same thing as me. VOX isn’t just lucky. Good luck doesn’t usually result in finding local employees to send back the latest news right away."
"How is Libya now, Hugh?" the host asked.
There was no visual from Libya; only the reporter’s voice came through on the phone: "Hello, Meriman. I am currently in Tripoli, the capital of Libya. Just a moment ago, Gaddafi made a national speech, saying the Americans invaded Libyan airspace for no reason and shot down two unarmed Libyan reconnaissance planes."
"Kelly! Go inform the President and his Chief of Staff that Gaddafi is lying!" Marin leaped up from his seat with an agility that belied his stout figure and hurried towards the outside, "He’s lying; we’ve won! The last time I knew of a reporter from an American news agency risking coverage was when an Associated Press journalist snuck into the Soviet Union! Thanks to VOX!"
...
At 2:24 PM, Wolfe’s eyes were glued to the television screen, where the host continued to switch connections between a North African affairs expert from the Washington think tank Peace Research Center and a VOX reporter aboard the Kennedy aircraft carrier.
Next to Wolfe, a stylist was hastily applying makeup for high-definition cameras to Adrian Hiren, the Senior Consultant on International Security Issues and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Policy Research Institute from Philadelphia. They were ensuring that Hiren would look more vibrant when he appeared shortly as a guest in the studio.
Adrian Hiren, as a Republican conservative think tank member and a strong competitor for the position of Assistant to President Bush for National Security Affairs, commanded presence at the scene. Clearly, Charles Salmon, one of his students, didn’t have quite enough clout.
The main reason he appeared at the Washington headquarters of VOX News Network was that at 11:43 AM, the world’s largest news agency, the Associated Press, called to request a corporate subscription to VOX in order to use the breaking news content from VOX News Network.
The Associated Press’s subscription to VOX didn’t bring in much revenue. As a news media enterprise, paying thirty thousand dollars per week for a subscription seems much higher compared to the twenty cents a month ordinary people pay, but the return for such high expenditure is the right for the Associated Press to quote VOX News Network’s news text and pictures released that week in their own news coverage.
What shocked Wolfe and brought experts like Adrian to make an appearance was not VOX’s earning of the Associated Press’s thirty thousand dollar one-week subscription fee. It was that VOX News Network was the first cable network in the United States to be subscribed to in the name of a corporation by the Associated Press.
Yes, before VOX, there had never been a case where the Associated Press paid to subscribe to any of the American big three television networks, whether it be FOX Television Network, or even CNN, which was on the verge of financial breakdown, or the hundreds of other American television stations.
The Associated Press, which could be seen as a consortium of all of America’s well-known newspapers and radio stations, has been monopolizing and profiting from selling exclusive news since it was established in 1846. They began by banding together newspaper merchants to dominate the news and then sold it exclusively to newspapers that weren’t part of the Associated Press. Later, as radio became prevalent, radio tycoons were also absorbed. It continued to expand and now has nearly two hundred reporter stations in over seventy countries, providing detailed press releases and news to nearly a thousand major publications worldwide. By the thirty thousand dollars per week subscription fee, that amounts to thirty million for a thousand subscriptions.
Such a colossal entity, which has been making money from monopolizing exclusive news since 1846, has indeed become a corporate customer of VOX News Network!
