cardboard_journalism | Inbox [cerealia]

Inbox [cerealia]

"Sss, sss, sss.

You've reached the desk of Myriam Scuttlebutt.

If you're calling to submit a story to the Cerealia Times, please press 1.

If you're calling to inquire about employment with the Cerealia Times, please press 2.

If you're calling to make a complaint about a story in the Cerealia Times, you are free to hang up. Complaints will only be accepted as submitted letters to the editor, delivered in physical form.

If you're calling for any other reason, please leave a message after the beep."

[boop]

[if 1 is pressed]

"You've reached the extension for submitting a story to the Cerealia Times. Please describe your story after the beep. For reference, please include your name and contact information. You may also make your tip anonymously, or ask for anonymity. As a source, your anonymity is protected by law, and will not be revealed without your express permission.

Kahk-kahk... Keep in mind, you cannot be financially compensated for information you provide, for reason of journalistic ethics. ...no, really, journalists aren't supposed to do that."

[boop]

[if 2 is pressed]

"The Cerealia Times is in need of correspondents, reporters, photojournalists, and delivery personnel.

Correspondent: you are expected to respond to stories that break out in an assigned section of Cerealia, report the information at the scene, interview witnesses, and supply written stories. Mild literacy is required.

Reporters: you are expected to actively pursue assigned stories and conduct related interviews in a timely manner. Mild interpersonal skills a plus, but not essential. With approval, you will be free to investigate your own stories.

Photojournalists: you are expected to record newsworthy events on film. This may require taking shots under suboptimal conditions.

Delivery personnel: you are expected to transport, unload, and fold bundles of newspaper around Cerealia.

All of these jobs take long hours and are very demanding... but they're worth it. --Except for the delivery job, that's just busywork. Sss, sss!

Leave your contact information, desired post, and brief description of your experience, if any!"

[boop]

[action thread continuations can go here too!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[the return phone call would come back almost-immediately]

Hello? Did you just leave a text message? You didn't leave any contact information...

The answer is, yes! We're always looking for new journalists to add to the staff! What did you have in mind? Sss, sss, sss.

[ Well, Inaba's not rude enough to respond with yet another text so she'll at the very least answer the call instead of being a jerk. ]

Yeah, that's right. I thought leaving contact information would be unnecessary considering that my name is attached, plus using the CEREVice to contact me before meeting in person is OK. Though I'm usually at the school on weekdays, and I spend the afternoons at my job at the Auto and Tech store, in the Holo department. Ah, and just in case you didn't already know-- I'm Inaba.

I didn't have anything specific in mind. A journalist has to keep their mind open, don't they? Besides, it's best to have a variety of articles; unless, of course, you have a column that needs to be filled. I have experience from being the vice president of the club I was in - we wrote a monthly newspaper.

Oh... that's true, I was able to contact you back and everything, so... Kahk-kahk-kahk.

Inaba-- Is that your first name or your last name? Or is that a pseudonym? Either way, doesn't matter! Nice to meetcha. I'm Myriam Scuttlebutt, publisher and editor of the Cerealia Times. Among other things.

I take it you saw our first edition? Pretty impressive, wasn't it? Sss, sss, sss. Of course, we'd be willing to add you to the staff...

But, I'd like to meet you in person to hammer out the details. Maybe hear a little bit more about your credentials, if any. Dedication is very important to us here!

You have a preferred spot we can meet and talk? Maybe a cafe? I can suggest one, if you prefer.

It's my last name. [ Not going to go into the details of the mere fact that she prefers it over her first name. Not that she's hiding her first name either. ]

Yeah, I saw it. It wasn't half bad, I have to admit. And I agree about meeting in person. It would be more convenient and you'd be able to see my work, anyway.

I honestly don't care where, as long as it's an area where there isn't as many electronics.

Exactly. Glad we're on the same page. Sss, sss, sss.

Very well, let's say... [gives the name of a cafe that isn't the Cosplay Cafe], howabout there? I can be there in fifteen minutes.

I'll be the most inconspicuous person there. Whether you can identify me or not will be the first test of your journalistic instincts!

Don't worry, I'm a master of finding inconspicuous people.

[ Well, it won't be that difficult to find the person if she just cheats and looks up their basic information on the CEREVice... ]

Excellent! See you there!

[It may not have occurred to her she could do that. At any rate, she then ended the call]

[She left for the cafe immediately, to scout around and wait for Inaba's arrival and hopefully claim a table in the corner to herself.]

[She was, of course, wearing her box, making her stand out immediately]

[ While it does take her some time to get the cafe due to waiting for the trains, she does get there with time to spare (not that it mattered how long it took) and when she sees the box, she decides to play coy as she rudely decides to rap her knuckles on it, acting as if it were a door. ]

Ooooi, is anyone home?

[well, that was the quickest way to make her angry at least]

Hey! Hands off the box, you scuff it, you buy it!

Oh, so there was someone home after all. I wouldn't have guessed.

[ You can practically hear the biting sarcasm in her tone as she takes a step back, shrugging her shoulders. ]

Sss, sss, sss.

You better not be Inaba. Or if you are, I hope you know the rules of journalism better than you know the rules of personal space.

Don't you know that journalists nowadays should have a good sense of humor?

[This was the weirdest job interview yet]

Not really, no... must've been absent for that part of reporter school. Kahk-kahk-kahk.

--A-Anyway! This isn't about me, is it?

You going to have a seat? Let's get down to business already.

[ Inaba Himeko: best at breaking the ice. ]

Well, thankfully, I have the experience to back up my claims.

[ Although it's not as if it's much experience. It's still something, however, so it's better than nothing. Besides, it's not as if she hasn't written things down for school. But she'll pull out a chair and sit down, straightening herself as she pulls out her laptop. ]

Anyway, I brought copies of the previous articles I worked on while I was at home. I also do my own photography when it comes to huge scoops. Although I'm not sure if you'll be able to read them, seeing as they're completely in Japanese but I managed to type up a rough summary translation document as well.

[finally! Scuttlebutt went ahead and let her bad mood slip away as talk turned to Inaba's journalistic experience]

Sss, sss, sss! Excellent points! Experience is important, as is being able to handle a camera. A journalist without their third-eye... just isn't much of a journalist! Digital camera, I presume? Though if you develop your own film too, I certainly won't stop you. Sss, sss.

Let's see them, then. I'm... somewhat familiar with Japanese newspapers, but I will need those translations, yeah.

Admittedly it's a high school newspaper, but the quality is nothing less than the best from my part. [ Or rather, she'd kill herself if it was horrible. ]

Yeah, I use digital. I got a new camera for Christmas, so I was thinking of trying that out for some new shots. [ She opens the file, starting with the best article; it seems to be a special, seeing it's a front page headliner with what seems to be two teachers one seemingly a lot older than the other holding hands at a cafe.

It seems to be a shot taken in secret, too, though the angle and quality of the image is perfect. ]

This was the paper for the Culture Festival. I wrote a special about two teachers who were secretly going out. When we passed this out by throwing all the papers off the roof at the end of the Beauty Pageant, they managed to actually make it less of a secret. They even thanked me for it.

"Admittedly it's a high school newspaper?" I don't understand. --Er, that is, what do you mean by that?

[completely not sarcasm. Of course, school newspapers are Serious Business.]

[Scuttlebutt looked it over, nodding along at the explanation (which of course wasn't visible underneath her box)]

Hm, secret photo of a hidden love-affair? Not too shabby as far as scoops go.

[she took a moment to admire the photo] You took this without them noticing? That's pretty impressive by undercover photo standards. Sss, sss, sss. Maybe almost too impressive...

Just to be sure, though... these were just two teachers going out? They were otherwise unattached, and neither of them were each other's boss? No scandal, no cheating, no conflicts of interest school faculty hierarchy-wise? Well, obviously if they thanked you for spreading the word. Sss, sss, sss.

Edited 2015-05-20 03:19 (UTC)

Well, school newspapers are different in quality than actual newspapers. But that's mostly because of budget. And some of my fellow writers are complete idiots. [ She's talking about her boyfriend who will never stop writing articles about pro-wrestling... ]

Yeah. It was actually really difficult to get the perfect shot, but I managed to do it. A camera with a good zoom is always useful.

Aah, yeah. They had a huge gap in their age, and their personalities conflicted, which was why everyone at school who was this was in complete shock over it. I was hoping for something bigger, but sometimes the reality is a lot different from what people imagine it to be.

Sss, sss. Says you. My school newspaper made headlines even with a small budget and staff, every day!

I suppose that qualifies as some sort of scandal. Well, congratulations! You're hired.

You have any contacts that could help in collecting stories? Relationships to important persons, or, dare I say it, people involved with CERES? Sss, sss, sss.

Edited 2015-05-20 04:25 (UTC)

I guess it all depends on the world you're from. My world isn't all that interesting. [ Or rather, all the interesting things are covered up. ]

Well, I do know people who have been making an effort in finding out the truth about this place, but nobody directly involved with CERES. Actually, let me be more specific: I don't know people who are working with CERES. And I don't mean any of us, the "outsiders" or people working normal jobs.

I guess I understand... There's only one world now. We gotta work with what we got.

I'm gonna level with ya... we've got two long-term goals we're striving for.

One: to get an interview with the CERES CEO.

Two: to get a picture of one of those 'Flamines,' or at least confirm if they exist or not.

--With lots of little goals in-between. Information about the 'terrorists,' what's happening with the CERES workers... things like that.

If we get even moderately close to any of these, the CERES people will have to take notice. I think a lot of people are wanting to know the truth behind what's going on, too. I know I am. Sss, sss, sss!

Either way, it'll be a massive victory for the free press! That's what we're going to prove!

An interview with the CERES CEO is going to be difficult, that's for sure. Even if there's a surefire way to contact him if you check up the contacts page, it looks like he doesn't really do much of anything.

[ At least, that's what it looked like to her. ] I do want to confirm some things for myself. About the Flamines and those who want to consider us our allies.

In any case, the truth is definitely something that I consider most important when it comes to investigations. That and thoroughness. Unless it's something really important that needs to be dealt with ASAP.

The CEO's a figurehead? What's your source on that? Sss, sss.

Anyway, even if that's true, someone's got to be making a decision somewhere and we'll crawl through the hierarchy until we find them. ...even if it's a head-in-a-jar, or an AI!

Thoroughness? Depends on the situation... we're publishing once a week, and people can't read blank papers. For the time being, my priority is keeping a steady-flow of stories coming in.

Speaking of which, since the paper's free, I can't afford to give out salaries at the moment. I'm paying everyone on a freelance basis, meaning per article. You're free to name your price, though.

I wouldn't say he's a figurehead... [ It's more that they don't seem to fix their mistakes and seem to make things worse than they already are. ]

It's more like they avoid the real problems and don't say much when asked about it. But well, if it's once a week, I guess there's a difference in how stories are dealt with rather than a monthly newspaper.

But I honestly wasn't expecting a salary when I volunteered. It's not like I got paid when I was doing it at school, so I don't really mind not getting paid here as well. Besides, I'm already working a part time job here as well as going to school, so I get plenty of credits already from that.

Exactly. Real newspapers print daily, no matter what happens. Holiday? The news comes out. Disaster? The news comes out. Armageddon and the world is definitely going to end? It gets a blurb on page 3. Sss, sss, sss!

[she spun her pen in her hand with glee for a second, before getting serious again]

Honestly, even lengthening it to weekly is something I consider a setback... but I just don't have the resources to print every single day, yet.

[she sighed inwardly in relief when Inaba mentioned not needing compensation]

All right, thanks for being realistic. The next edition will come out January 10th. I'm putting the paper to bed 11:59 pm the previous day. I won't take any new articles after, so get your story and any photos submitted by then. I don't need to say: "follow standard journalism ethics" do I? You know what those are... right? Kaaaahk-kahk-kahk.

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