Regarding news about the top leader, it was only natural for the Municipal Party Committee Office to review the draft according to the “rules.” Kevin Lewis didn’t pay much attention and casually faxed the draft to the office. But less than half an hour later, Ryan Smith called back, saying the draft lacked both depth and height, and that the leadership was very dissatisfied, insisting it had to be revised.

There was no choice but to send the draft back for Lily Carter to revise. It was revised several times in a row, but the Municipal Party Committee Office still wouldn’t let it go, leaving even Kevin Lewis feeling a bit baffled. If it were an ordinary piece, at worst it just wouldn’t be published, but since this news involved the city’s top leader, it couldn’t simply be withdrawn, so they had to keep revising it with gritted teeth. For a short draft of just a few hundred words, Lily Carter and Michael Bolton practically weighed every word, yet still couldn’t find anything inappropriate.

Lily Carter stood up angrily, threw down a sentence, and stormed off, “Change it if you want, I’m done serving you!”

After Lily Carter stormed out in a huff, Michael Bolton held the draft in his hand, looking extremely irritated and depressed, cursing inwardly, “Damn bureaucratism, just for this trivial matter—what kind of depth or height can the Municipal Party Secretary possibly demonstrate by staying at the accident scene for a few minutes?”

“Director Bolton, may I take a look at the draft?” Andrew Brooks, who had been listening for a while, had more or less figured out what was going on.

“Hey.” Michael Bolton sighed and casually handed the draft to Andrew Brooks, “Little Andrew, journalism isn’t an easy meal, sigh!”

Andrew Brooks glanced at the draft but didn’t see any problems either. With his years of experience in the media from his previous life, this news draft was very standard—a traditional positive report. So why was the Municipal Party Committee Office so fixated on this particular news item?

Andrew Brooks pondered, then suddenly his eyes lit up.

The Binhai overpass was built when the former Municipal Party Secretary Owen Grant was mayor, and had been widely promoted as a model for alleviating urban traffic congestion, becoming one of the most representative achievements of Owen Grant’s ten years in charge of Binhai. But Andrew Brooks clearly remembered that the overpass had already been demolished in 1999, replaced by two interchanges and a ring road along the coast. Similarly, this was the most dazzling achievement of his successor, Gavin Duke.

Could it be… Andrew Brooks secretly smiled, so that’s how it is. It seemed that the newly appointed Secretary Duke wanted to make a point by tearing down the overpass built by his predecessor.

Chapter 006: First Signs

After thinking it over, Andrew Brooks smiled and said, “Director Bolton, how about letting me give it a try?”

Michael Bolton frowned and hesitated, “Little Andrew, are you up to it?”

Although Andrew Brooks was a top student from a prestigious university’s journalism department, news reporting is something that’s hard to do well without practical experience. If even the old reporters’ drafts weren’t satisfactory to the higher-ups, how could a fresh graduate do any better?

However, knowing that Andrew Brooks was brought in by Editor-in-Chief Howard, Michael Bolton didn’t want to embarrass him too much, so he forced a smile, “Alright, you give it a try. I’ll also hurry to revise it again—the Municipal Party Committee Office is still urging us, sigh, it’s really killing me!”

Andrew Brooks chuckled, took Lily Carter’s draft, and sat down at her computer. After a brief thought, he first changed the original headline “Municipal Party Secretary Gavin Duke Inspects Overpass Accident Scene” to—“Gavin Duke Personally Investigates Overpass Accident Scene,” and then added a news lead: “Frequent accidents and severe traffic congestion have drawn the high attention of the Municipal Party Committee and city government to the overpass issue.”

The main body of the news was then easy to write. Andrew Brooks took the underlying cause of the accident (the overpass’s narrow roadway), which Lily Carter had only briefly mentioned, and gave it a large, vivid “explanation.” After briefly affirming the historical role of the overpass, he shifted the tone—“With the changes in the city’s traffic structure, the overpass has increasingly become a ‘thrombus’ causing traffic congestion and endangering public safety in our city…”

In less than half an hour, a rewritten news report appeared on Michael Bolton’s desk. Michael Bolton glanced at it, then looked at Andrew Brooks in surprise, impressed by his writing and his strong command of news reporting, and also surprised by his perspective.

……

……

This news report, signed by Binhai Morning Post “Intern Reporter Andrew Brooks,” was faxed to the Municipal Party Committee Office, and just ten minutes later, the original signed approval was faxed back. On the fax, Municipal Party Secretary Gavin Duke had written four big characters in red pen: “Approved, read.”

None of this was known to Andrew Brooks. After finishing the draft, as an intern reporter who hadn’t officially started yet, he ended his first day of work and walked home.

By the time he got home, it was already past ten o’clock. His mother, Ashley Brooks, heard the door and rushed over from the living room. Seeing him come in safe and sound, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and complained, “Xiao Tao, why are you home so late? The streets are so chaotic at night now, I was worried sick.”

“Mom, I’m fine. Didn’t I go to Binhai Morning Post today? Editor-in-Chief Howard asked me to start my internship right away. At most, after this month, I’ll be able to become a full-fledged reporter.” Andrew Brooks grinned and habitually took Ashley Brooks’s arm, still acting like a child as he tugged at her playfully.