Chapter Three

 

“Great job, Dirk,” his producer commented in his ear piece as the feed to the Columbus affiliate ended.

The flood light atop the video camera dimmed to a dull orange glow, and Dirk handed the microphone to his cameraman. He loosened his tie, unbuttoned his shirt collar, and took off his trench coat revealing the faded blue jeans he routinely wore to work. Since all of the video feeds were from the waist up, a power tie and trench coat were all that was necessary to provide the façade of a well dressed professional reporter. His half dressed/half not ensemble was an appropriate metaphor for the realities of his job.

By controlling what his viewers saw and or didn’t see on camera, it was possible to make a small neighborhood fire appear to be a catastrophe of epic proportions. Although uncomfortable with this photographic sleight of hand, Dirk accepted it as part of the business. The satisfaction he achieved from gathering information from various sources and breaking a story before any of his contemporaries, more than offset his frustration with the “If it bleeds, it leads” realities of TV news production.

“Thanks,” he responded to the producer. “Do you need any more feed from here?” he inquired to determine if more crash scene footage was desired for the evening news broadcast.

“I think we have enough for now,” the producer replied.

“Good. I’ve got places to go and people to see.”

His producer knew Dirk was anxious to begin his investigation of this story. Dirk was renowned for his ability to move quickly and get crucial information in big news stories. Often it was more of a problem trying to decide which information to use in the limited time allocated to his particular assignment than it was to come up with enough “fluff” to fill the news segments.

Dirk had a unique ability to use information as a bartering tool to get details from other sources. He began to refine this craft years ago while reporting a murder. The detectives wanted to know what the witnesses knew but wouldn’t tell, the lawyers wanted to know what the detectives knew but weren’t telling, and the witnesses wanted to tell more but were afraid to talk to the authorities.

It was through the confidential bartering of information, or “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours” practice, that Dirk developed a network that yielded information quicker than any reporter in town.

He was just about to remove his earpiece when his producer inquired, “By the way Dirk, how’d you get to the crash scene so fast? Some of your film footage showed the airport emergency vehicles driving up to the scene. It’s almost as if you were waiting for the crash!”

“Good things happen to good people. Later dude,” he said as he removed the earpiece.