Heads Up, Assignment Editors of America!
Dear Assignment Editor,
(For those uncertain about media entity/journalism structure and titles, the "Assignment Editor" is sometimes a full-time job of its own, sometimes it's lumped in with other editorial duties. Either way, Assignment Editors know who they are: The ones who steer the writers, photogs, fact-gatherers-and-checkers, etc., toward the targets most likely to garner clicks, grab eyes, etc.)
I know some of you have had serious resentments about all the flak you get for being glued to [Redacted]'s sphincters. "We have a responsibility!" "Those are the stories people READ!" and other whines can be taken as read. Suffice to say, America's major media outlets' morbid fascination with every belch, fart, and gesture from [Redacted] has painted you, you personally, as part of the problem, and is that fair? You don't want to obsessively pan the camera over the train wreck, lingering lovingly on the dismembered limb. But you have to. It's "THE" Story. The Story that won't quit.
The story that just keeps on spawning more layers, more stories, and keeping horrified/fascinated Americans riveted to the web page/newspaper/teevee broadcast/podcast that serves up the freshest and most outrageous iteration.
(We Are All Tabloids Now)
Well, I have good news for you.
"THE" Story has just changed.
What, you ask, could rivet the attentions of readers/viewers/listeners more obsessively (and thus, more lucratively for you) than the latest bloviation of [Redacted] and his minions?
They themselves just handed it to you.
The new "THE Story". The one that won't quit, that offers a new, rivetingly appalling facet every few hours between now and November 6th is:
::drumroll::
The Lost Children
Yes, my editorial amigos, the One Story that always leads, is always on the front page, is always clickbait has been dropped into your lap in an endless series of iterations.
Here are some questions to get you started:
Where are the young girls?
Did any of the babies left on those floors survive?
How many ended up in hospital emergency rooms?
What soulless corporate heels enabled this outrage?
What brave, selfless resisters stood up for a helpless child victim?
What grieving photogenic parent hasn't seen their baby for weeks and keeps getting the runaround from the apparatchiks who won't admit they've LOST the kid?
What midnight flit allowed the ICEStasi to spirit these particular kids to some unsuspecting town in the dead of night?
What social service agency is overwhelmed to the point of collapse trying to reunite families?
What heart-rending horror happened in <your town here> when the helpless tots were sent to the wrong facility?
What thirteen-year-old girl ended up trafficked into sex slavery?
What twelve-year-old boy ended up trafficked into sex slavery?
What grieving father has been crisscrossing the US in a futile search for his two daughters?
Oh, yeah, my friends.
Headlines galore.
And they will JUST. KEEP. COMING.
Even if the Child-Torturer-In-Chief and his helots swear off committing atrocities from this hour forth, the atrocities they've already committed are spawning new atrocities even as we speak.
How much are the taxpayers on the hook for, in the attempt to clean up the mess?
Are we going to have to set up Reunification Centers? What will that cost? What will it involve? How many families? How many places? What will the Immigration Courts' roles be? How will their rules change? WILL their rules change?
What other appalling cruelties are being perpetrated under the cover of treating misdemeanors like aggravated felonies combined with bureaucratic indifference?
There's your stories, my friend.
The clicks, the outrage, the letters, the controversy, the discussion, the advertising revenues, the ratings will pile up to INFINITY, if you are smart enough to ride this juggernaut.
And if you're not seeing this as the opportunity of a lifetime, you're not worthy of your Assignment Editor chops.
helpfully,
Bright
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