[Chapter 578: The Significance of Live War Broadcasting]
A bunch of old-timers believed that William White truly had the ability to undermine their foundation. The box office numbers were clear: Universal and Columbia together weren't even a match for him. If this guy planned to make some offbeat films, you really couldn't complain about it.
Then there's NBC. The old-timers were really feeling the pressure there. As the situation in the desert deteriorated, NBC's ratings skyrocketed once again.
One thing was certain: after this war concluded, NBC would find itself as the biggest television network in the world. During the war, it would broadcast its news globally, and audiences around the world would abandon their favorite entertainment programs to lock onto their channel.
You have to understand, the power of habit is immense. As long as their news maintained its quality, no other network could catch up. This war would be a popular topic for years to come. The value of that news was clear.
In its usual anti-war stance, NBC's sudden shift in perspective left the American public shocked. In their eyes, William White, the bad boy, was the vanguard of anti-mainstream culture, and now his media was suddenly promoting America's mainstream narrative. It made people think NBC had changed owners.
Of course, this abrupt shift in style caused many viewers to tune out.
But William White didn't care. Once the war broke out, everyone who had left would come back, and he believed he could even gain many new viewers. He was utterly convinced of that.
However, the current climate was still anti-war, so promoting war at this moment was clearly out of step. Other networks, aside from NBC, chose to keep a low profile.
NBC's stance, of course, catered to the needs of many powerful entities. This was a business worth hundreds of billions, and who would want to be at odds with money?
Offend the audience?
Once the war starts, everyone would be tuning into NBC. That kind of heat could last at least six months. What business value does a news channel generating buzz for six months hold?
Many media outlets would have to begrudgingly use NBC's footage.
You dare to cover up their logo?
Just ask yourself, are you afraid of going bankrupt?
American media really is lucky; except for some sensitive areas, they can film just about anywhere.
NBC was currently recording the daily activities of the aircraft carrier, planning to turn it into a documentary later.
William White was treating this war like it was a movie; it was downright insane!
How could he not know what others didn't?
This war could be edited into several documentaries -- one about aircraft carriers, one about missiles, and of course, the main focus would be the war itself. Given how bloody content is generally unsuitable for broadcast, footage might be just fine.
Knowing his boss's plans, Barry Diller was quite taken aback. How shameless does one have to be to think of such a way to make money? But honestly, this idea didn't seem half bad!
In fact, this wasn't even the most shameless part. William White would wrap it up with a healthy dose of inspirational speaking, constantly reflecting on the horrors of war. He would make himself out to be an anti-war vanguard and a messenger of peace and even start a fund to help women and children affected by war.
Shameless people are invincible.
...
"Mr. White, are you saying that fighting will start after the New Year?" Barry Diller was a bit displeased with his boss's recent arrangements. He believed profiting from war was somewhat disgraceful, and if it was up to him, he would prefer not to go through with it.
"Barry, you can't just look at surface issues. I know you think this segment is too extensive and leans toward promoting war. But do you understand? We are on the side of justice. After so many years, we finally have a chance to be just this once. If we miss out on this opportunity, who knows when it will come again."
Barry Diller just had a bit of a liberal mindset; he didn't mean to oppose his boss. He simply hoped not to destroy the structure of the news. What the boss said was harsh but merely stated a fact.
No matter how much Washington spins the story, going after the Koreans and the Vietnamese obviously isn't just. To be blunt, whatever lifestyle they choose is none of America's business.
If you want to interfere, that's not impossible; key is you still lost the fight, which would be utterly embarrassing.
"Mr. White, so changes are likely coming soon?"
"Ha! Naturally. With logistics involving nearly a million people, my goodness, if we don't get started, our economy will collapse. Truthfully, you can start adjusting now; once the war begins, the news cycles will have to double."
"I know what to do. In that case, we need follow-up special programs as well."
"Right, get more military commentators. If you can get some active-duty generals, that would be even better. Oh, and if we could do some war game simulations, that would be ideal. Once the public understands the brutality of war, they'll certainly cherish peaceful living. From this perspective, we are indeed against war."
Barry Diller gained a new understanding of his boss's shamelessness. Washington's spokesperson absolutely couldn't compare with this guy, who could so fiercely claim righteousness while profiting from war.
...
William White had no time to play games; he dismissed Barry and wanted to test out the latest game instead.
Indeed, Command & Conquer had been successfully completed. Today, in the world of Legendary World, it was without a doubt the most popular game; no question about it, Command & Conquer ranked first.
William White was quite familiar with this game. The later Age of Empires and StarCraft were essentially continuations of Command & Conquer.
Well, perhaps some might disagree; after all, the graphics and playability of the latter two far surpassed those of Command & Conquer. They were simply from different eras. You can't lump all real-time strategy games under the label of Command & Conquer.
This wasn't an argument worth pursuing; the quality of the follow-up versions of Command & Conquer was generally disappointing, which indeed caused some letdown. If only they could have done better, other games wouldn't have had an easy time at all.
*****
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