America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz-Chapter 803 - 796: Stick to the Authenticity of News

Beverly Hills, Davis Estate.

After an exceptionally intense campaign and a refreshing shower, Martin, Lily, and Elizabeth gathered on the large balcony of the bedroom for a drink.

Elizabeth browsed her phone, reading the news about "Life of Pi" and feeling a peculiar sense of familiarity. She asked, "I remember 'Life of Pi' was a competitor to 'Escape from Tehran', right?"

Martin had no need to deny it and said, "I'd prefer peace and quiet, but the other crews don't, insisting on competition. I can only meet the challenge fair and square."

Lily leaned over to Elizabeth to look at the phone and said, "Just beat them to death!"

Elizabeth pondered for a moment and said, "When I was studying, I also thought about becoming an actress. At that time, the Oscars seemed so prestigious, but these past few years, I've noticed that each Oscar campaign is always marred by all sorts of messy incidents."

Lily chimed in, "Presidential elections are considered even more prestigious than the Oscars, and they're never short on drama."

She looked at Martin and asked, "I've noticed, starting with Harvey Weinstein, they all like to use the tactic of belittling their competitors."

Elizabeth nodded, "Praising themselves while putting down their rivals."

"In essence, it's no different from last year; the core is still about being slightly less terrible," Martin summarized. "A movie, take 'The Martian' from last year or this year's 'Escape from Tehran', both are good quality, but they can't completely overwhelm the competition. When a film reaches this status, trying to further improve becomes incredibly difficult."

Lily agreed, "Just like my sculptures, getting from 1 to 90 isn't too hard, but every step beyond 90 requires not just talent and countless hours of practice but also massive financial investments. It's extremely difficult."

Elizabeth teasingly rolled her eyes at Lily, "Are you boasting?"

Martin continued the previous topic, "Trying to improve oneself is disproportionately hard. You might put in 10 and get less than 1 in return. But demeaning a rival is much easier, especially in the Oscar race, low investment and quick results."

Elizabeth caught the key point, "As long as our competitors are worse, we can beat them with our wealth of experience!"

Martin snapped his fingers, "So, we'll denounce the rumors while making our opponents look even worse."

It was also amusing to counter the facts dug up by rivals with lies.

...

The Academy is an old, conservative, and slow organization, with a majority of members over 60 years old. They operate methodically, with average efficiency, and are known for their stability in the face of change.

Like the Oscars it presents, the Academy's viewership and influence decrease every year. Prior to each Oscar preparation, the Academy claims to reform and innovate. However, by the time the awards ceremony takes place, everyone realizes it's the same old routine.

It wasn't until Emailgate exploded on the internet and media, becoming a top search across the entire web, that the Academy sluggishly responded.

Academy President Tom Sherak gave an interview to the media, stating the Academy would thoroughly investigate the matter.

Subsequently, people on the Academy's executive committee contacted Ralph and others who had received the email, as well as the "Life of Pi" crew.

If the incident hadn't been exposed, the Academy would likely have turned a blind eye, even if they had heard whispers.

But now, as a hot topic of national attention involving dozens of Academy members, the Academy had to consider its own reputation.

At the same time, countless eyes turned to the "Life of Pi" crew.

The film suddenly became the target of many arrows.

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The media, having waited eagerly for fresh and interesting news, would not let this go easily.

With a mature media market in North America, there was no need for prior arrangement; the media naturally split into two camps.

One side defended the "Life of Pi" crew.

"The emails were anonymously forwarded; it might not have been done by the 'Life of Pi' crew."

Another side automatically refuted.

"The Oscar ballots were just mailed out, and many judges abruptly received campaign emails. It's definitely no coincidence. With the Oscars' public relations growing stronger each year, almost amounting to winning awards, is sending such emails strange in the light of such great honor and benefit?"

The supporting side appealed, "'Life of Pi' crew, state your innocence!"

The opposition loudly called for action, "For the Oscars' fairness and integrity, the Academy must severely punish 'Life of Pi'!"

In public opinion, the opposition held the overwhelming advantage, especially on influential platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Online onlookers didn't care if the email was anonymous; they only knew that without its disclosure, the "Life of Pi" crew would be the biggest beneficiary.

"Life of Pi' must be expelled from this year's Oscars!"

"Disqualify Ang Lee and the crew from the awards!"

"The judges shouldn't vote for this film anymore, they've crossed the line!"

"If 'Life of Pi' becomes the winner of this year's Oscars, I will boycott the Oscars forever, blacklist for life!"

"Right, boycott!"

"Boycott +1!"

In the heydays of the Oscars, the old men at the Academy could simply ignore these sorts of things.

No matter how loudly the media and the audience clamored, by the time the award ceremony took place, they'd still dutifully tune in to watch. Even if the winning film caused a huge scandal, the sales of videotapes and DVDs, along with television broadcasts, would still explode in popularity.

But the Oscars today are no longer among the top three programs in terms of viewership ratings in North America.

The Academy can't ignore public opinion.

Neither can the 'Life of Pi' crew.

Century City, Fox Tower.

In the producer's office, Ang Lee looked at the newspaper reports with a worried face.

Gil Netter put down his phone and said, "The sentiment on the internet is much more intense than traditional media."

Ang Lee looked up and asked, "Can we find out who's behind this against us?"

"We can't pinpoint exactly who," Gil Netter replied, having already had it investigated, "It's just one of our competitors during the awards season."

That was obvious, and Ang Lee asked another question, "Were the emails sent by someone from our side and then leaked, or did someone else do it?"

Gil Netter wasn't sure, "Since the film was released in North America, I had our publicity department and the PR team send material to many of the judges' email addresses, along with various invitations and a lot of positive reviews. We adopted anonymous sending, just like most of Hollywood, it's practically the norm."

He felt a headache coming on, "Now that there's an issue, I carefully asked the people below, and they all said they never directly asked for votes. But you should know, the Oscars' PR tactics have been stooping lower and lower in recent years. I can't guarantee that the publicity department and the PR team didn't do such a thing behind our backs."

Ang Lee was somewhat angry, "Many crews have done this in the past..."

Gil Netter interjected, "The problem is, they weren't exposed. Whether or not it was one of our people that sent the email, we are the beneficiaries listed in it, and we are the ones most affected."

"I initially thought that if our competitors tried to hit us, they'd target the film itself," Ang Lee hadn't expected someone to use such despicable and shameless tactics, "All the precautions we'd prepared are useless."

Gil Netter said, "It's most likely that the 'Argo' crew is behind this. Keep giving them a taste of their own medicine! Also, we need to hasten our crisis management!"

Ang Lee said, "I've contacted the executives at Fox. Fox-related media will speak up for us, but the most critical situation is with TMZ, they're continuously leaking."

Gil Netter mentioned, "I'll handle contacting TMZ. If we can get them to quiet down a bit, we'll be under less pressure here."

Ang Lee nodded, "Let's get moving on this."

This wasn't the first time these two were contending for the Oscars; they were well aware that if the public opinion persisted, many judges would abandon voting for 'Life of Pi'.

Gil Netter, through his connections, managed to get in touch with Jody, the managing editor at TMZ, and arranged to meet her at the coffee shop adjacent to TMZ to discuss the "email-gate" that TMZ had sparked.

Out of respect for their mutual friend, Jody agreed to meet with Gil Netter.

They each ordered coffee at the booth, exchanged pleasantries, then Gil Netter's face turned serious, and he got straight to the point, "Editor Jody, 'Life of Pi' has recently faced a great deal of criticism in the media, all stemming from TMZ's false reporting..."

"False reporting?" Jody, no longer a rookie paparazzo, interrupted bluntly, "I can't agree with Mr. Netter's viewpoint. TMZ is a media outlet with principles and regulations. We've always insisted on the authenticity of our news reporting. Before any news is published, it undergoes verification by our team."

Gil Netter knew entertainment media were like stray dogs; show weakness and they'd dare to urinate on you. He immediately took a tough stance, "Regarding the series of news about the 'Life of Pi' email scandal, has TMZ conducted a thorough investigation? I'm the producer of 'Life of Pi,' and I can tell you responsibly that the production crew, producers, and distributors have never sent those emails, yet your outlets have widely broadcasted and spread them!"

He couldn't help but scoff, "Is this what you call pursuing the truth in journalism? The production team reserves the right to pursue legal action..."

Jody cut him off again, "In all of TMZ's reports concerning this email scandal, there has been no accusation, insinuation, or any suggestive context that points to your side as the culprit."

She was a person of principles; reporting the truth was her immutable standard, "All emails we've published, and all individuals we've interviewed, provide firsthand, authentic information with no falsehoods. If you have any doubts, feel free to sue."

Gil Netter was reminded by her response; he carefully recalled the TMZ reports he'd seen and it seemed that there were no implications in TMZ's news.

All content related to the email scandal on TMZ appeared as if it was simply a news courier, only presenting the emails and interview videos of those who received them and were willing to be interviewed, on their website.

As for the rest, there was no need; the true content of the emails and screenshots published in the news clearly bore the words "Life of Pi."

The event was real, the emails were real, even the interviews were real...

The two parted on bad terms. Before leaving, Gil Netter dropped a harsh line, "Wait for our lawyer's letter!"