Capitulation; Chapter 2 – The Media Circus

A/N: Hello all. I get the impression no-one has ever tried this before so here goes…


It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career. – Caroline Kennedy


"OK, as you all know, for reasons beyond my control we are now doing Casey Anthony – fifteen minutes in the A-Block and five at the end." Everyone in the conference room but Will and Sloan groaned.

"Jim, shouldn't Mac be doing this." Neal asked.

"Mac's gone to take a break," Jim replied diplomatically, aware of the fact that Will was in the same room. Sloan either hadn't notice or didn't care.

"She resigned this morning." And there was uproar.

Gary summed up the questioning that had started since Sloan made her shock revelation. "Why?"

Bryan sidled into the room. "Have I missed anything?"

"And you are?" asked Sloan.

"Everyone, this is Bryan Brenner, he's going to be doing something for New York Magazine about us. This is essentially a trial period so everything is off the record." Will had spoken his first words since the meeting began. Bryan nodded.

"Who resigned this morning?" Bryan asked.

"Mac."

"Really?!"

"Yep." Sloan replied.

"Why?"

"Because we're doing Casey Anthony, Mac sees it as capitulating to the ratings. And as a matter of fact I do to."

"And they said things had changed around here and I was meant to write something about the new practices here and all of a sudden your guiding light has resigned?"

"That's about it."

"Well if you excuse me, I've got to make some calls."


The caller ID wasn't the one she expected. It was Bryan.

"Hello."

"Hey. Mac, I heard you resigned this morning."

"News travels fast."

"It's a newsroom, it's part of the risk taking the job."

"What can I do for you?"

"Will you give me an interview?"

"About what?"

"Why you resigned."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it isn't relevant to the article. My decision was mine alone. My reasons I expect are already well known." And with that, Mac hung up. Bryan didn't call her back.


"Sloan Sabbith to see you."

"Show her in."

"Good afternoon Charlie."

"Sloan, what can I do for you? Is it about Mac? She'll come around eventually."

"It's related but it's about me."

"A week ago I was offered a position at JP Morgan and I wasn't going to accept it but in the current circumstances I think I will. I'm resigning as of now."

"Why?"

"Because I came here to inform people, not to rehash what every other network has been pedalling for the last week."

"Sloan-"

"No Charlie, Mac was right. It's a waste of time. Every other network is covering it. It's like primetime news just became a circus. I'm not going to capitulate to the ratings either. At JP Morgan I can do something worthwhile rather than be part of the team which has jumped on the bandwagon late and is trying to catch up in the hope of getting a debate And while I'm doing that I can make a ten times what I'm making downstairs for five minutes a night. I'm sorry, but I've told them I'm happy to start tomorrow."

"Sloan-"

"No, I'm resigning. I'm not in any position to change my mind until you and Will get your heads out of your asses and actually run a show we can all be proud of. Casey Anthony will last what? A couple of weeks? So we dedicate so much time for that that we go and forget about important things, like I don't know, the economy? Or what our government has or hasn't been doing? In reality, Casey Anthony isn't even worth a line on the ticker that rolls across the bottom of the screen! But seriously, you expect me to be part of a show that will subscribe to such rubbish?"

"Sloan, we want the debate. We actually want to change things around here!"

"Well start by continuing to focus on the serious news. You do that and I'll come running but really, you aren't changing anything. ACN is behaving just like every other member of the media circus. You've got no integrity the moment you join them. The moment you dedicate a quarter of an hour of primetime to cover an insignificant subject."

"Sloan-"

"What was it Will said at North-Western?"

"Sloan-"

"He said that at one time America "didn't scare so easily" – Mac was here trying to stop Will getting scared so easily. She's indifferent to ratings. And then all of a sudden the whole program changes course in order to appease our audience? I'm resigning Charlie and the only way you'll stop me is if you can get Mac to come back and let us do a show we are proud of, not some hatchet job. My letter of resignation is already on Will's desk and my office is waiting for its next occupant." And with that, Sloan left the room, leaving a stunned Charlie in her wake.


"Will! What the hell is going on? Where's your staff?" Charlie was looking at an all but empty newsroom, devoid of staff and their personal effects. Will was sat on chair in the middle of the room, staring at the ceiling with his eyes closed.

"They resigned."

"ALL of them?"

"There's a small pile of resignation letters on my desk."

"So you have no staff."

"Yeah."

"And we go on the air in two days, and we have no staff."

"About right."

"Well are you going to do something about it? Will?"

"What about Elliot and Ten O'clock?"

"In a conference room down the hall. They all scuttled away for some reason."

"Well I guess you aren't the most approachable person in the world right now."

"No. As Don said, I'm a smart talented guy, who isn't very nice. But hey, look on the bright side, everyone in the control room stayed." Will said sarcastically.

"I'm getting Don."

"I don't need Don, I don't need an EP. We can dedicate the whole of the show to Casey Anthony with a little bit of real news and let the graphics speak for themselves."

"I'm going to get Don and his staff to work for both you and Elliot and then we can work on getting you a new staff."


"Mac?"

"Oh, Sloan! Hi!"

"Mac, I resigned."

"What!?"

"I resigned, and so did the rest of the newsroom." Mac had to sit down after hearing that.

"Why?"

"Because you were right and Will was wrong."

"Sloan you've got to get back there, he's going to go into meltdown."

"No, Mac I don't want to be part of a show which feels that a small murder case in Florida more important than the US debt ceiling. I came to News Night to work with you and Will to change television and now it's pretty clear that Will wants television to stay the same just so he can get what he wants out of it. And the staff think so to, that's why we all followed you and resigned."

"Sloan, he's going to be completely lost."

"Do you owe him anything?"

"What?" Mac was taken aback at the new line of questioning.

"Do you owe him anything? You cheated on him years ago. Big deal. Do you owe him anything? Because right now I'm not even sure you should worry about Will or Charlie or the rest of ACN."

"No, of course I don't owe him anything. And well maybe that's why I've resigned, because I'm tired of his efforts to punish or belittle me at every opportunity."

"Good, I don't you think owe him anything."

"Did you know, he gave back $3m from his contract to ACN just so he could have the ability to fire me at the end of every week?"

"No I didn't."

"Well do you know what, maybe I just thought that I'd save him the time and effort and just resign and actually, thinking about it, it gives me an opportunity to decide what I want to do with my life. For the first time in over a decade, my life doesn't revolve around Will McAvoy."


A/N: So what will Mac do next? And what about Will at ACN? Will they get back together? It's not looking likely. Please follow and review! Until next time…