The Camera Only Points Forward: A novel of television news, and stuff

ISBN-13: 9780989436014 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 396 str.

MR Wilson E. Gamble

Opis

This is the kind of Special Report that TV News Directors don't want you to see, even during a Ratings Period: an insider's account of a fictional but all-too-real newsroom that could be operating anywhere in America. The names may have been changed to protect the guilty--but this is a real-life account of modern-day television news, from the inside. Wilson Gamble is a mercenary reporter, who simply drifts wherever the next job offer appears. He's talented, but has a penchant for suffering humiliating setbacks while performing live reports from the field. And at the end of the day, he struggles with the pressures of the job by turning to an old enemy as well as an old but frail friend. Ultimately, Gamble lands at Newschannel 99 ("Where We're Right 99 Times Out Of 100 "), a shop that is about to suffer a serious decline in fortunes. As the quality staffers depart one-by-one, they are replaced with the inept, the self-serving, and the apathetic. The News Director's office might as well be entered through a revolving door. And the Owner is a cultured but curious throwback who single-handedly revives echoes of the Roaring 20's. Meanwhile, the community is haunted by the specter of a fugitive whose media-driven reputation is much more threatening than his true nature. From a newsroom populated by a memorable cast of characters to the scene of wild parties and out to remote news locations, Gamble subtly shifts from simply trying to get his facts straight to being asked to shoulder a much heavier burden. The question is where he will find the strength to cope: his friend or his enemy?