“Suck up,” she hissed to Matt, then stood up and approached the mic like a convicted person heading to execution. She swallowed and smiled at the shimmering image of her new boss.

“Mr. Bounds, thank you for making yourself available to us. I guess my question arose because the last president of ATN told us it’s not our job to worry about ratings. It’s our job to do good journalism. So it would be great to know, what’s your idea of meaningful journalism? Do you think reporting the news is good or bad for ratings? Thank you.”

Natalie could feel the room stare at her with admiration mingled with terror. It was the look you give a dictator’s failed assassin or Martha Stewart’s tardy assistant: you know the person will be disappeared within the hour.

The Chief’s features softened. “Glad you asked. It’s Natalie, right?” he said pleasantly. “I want to say—and I mean no disrespect—there’s a reason that your former boss is, well, former. And a reason we’re number four.”

The tension in the air made the room feel alive. “I’m going to give it to you straight. Your job, each and every one of you, is to grow viewership. Viewership grows ratings. Ratings grow profits. Profits keep the shareholders happy. Happy shareholders mean we all get to go to work tomorrow.” He stared intensely around the newsroom until the silence became uncomfortable. “We are not a star chamber elite, deciding what people should know. This is the news business. Starting today we give our viewers what they want, not what we say they want.” Natalie felt a chill creeping down her back. “Starting today, we win. If anyone has a problem with that, I invite you to leave now.”

He paused to see if anyone would go. No one did.

The Chief went on. “Good. Remember, people, news is our brand. But what we do is tell stories that viewers want to watch. Got it?” He stared out at his audience expectantly. No one spoke. “I didn’t catch that,” the Chief said. “Got it?”

“Yes,” a few people called back.

The Chief’s face got a little flushed. “What did you say?” he demanded.

“GOT IT,” people called back.

He smiled and relaxed. “Good. And we’re going to be distributing a survey to let us know what you think of this new hologram technology. We’d like to work it into our shows.” He glanced off-camera. “As soon as we iron out those kinks.” He turned back to face the room. “Thanks to all of you! And see you on TV!” He waved and the hologram vanished.

The lights got brighter. People began to shift and whisper. Natalie felt chilled from the inside out.