The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled-Chapter 266: The Media War
And so, a media war broke out that very afternoon. Calling it a media war might sound a bit too grandiose; in reality, it was merely the press publishing slanderous news only to be directly slapped in the face. Netizens, however, always loved to gossip. Watching the drama of the wealthy was entertaining, but watching the press get slapped in the face was even more thrilling.
In the early afternoon, online newspapers featuring breaking news were typically reviewed and published around this time. Just as everyone returned to their desks, before they could even focus on their work, a massive wave of news outlets, both large and small, simultaneously released sensational headlines.
Every single headline was incredibly eye-catching, insinuating that the CEO of Caldwell Empire was having an ambiguous affair with another woman. The cover photo for these articles was nothing unfamiliar. It was the exact same photograph that Gabriel Cole had shown Julian Sterling at noon. Although the image was not exceptionally clear, it was enough for people to recognize the familiar silhouette of the powerful CEO.
Within the content of the posts, they once again deliberately dug up and mentioned Julian Sterling’s previous kidnapping incident.
Instead of just being anonymous posts floating around on internet forums, this time the press used formal language, appearing objective but essentially full of attacks aimed at manipulating public opinion. They put forth a series of completely unfounded hypotheses.
They argued that the previous articles praising the affection and sweetness between Ethan Caldwell and Julian Sterling might just be a sophisticated media trick designed to blind the public. According to the articles, the reality of their marriage was entirely just a contract for business interests, with absolutely no genuine feelings existing between them.
The authors of the articles went even further by analyzing that perhaps Ethan Caldwell, as the one holding the power and being the superior in this marriage, inherently could not accept the fact that his partner, Julian Sterling, had been tainted during the kidnapping.
The content of these articles was like a single arrow hitting two targets. On one hand, they harshly attacked Ethan Caldwell, portraying him as an old-fashioned man who placed too much importance on the rules and constraints of the older generation. They criticized him for disrespecting his partner, heartlessly abandoning Julian Sterling at home to have an affair while Julian had just experienced a massive psychological trauma.
On the other hand, the sophisticated wording within the text also implicitly agreed with the malicious forum posts from before, indirectly affirming that Julian Sterling had indeed lost his purity.
It was only the early afternoon, yet the volume of information had already flooded across social media platforms, creating an incredibly chaotic and bustling scene. At this moment, hundreds of new threads related to this topic were being opened en masse on major discussion forums.
Netizens competed to share and quote links from the news sites, whose traffic was skyrocketing. Beneath the comment sections lay countless discussions, filled with all sorts of sarcasm and disdain directed at both men.
[I told you so, it is just a commercial marriage being glorified. You guys need to stop reading those useless novels, there is no love here.]
[Holy crap, so all those other posts were fake? Just the other day I was praising how happy they looked.]
[Dude, you actually believe the media stunts of the rich? Were you born under the sign of the cow or something, how can you be so stupid and easily led by the nose?]
[If I were Ethan Caldwell, I would find someone else too. Their families are not of equal status, and he is a man who cannot have children. Now that everyone has seen everything, just thinking about them pretending to take pictures makes me want to throw up.]
[Is no one condemning Ethan Caldwell? What a terrible man. His partner gets into trouble and Ethan just tosses Julian aside to find another woman.]
[So is your Julian Sterling not a man? He should take care of himself, why does he need someone else to look after him?]
Scandals of the upper class were always a very hot topic. In truth, deep within everyone’s heart, there secretly existed a kind of jealousy. Why was it that, despite all being human, they were born into wealthy families, wearing billion-dong watches on their left wrists, holding hundred-million-dong phones in their right hands, and sitting in supercars? Why did I have to toil away at work for eight hours a day, not earning enough to cover expenses, while they only had to sit around idly, enjoying themselves with mountains of money?
Because of this constant, silent comparison, whenever people saw those better off than them get into trouble, they could not help but want to mock and gloat a little. And the way the press created headlines and marketed their stories aimed directly at this exact weakness.
Consequently, less than fifteen minutes after the news broke, dozens of new posts on the forums had already garnered a terrifying amount of interaction, with the number of shares and comments increasing by the second.
Gradually, the psychological tendencies of those accessing the information also became clearly revealed. If, in the first few minutes, the comment sections were reluctantly divided into two extremes, the level-headed choosing not to believe, and the followers hastily throwing stones. Then just a short time later, public opinion had completely tilted to one side.
The disparaging, malicious comments had quickly spread, thoroughly drowning out any positive voices or calls to calmly wait for the truth.
Right at the moment when the netizens were passionately enjoying this feast of gossip, the crisis communication department of Caldwell Empire also officially took action.
After all, they were professionals in handling media relations, they were highly adept at these matters and knew exactly how to stir the conversation.
Their first step was to infiltrate the posts with the highest engagement rates, then disguise themselves as outraged bystanders demanding justice for the falsely accused.
Such tactics were certainly not uncommon in the entertainment industry. Generally speaking, it served as a standard playbook for those looking to manipulate public opinion. It might sound a bit cliché, but surprisingly, it was incredibly effective. At the very least, it still possessed the capability to guide a portion of the public narrative in their favored direction. And as long as a few individuals started to waver, the rest would be very easily swayed.
