North Burton

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

You hardly ever find something interesting in school coursework. But when third period rolled around, the whole class was all ears. We started to talk about the influence of the media. I found it interesting, my classmates found it intriguing, however, North's rigid posture said else wise.

"You can take a photo, upload it to the internet, and it is never really gone," Mrs. Jones explained to us, "That's why your parents and teachers are always pressing that you not post anything that you wouldn't want the whole world seeing."

None of that was news that we didn't know.

"But what about the news that doesn't make it to the media in the first place?" she continued.

The class straightened in their chairs, hanging onto every word. 

"The stories that were paid off? So now not only do you have to keep a biased mind for the news that is printed, but also for the news that isn't printed. You could be only reading half the story. Or none of it at all."

"This is bullshit," North muttered beside me.

"North!" I snapped under my breath.

"And why is it bullshit?" Mrs. Jones was now walking over to us.

"For starters, the only ones who can pay off a reporter is a celebrity. And that is probably a shit story that only half of us care about anyway. The story would have been biased in itself. Second, you can't be biased to the unseen."

All eyes were now on the both of them. North's eyes were blazing with some unknown anger. His mouth was going to get him in trouble if he kept going. He was lucky Mrs. Jones was some-what lenient. 

"Sure, most of the people that can pay them off are celebrities-"

"All." There was a hard edge to North's voice. 

"Most. And-"

"Do you know how much it costs to attempt to pay off a reporter?" North put his hands flat on his desk, making some people in the class jump.

"Do you?"

North glared at her, not wavering. He didn't answer.

"I didn't think so. Like I said, not all are celebrities. Thus, not all stories are just nonsense about who broke up with who. A good celebrity story can go for probably 250k but a small story probably 50k, if it needs to be paid off in the first place."

She paused, seeing if North was going to interrupt again. He looked like he had a million things to add, but he stayed quiet.

"So that is why you have to look out for the invisible. Not all politicians are good just because there aren't any bad articles on them. In fact, if they had none on them, that would probably be a red flag."

Beside me North had his fists clenched, his jaw tight.

When the bell rang Mrs. Jones asked to see North. He lingered as everyone filed out. I stood outside the door and listened.

North saw me and angry lines filled his face, "Stop fucking stalking me!"

I ran down the hall faster than if a gunman was behind me.

In my free period I went to the library, curious more on the subject of anonymity. I typed in "Paying Off Reporters" in the search engine, and clicked one of the first links. It took me to an article saying that tabloids we're known to pay cops for information, as much as 160k. My mouth dropped. That's completely illegal.