Title: Life, Love, and the News
Author: Kimmibob
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Darcy, Bennet, Knightley, most of the plot et. al. belong to Jane Austen and heirs.
Summary: Fitzwilliam Darcy is one of the greatest anchors to ever grace the evening hours on the Pemberley Broadcasting Network, but is quickly losing his edge. If new International Affairs correspondent Elizabeth Bennet can't help him, she'll certainly take his job. Improved title coming soon.
A/N: Set mostly about 5 years in near future. Most of the "disasters" are completely made up, but based in real places. I just needed to post this "prologue" to get it out of my computer and to see what people think. The article would probably appear in some sort of entertainment magazine. So it goes without saying, but I'll go ahead... please R&R. :-)
Pemberley Thus Polluted...
PBN's Nightly Newscast has left it's competitors in the dust for years, but a sinking margin over the rest of the news industry has caused some people to wonder if Fitzwilliam Darcy actually is beatable.
When the Pemberley Broadcasting Network first announced it would place a woman, Annabella Westing, in charge as News Director and Executive Producer, and Brit Fitzwilliam Darcy as the face of their flagship Nightly News program, many insiders balked and thought they would sink as fast as possible.
This was not because Westing was a woman, or because Darcy was British. At least, this was never stated. Many were outraged because Westing and Darcy were married and felt this would lead to too many ethical issues.
Come 10 years later, the Nightly News is still the highest rated program in the hour and looked at as a beacon of journalistic integrity in broadcasting.
"It's pretty ironic that it turned out this way," says Matthew Baldwin, Director of the Goodwin Institute for Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Indianapolis, "We were all so preoccupied with Darcy and Westing's relationship that we didn't take a look at their respective track records."
Darcy had already received 3 Emmys for his work in the Ugandan hostage situation, the tragic floods in the Yellow River, and his reports from the L-Train bombings, which many say cemented his name.
"He was the only one who remained remotely calm," says Sheldon Musgrove, News Director at PBN's major competitor BJS, "Everybody else, maybe rightly or not, was running around, scared out of their minds, but Darcy just took it and reported it. He was a journalist. Which in some ways was remarkable."
Darcy is the son of business magnate Lord Henry Darcy and virtuoso cellist Scarlett Polling. Already famous in his own country by the time he was in High School, based solely on his heritage, he naturally shunned the attention. He moved to the United States to study Political Science at Georgetown and then earned a Master's Degree from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.
Similarly, Westing has a distinguished pedigree. Her father is former New York Senator and US Ambassador to the UN Harold Westing, her mother French physicist Claire DeSanc Westing.
Then, it seems, their marriage took a turn. "When Fitz was doing that great reporting, I think everybody forgot they were married," says Richard Williams, longtime host of PBN's Early Today, "including them."
Westing and Darcy quietly divorced in 2010 with some competitors rejoicing that maybe this would spell the end of the "Reign of Darcy." Not so. In fact, he came back with a vengeance, earning 4 Emmys himself alone. One of which came after a "3-month-hiatus," from anchoring, where he went into the wilderness of Central Africa to uncover one of the world's most horrifying violations of human rights.
"Some would say he jumped into that Hell in the Congo because of the divorce. I'd tell you that was just Darcy being Darcy, and it was, but he didn't come back the same," says friend Williams, "sometimes he would just get so worked up about it, he was so afraid to show people because it was so horrific."
Worldwide commendation soon followed. So did his departure from doing any reporting. At all. Darcy quietly allowed John Knightley to step into his boots as PBN's leading investigative reporter and slipped firmly into his anchor desk.
"It was so strange," says Musgrove, "the man was known for his field work. That was what made him, and there he was, sitting in anchor chair, spouting off the readers, but never moving."
Then the ratings started to stumble. Slipping from a 10 margin to a 5 margin in 6 months, Darcy now barely holds onto his lead over Henry Tilney. Baldwin says its all Darcy's doing, "The only reason they have any sort of lead is due to their stellar reporting staff. I say this with all due respect, but he's lost whatever that spark was, he just doesn't seem to care anymore, and that could break him. Severely."
Though Westing and PBN haven't revealed any plans to shake-up what's been a steady operation for over a decade, some have speculated John Knightley is to take up the post. While others see those from other networks - or even Richard Williams, who says he would never accept the position.
Still, the mostly likely outcome is also the strangest. Westing recently hired WPBN standout Elizabeth Bennet to be the Chief International Affairs Correspondent and Weekend Anchor. Sources inside PBN say this has all the makings of a takeover, or at least a shake-up, that Bennet will most likely become co-anchor to Darcy, if not replace him. Only time will tell.
Note: While the University of Indianapolis does exist, there is no Goodwin Institute for Media and Journalism there.
A/N: R&R and you will get to meet one of these broadcasters... well... in writing anyhow.