How to Influence Public Opinion

LIGHTS FADE UP on a crowded office, cluttered desks, televisions tuned to news stations mounted high on the walls. A newsroom, with a city skyline visible through several tall windows.

(GRISHAM is typing furiously and squinting at her keyboard.)

(COOPER enters, crossing from stage left to stand behind the other reporter's desk.)

COOPER: No wonder your family name is Grisham - this reads like a crime novel. Sensational, over the top, florid prose.

(COOPER tosses a file folder onto the desk near the keyboard.)

GRISHAM: (smirking, continues typing without looking up) You know, Cooper - your name suits you too. Was James Fenimore one of your ancestors? Ya old fuddy duddy!
(Shoves file folder aside)

COOPER: (genially) Ah, blow it out your ear. (Takes deep breath, puts on stern expression) But, seriously, Sheila, we've got to fix this. You can't keep using sarcastic "air quotes" (COOPER makes the gesture) in your HEADLINES!

GRISHAM: (rebelliously) So... You're telling me to bury the lead!

COOPER: No, I'm telling you to write like a damned JOURNALIST, not some hotheaded opinion blogger. (COOPER sighs, runs a hand over her head and rolls her eyes in frustration)

COOPER: Look, Sheila... we owe the public a civil discourse! we owe them facts, not smears, and we really ought not incite them to riot! (Clearly enunciated for emphasis)

(GRISHAM has stopped typing and is slumping in her chair, a stubborn expression on her face)

GRISHAM: You may have noticed that your "principles" aren't causing the advertisers to line up in droves.

(COOPER hitches up one hip to sit on the corner of GRISHAM's desk) The way to change the hearts and minds of our readers is by bringing them the news that the major media outlets simply won't print. Or broadcast. People need to know these things. They need to know about Mike Brown and the problems of Walking While Black. They need to think about Robin Williams, about depression and the abysmal state that the American mental health system is in. But the minute we let our feelings color WHAT we write, if we make it more about US, our reactions, than about the actual story? People stop thinking and they ALSO start reacting.

(GRISHAM sits up from her slump, leans forward, speaking intensely) But we WANT them to react. We WANT them to feel, to get stirred up, to do something!

COOPER: See, part of the problem is, lots of people are already reacting. Down deep? Lots of folk are terrified. They think that they are "deserving" because they "made the right choices" and "worked hard" and therefore people who aren't prospering, or get shot by cops or vigilantes MUST have "made bad choices" or "been lazy slobs" and are therefore "not deserving" of sympathy, compassion, or help. To admit otherwise is to admit that life is inherently unfair. Bad stuff could randomly happen to ANY of us...and could turn your life into a miserable shitstorm at any time, through no fault of your own. That's just too fucking scary for some folks to even contemplate, you know?

GRISHAM: ...so the Denial keeps on flowing.

COOPER: ... Yep. And we, we fight denial with facts, with real human interest stories, with words that help change how people see each other, help people really SEE each other. Stories change the world, Sheila. You know this, I know this, and thank God our publisher knows this.

(COOPER leans back, folds her arms) Sarcasm won't help us change the world. I think sarcasm just makes us more angry and bitter and hopeless, lashing out at the things that hurt us.

(COOPER unfolds her arms and gestures at GRISHAM) You wanna be angry? BE angry. Use it as fuel to get things DONE. Use your anger for your sword and shield so we can protect the helpless. Use it as a megaphone to give a voice to the silenced.

(COOPER leans in, stabbing a finger at GRISHAM's chest) Sarcasm and air quotes are for lazy fucking HACKS, and you are So. Much. Better than that. You're Sheila Fucking Grisham, and you? Have a job to do. (COOPER stands, scoops up the folder, tidying it, and extends it to GRISHAM)

COOPER: Rewrite the headline and the lead paragraph. Take out the sarcasm and as much bias as you can, and I'll let you have six inches for a fiery op-ed piece next week.

(GRISHAM makes a face and looks down, but extends one hand for the folder.)

(COOPER stands) Sheila, you're one of my best. Let's do this thing, and do it right.

COOPER: Now, I'll leave you to it, since we've both got deadlines to meet.

(COOPER exits swiftly stage left, as GRISHAM flicks a glance in her direction)

(GRISHAM, with a reluctant smile) Fucking hippie idealist.

(COOPER, from offstage) I HEARD that, you anarchist punk!

(GRISHAM's smile becomes more genuine as she reaches across the desk for an editing pencil and flips the folder open, slouching back in her desk chair as the lights come down)

**END SCENE**



This is my entry for week 17, season 9, of therealljidol. The prompt for this week was "scare quotes" aka "air quotes" and also aka "smear quotes". (I had to look the definition up, then recognized I had used this rhetorical technique in a comment on FB earlier the same day. Presto, I had a story seed.)

The link to voting page will be HERE, and you can read the skilled work of my colleagues at the end of the elegant and finely crafted link HERE.