The Evening News (81 page)

"Then there's something else
,”
Nortandra said
.”
It's on a separate sheet
of paper.

"Copie
s of 'The Shining Time Has Come’
and the tape cassette of the woman
prisoner have been sent to other television networks and the press.

"That's all of it
,”
Nortandra concluded
.”
Neither paper is signed, but
the fact it
accompanied the tape makes them, I suppose, authentic
.”

A silence followed the reading. No one, it seemed, wanted to be first to
speak. Several people glanced at Crawford Sloane who was slumped in his
chair, his face grimly set. The others shared his sense of hopelessness
.
It was Les Chippingham who said finally, "Well, now we know. All along
we've wondered what these people wanted. We thought it might be money
.
It's turned out to be much more
.”

"Much, much more
,”
Bracebridge added
.”
In money terms of course it's
incalculable, but obviously that isn't the issue here
.”

"As I indicated at the beginning
,”
Nortandra observed, "the whole
thing-especially all that jargon-doesn't make a lot of sense
.”

Norm Jaeger spoke up
.”
Revolutionaries seldom do make sense, except maybe
to themselves. But that's no reason not to take them seriously. We
learned that from Iran
.”

Jaeger glanced at a clock above their heads
,
which showed 10:55. He addressed Chippingham
.”
Les, do we want to break
into the network with this? If we're fast, we can do it on the hour and
use some of Mrs. Sloane on tape. If what we heard about other networks
getting the tape is true, they may go with the story any time
.”

"Then let them
,”
the news president said firmly
.”
This is a new element
in which we are players and will not rush. We'll put out a bulletin at
midnight, which gives us an hour to consider how to handle the news and
,
more important, what our response-if any-will be
.”

"There can't be any question about a response
,”
Margot Lloyd-Mason
declared
.”
It's perfectly obvious there is no way that we can accept
those ridiculous terms. We will certainly not put our network evening
news out of business for one whole week
.”

"However, we don't have to say that, at least, not in the beginning
,”
Nortandra pointed out
.”
We can say something like, the demands are being
carefully considered and we'll make an announcement later
.”

"If you'll pardon my saying so
,”
Jaeger told him, "I doubt if that would
deceive anyone, least of all Sendero Luminoso. I've spent a lot of
research hours on those people and whatever else they may be, they aren't
fools; they're sharp. Also, they've clearly learned about our
business-for example, that the National Evening News goes out with two
feeds and our news audience falls off on Saturdays and Sundays, which
they've indicated they don't want
.”

"So what are you suggesting
?
”

"That you let the news department handle everything in the way of a
response. This calls for finesse, not a blunderbuss approach like speaking
of 'ridiculous terms.' In CBA News we're better equipped, more finely
tuned, our knowledge of the scene is greater
a
t a signal from Chippingham
,
Jaeger stopped
.”
Basically, I'm agreeing with Norman
,”
the news president said, "but since
it's my responsibility I think I should say that, yes, the News Division
ought to handle any response because we are better informed, we know the
ground, have established contacts, and one of our best correspondents
,
Harry Partridge, is in Peru already and must be consulted
.”

"Consult and finesse all you want
,”
Margot snapped; she had flushed at
Jaeger's reference to her "ridiculous terms
”
statement
.”
But what's
involved here is a corporate matter requiring executive decision
.”

"No! Goddamn, no!
”
The words were shouted. Heads turned. The speaker was
Crawford Sloane, no longer seated and dejected, but standing, eyes fiery
,
face flushed. When he spoke, his voice was emotional, at moments choked
.”
Keep corporate out of this! Norman is right about a blunderbuss approach;
we all just witnessed one, and it's because corporate people don't have
knowledge or experience to make news judgments. Besides, a corporate
decision is already made; we heard that too: Can't accept those terms
.
Won't put our news out of business for a week. Did we really need you to
tell us? Didn't we, in news, already know that-yes, all of us, including
me? You want it on the record, Mrs. Lloyd-Mason. Well, here it is: I know
we can't close down CBA News and hand it over to Sendero for one week. God
help me!-l accept that. You have witnesses
.”

Sloane paused, swallowed, and continued
.”
What we can do, here at news, is
use our skills, our know-how, play for time. At this moment, time is what
we need the most. That, and use Harry Partridge who's the one best hope we
have-my best hope to get my family home
.”

Sloane remained standing, but fell silent
.
Before anyone could react, Bracebridge, the long-ago news
man, now a corporate wheel, tried a conciliatory tone
.”
A time like this is hard on everyone. It's emotional, tension is high, tempers short. Some of what's been said tonight could have been put more courteously and probably should have been
.”

He turned toward the network president
.”
Just the same, Margot, I believe that what's been presented is a viewpoint worth considering, remembering-as Crawf made clear-that your end decision is understood and accepted. There seems no question about that
.”

Margot, having been offered a face-saving device, hesitated, then
approved it
.”
Very well
,”
She informed Chippingham, "On that basis, you
may decide a temporary, stratagem response
.”

"Thank you
,”
the news president acknowledged
.”
May we clarify one thing
?
”

"What is itT9
"That the ultimate decision we've agreed on will, for the time being
,
remain confidential
.”

"I suppose so. But you'd better get the same assurance from the others
here. In any case, keep me informed
.”

Everyone else had been listening intently. Chippingham faced them and
asked, "May I have that assurance, please
?
”

One by one they acknowledged their agreement. While they did, Margot
walked out.

When Chippingham returned to his office it was 11:25 P.m. At 11:30 he
received a printout of a Reuters dispatch originating in Lima, Peru, with
information about the Sendero Luminoso demands on CBA. Moments later, AP
in Washington came through with a more detailed report which had "The
Shining Time Has Come
”
document in full
.
Within the next fifteen minutes, ABC, NBC and CBS all carried bulletins
including short segments of the Jessica tape. Fuller details were
promised on the networks' news programs next day, with more bulletins if
needed. CNN, with a news broadcast in progress, simply inserted the story
and was ahead of everyone else. Chippingham stayed with his original
decision
not to interrupt present programming, but to release at midnight a carefully constructed bulletin, now being prepared
.
At 11:45 he left his office for the Horseshoe, which had been activated for
the occasion. Norm Jaeger was occupying the executive producer's chair
.
Iris Everly, in an editing room, was working with the tape of Jessica as
well as others to be used for background. Don Kettering, who would anchor
the special midnight news, was in makeup, at the same time reading over and
amending a draft script
.”
We'll just be telling it straight
,”
Jaeger told Chippingham, "with no CBA
reaction at all. We figure there's plenty of time for that later--whatever
you want it to be. Incidentally, everyone else including the Times and Post
has been phoning, asking for reactions. We've told them all we don't have
any and the subject is simply being considered
.”

Chippingham
nodded approval
.”
Good
.”

Jaeger gestured to Karl Owens, seated across the Horseshoe
.”
He has an
idea, though, about what a reaction might be
.”

“
I'd like to hear
.”

Owens, the workhorse, plodding, junior producer who had already come up
with a serie
s of idea
s and whose painstaking probing had identified the
terrorist as Ulises Rodriguez, consulted notes on a four-by-six card, his
standard data bank
.”
We were told in the Sendero Luminoso document that five tape cassettes
,
intended to replace our National Evening News, will be delivered to CBA-the
first on Thursday of next week, the others following day by day. Unlike the
tape of Mrs. Sloane which we watched tonight, those tapes will apparently
be delivered to CBA only
.”

"I know all that
,”
Chippingham said
.
Jaeger smiled as Owens continued at his own pace, unperturbed
.”
What I'm
suggesting is that we continue to hold off disclosing any CBA reaction
until Tuesday. Except that on Monday, to keep interest alive, you could say
there'll be an announcement the followi
ng day. Then on Tuesday that an
nouncement would be: No further comment until we receive
the tape promised for Thursday, and after that we'll make our decision known
.”

"Where does all that get us
?
”

"It gets us to Thursday, six days from now. Then let's assume the Sendero
tape comes in
.”

"Okay, so it's in. What then
?
”

"We put it in a safe where no one can get to it, and right away go on the
air-breaking into programming, generally making a big fuss--saying we've
received the tape, but it's defective. It must have got damaged on the
way; most of the content got wiped out. We tried to play it, then fix it
,
but we can't. As well as putting all that on TV, we'll feed it to the
press and wire services, making sure the message is repeated to Peru, so
it gets back to Sendero Luminoso
.”

"I think I follow your reasoning
,”
Chippingham said
.”
But tell me
anyway
.”

"The Sendero gang won't know whether we're lying or not. What they will
know-just as we do-is that that kind of thing can happen. So maybe
they'll give us the benefit of doubt and send another tape, which could
take several days . .
.”

Chippingham finished the sentence for him
.”
. . . and would mean we
couldn't possibly start their broadcasts on the day they specified
.”