Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1080 Preventing Media Monopoly
The New York Daily News' report has drawn some attention in Hollywood.But it was Wall Street that really caused an uproar.That's where the most attention will be paid to the Australian tycoon.

"Can a rude, reputation-seeking Australian entrepreneur who built a massive media and tourism empire on borrowed money repeat the story in America?" The Wall Street Journal paid more attention to his business, questioning whether the tourism business could Supporting such a large acquisition, and raised doubts about Australia's stock market regulation.

"Skas's ambitions outstripped his capabilities and we do not welcome someone who operates on a financial basis to buy up America's cultural heritage ... and raises questions about the financial soundness of our other Australian companies."

The development of the matter was obviously beyond Ronald's imagination and control, and gradually evolved into an attack on another Australian Rupert, the de facto boss of [-]th Century Fox.

Originally, this Australian had a bad reputation in America. In Fleet Street, London, where he made his fortune, he was famous for his outrageous revelations about celebrity privacy and royal gossip. Media attack.

The New York Times ran a lengthy attack on him at the time, criticizing Rupert for his business practices and political views.In an article, The New York Times called him a media pirate bent on destroying the traditional values ​​of journalism in our country. "

Other newspapers opposed to Rupert were the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.The papers argued that Rupert's ownership of Fox would give him too much control over the American media landscape and that his conservative views would skew news coverage.

"Now another Australian tycoon, taking advantage of their "imperfect and naive" stock market wealth, is beating our country's media industry like a savage, which is alarming and needs to be legislated."

The one who said this was Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. He has always been at odds with Rupert, and now he is standing up to denounce this kind of entrepreneur who does not conform to American values ​​(because Rupert is more supportive of conservatives).

At Kennedy's urging, a special measure is being tabled in the Senate and is expected to be added to the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, amended as an annex.

This new amendment, if passed, would close any chance for Rupert to escape the federal ban on cross-owning newspapers and television stations in the same city.For example, the Boston Herald and Boston WFXT-TV stations that he is buying heavily, as well as the New York Post and WNYW-TV.

Rupert was furious with anger. Skas, an idiot countryman, brought the Australia's tricks of capital operation to deceive stockholders to America, and as a result, he suffered a heavy blow from the senator.

These veteran senators have been re-elected and held important positions in several key Senate committees, and their power is not much less than that of the general.It's definitely hard to be caught by them.

Afraid that he would be implicated, Rupert ran to New York overnight, met with Governor Cuomo of New York State, Mayor Koch, and major media in New York, expressing that he would never do anything that did not comply with American values Support for the governor's campaign and an offer to serve as a media adviser to the outgoing mayor.

Of course, the politicians and media circles who were publicized by him expressed their support verbally, and would not target Rupert's holdings of newspapers, media and TV stations in New York at the same time.And we welcome the efforts of this American citizen entrepreneur to preserve New York media traditions.

But the legislative work at the federal and state levels has nothing to do with it. Now it is the federal senators who are eyeing Rupert, and they can only express their verbal support.Rupert was still under a lot of pressure, especially the instigator "New York Daily News". He hurriedly asked his secretary to contact the reporter of this newspaper that he usually despises, hoping that they would only report on the unfortunate Skass. Egg.

……

"What's the matter with this bill? Can't we also control the Daily News and WPIX Eleven at the same time?"

Of course Ronald also knew about the new legislation targeting cross-genre media, and summoned Ed Bastian, who presided over the acquisition, and lawyer Lindsay Dole to inquire about the situation.

"It actually has little impact on our acquisitions. This amendment, and ultimately it's up to the interagency Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enforce whether our acquisitions of TV stations and newspapers, radio stations, violate cross-ownership in the same city, and finally It's up to them to decide. And we're in a position where even the most far-fetched judge wouldn't think we violated a law that was originally designed to make it easier for the media to do business."

Ed Bastian explained to Ronald that this bill allows two or more competing daily newspapers in a city to combine certain aspects of operation and production to prevent news organizations from collapse.

The purpose is to promote the diversity of news and prevent the sources of news and information from being too concentrated, and several large monopoly media groups control citizens' right to press freedom.

After the appearance of television stations, their profits quickly surpassed that of traditional newspapers, so this newspaper preservation law quickly added content that prohibited the same company from owning newspapers and radio and television stations in the same market.

"I don't understand, why can we disobey this ban? Aren't we going to acquire a newspaper and a TV station in New York?" Ronald watched for a long time, but couldn't see how he could be exempted.

Ed Bastian smiled, pointed to Lindsay, and asked her to answer.

"Ronald, first of all, our acquisition will not exceed the standard line that triggers the ban. According to the ban, a newspaper is defined as any daily or weekly newspaper with general circulation. The New York Daily News is a tabloid, not the law to protect serious newspaper.

What this bill prohibits is that any person or entity owns both a newspaper and a television station in the same market.According to Senator Kennedy's interpretation, a market is defined as an area where 50% or more of the households in the area can reasonably be expected to receive a newspaper or television station.WPIX Eleven, which we are acquiring, does not have such a large viewership share in New York.

Second, the law prohibits the same person or entity, and does not prohibit some exceptions, such as newspapers and television stations owned by different companies, or owned by non-profit organizations.

Finally, if a company can demonstrate that its cross-ownership of TV stations and newspapers has significant benefits in serving the community.Or without it, the community's news service would drop dramatically, and the FCC would grant an exemption.

Our newspapers and television stations, for certain groups of people in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and lower Manhattan, are unique sources of news. "

Lindsay Dole said three reasons in one breath, and Ronald understood.The newspapers and TV stations he wanted to buy were still small players in New York and did not trigger the ban.And even if the scope of operation is successfully expanded in the future, different entities can be established to use legal weapons to fight against legislation.

Finally, your own media can also rely on certain groups of people to obtain exemptions, as long as you are their main source of news.

The media that Ronald wants to buy satisfies this condition very well, such as gossip news sources for black people in Brooklyn, traffic live broadcasts for taxi drivers, and Asians in Manhattan. For educational programs on TV, they are all unique. .

Ronald nodded, acquiesced to this reason, and also thought of the important reason why Australians would be attacked. He is not a native American owner. These unspoken rules are common to self-made Americans like himself. If he The use of Australians, in the eyes of Senator Kennedy and some voters, is the original sin full of evil thoughts.

"This process is outrageous. Some politician's reasons are absurd and extreme. I call him liberal totalitarianism. The purpose is nothing more than because we often criticize senators, and this is what freedom of the press really is. . . . I condemn this discriminate……"

That night, Rupert also gave a rare interview on TV, his Australian vowel sounds very stiff.

Ronald and Doug Jr. were watching TV together. They had already received a call from the Australian tycoon, asking them to restrain the editor-in-chief of the daily news and not to expand the scope of news attacks.

Of course Ronald agreed. The attack on the Australians might also affect Sony. This is of no benefit to Ronald and Norio Ohga. His attack was only aimed at the nouveau riche who wanted to make money from Columbia Pictures. .

Rupert was very happy to hear Ronald's personal promise, and he wanted to add some new news about Skas to Ronald.For example, he asked the board of directors to pay him an annual salary of 300 million, and visited a number of Wall Street bankers to seek financing.

Ronald understood that Rupert also wanted to drive the redneck out of America so he wouldn't be implicated.After thanking Rupert, he happily called Norio Ohga to inform him of the good news.

Dahe was very interested, and immediately expressed that he would send a team to Queensland, Australia, to try to copy the home of this Australian who dared to make a move on Sony.The Dongying people dare not easily resist America, but they are still very willing to clean up an Australian.

Arranging things, Ronald and Diane got on the plane to Los Angeles.Several films have been produced, and they are in the trial screening stage, waiting for him to make a decision.

"Honey, I'm a little tired, I'll sleep for a while..." With many things together, Ronald felt a little lack of energy, so he covered himself with his coat on the plane and fell asleep by himself.

"Ronnie, Ronnie, do I look good in this?"

In the dream, Diane seemed to be quite old, the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes were clearly visible, and she lived in a small house with herself. In the narrow fitting room, Diane was wearing a violet dress and was calling Give your opinion.

"You are beautiful, Diane..." Ronald in the dream has also become a middle-aged man, with gray temples.Judging from the house I live in, it seems that the economic situation is average.

"I know you don't want to go, but my father wants to see me get an Oscar nomination, and I want to give him a comfort..."

Diane leaned on herself and gave Ronald a kiss.

"Mummy, Daddy..." A child's voice called out from outside.

"We'll come right away..."

The dream turned to the Oscars presentation scene again. Ronald and Diane attended together. Reporters came over and held up microphones to yell at Diane, asking her what she thought of being nominated for Best Actress.Some reporters also chased after Ronald, asking him his opinion on his wife's role in the movie directed by Adrian Lane, and the passionate lingering relationship between the two leading actors.

"..." Ronald said some polite words with a distressed expression on his face, and finally waited for Diane to finish taking photos and entered the awards hall together.

"No...NO...", Ronald called out excitedly, why did Diane want to act in this kind of scene?They don't seem to be doing well in this time and space.He stretched out his hand to grab it, and the image of the two slowly faded away and disappeared.

"Ronnie, Ronnie?" Diane watched as Ronald was sleeping and suddenly raised his hand and talked in his sleep, and came over and patted him gently.Ronald rolled over and went back to sleep, his coat dropping to the floor.

Diane picked it up and wanted to cover Ronald. After hesitating for a while, she called the stewardess to get a blanket for Ronald.

She got up by herself and hung the clothes on the chair behind.The hand touched the pocket, as if there was a stack of papers in it.Diane glanced at Ronald's sleeping figure, and put his hand in.

"Ronnie, Ronnie, I'm going to be late soon, can you give me a ride?" Ronald was still sleeping soundly, this time the dream changed, he and Helen lived in a small house, and both of them were dressed in the same clothes. Very ordinary, in line with Helen's usual taste.

"Okay, I'll send you off. Anyway, send the child to my aunt, and spend the weekend with Donna's child."

"It's been a long time since we acted alone like this, hehe..." Helen took out a superwoman costume and stuffed it into her bag, "Do you remember? It was you who gave me the idea back then..."

This time, the two of them went to a comic exhibition in Manhattan, and Helen's appearance had become middle-aged. She didn't have much acting right now, and made money by going to the comic exhibitions across the country, dressed as a superwoman and signing autographs for fans and comic fans.

Helen still has a lot of movie fans who like him, and Ronald in this time and space seems to have no fans who recognize him as a director, thinks that he drives a Toyota, and doesn't direct many blockbuster movies.Taking advantage of the time gap, Ronald in this time and space is still revising the dialogue for other people's scripts.

……

"Huh?" Ronald saw the name of the script in the dream, "Superwoman (TV series)..."

It turns out that if I hadn't been a director, I would have been in such a miserable situation?Ronald felt in his heart that this might be a fork in life.Fortunately, I was lucky enough to become a film director.

"Yeah, I see. You can find a lawyer for me. I'll talk to him. Thank you, Donna." Diane hung up the phone. This is a service recently launched by business jets. You can use your credit card to make calls to the ground. , to achieve air-to-ground dialogue.

"Diane?" Ronald had woken up from his dream. He felt very thirsty, so he blurted out Diane's name immediately.

"Are you awake? I asked the stewardess to give you a glass of lemonade..." Diane quickly hung up the phone...

"Who are you calling? Where are my clothes?" Ronald took a sip of water, feeling a little better.

"Here, you rolled over and fell to the ground just now.

"Oh, thank you..." Ronald put on his coat, and then took out the many files of Daydream to read.

(End of this chapter)