NationStates

One more draft. This one's about government bias toward media outlets.

Press Gang

Validity: Does not have State Press.

Description
Your Minister of the Interior recently held an invitation-only press conference, which quickly became infamous for essentially being a three-hour tirade of lowball questions such as "what's your favorite thing about interior design" and "what color paint do you recommend for my son's bedroom." Needless to say, other media outlets are less than impressed.

Option 1
"This was the most blatant display of corruption I've ever seen!" screams @@LEADER@@ Sucks reporter @@RANDOMNAME@@, slipping your security guard a bribe in plain view. "The media's job is to hold the government accountable- not cozy up to them for favors! Any reporter who wants access to an official event should get it, and officials should be forced to take questions from everyone in the room!"

Effect: giggling prepubescent "reporters" demand to follow government officials into restroom stalls

Option 2
"The event was invitation-only due to limited seating and my very busy schedule," asserts your Minister of the Interior, taking a break from casually chatting with the chief editor of The @@LEADER@@ Times. "Who gets to attend press conferences and the like should be up to our discretion, since it's our decision to hold them in the first place. Maybe we could discuss this further over a drink?"

Effect: ribbon cutting ceremonies double as government fundraisers
Alternate: journalists are expected to bribe their way into press conferences on alleged corruption
Alternate 2: journalists are only allowed into press conferences if they wear earplugs and don't record anything

Option 3
Validity: Must allow computers and the Internet.
"You'd solve all these problems if you'd just put a little faith in technology," assures junior IT staffer @@RANDOMNAME@@, who's been trying to get your computer to work for the past hour. "You should set up a public online text feed for each government official, so they never miss a question and get to answer people whenever they feel comfortable doing so! It'll make these press conferences a thing of the past."

Effect: government officials stay up all night flaming and trolling their constituents
Alternate: officials' responses to citizens' questions are as speedy as they are robotic

Reserved.

Well, you're on fire right now. Great premise, great execution. Three issue drafts in a row.

Welcome to the editing team.

Okay, okay, I may be getting ahead of myself there. Anyway, keep it up.

Candlewhisper Archive wrote:Well, you're on fire right now. Great premise, great execution. Three issue drafts in a row.

Welcome to the editing team.

Okay, okay, I may be getting ahead of myself there. Anyway, keep it up.

Yikes, that sure escalated quickly.

I just hope it's the kind of fire that keeps you warm and not the kind that burns your house down. I'll try to keep this up.

The writing could be cleaned up, but I agree this is a good draft. Which sucks because it's hard to critique.

I wonder if option #2 is too obviously skewed to being a corrupt option. There is a sensible argument for limiting press conference size, but he kind of rushes over that and it seems pretty clearly skewed to being the "bad" choice.

The alternate effect line for #2 is much better. The effect line for #3 is a bit drab. What about something like "government ministers stay up all night getting into flame wars with their constituents"?

Golgothastan wrote:I wonder if option #2 is too obviously skewed to being a corrupt option. There is a sensible argument for limiting press conference size, but he kind of rushes over that and it seems pretty clearly skewed to being the "bad" choice.

Well, option 1 is a caricature, option 2 is corrupt, and option 3 is out of left field. I understand your point, but I don't want to make option 2 the clear "good" option either or detract from the option's theme (corruption).

Golgothastan wrote:The alternate effect line for #2 is much better. The effect line for #3 is a bit drab. What about something like "government ministers stay up all night getting into flame wars with their constituents"?

I added two versions of that concept, though I still like the initial effect line for 3.

Bumping this.

This has been submitted.