For as long as she could remember, Leslie Willis always wanted to be a journalist. When other children of her age mentioned prominent members of the New Reich as their heroes, Leslie never even considered those to have an influence on her life. No, she looked up to reporters and followed many stories of specific journalists and, though there wasn't much diversity in the media landscape, she loved the written media. She particularly looked up to this one reporter, who specialized in criminal activities. That bank robber was found and brought to justice, this rebel base in the middle of the city was blown up to stop them. some news items were more click bait than anything else – top ten hiding places for a rebel, five signs your neighbor may be a rebel, and so on. Leslie loved it nonetheless. This reporter was the reason she wanted to become a journalist.
Not surprisingly, Leslie Willis worked hard to achieve this one lifelong dream. Be a journalist, go to the line of fire, report directly and immediately, while the action was still unfolding. In college, she did focus more on written media, especially the written electronic media. There was this thrill about getting the latest news as quickly to the people as she possibly could. Newspapers were usually a day old, and everyone could theoretically already know what happened before buying a copy. The internet was more direct, and people received the latest news only minutes after it happened. During this course, part of her grade depended on a blog she had to set up and the way she reported some news independently. She played it safe in choosing the topics and using a speech-to-text program to speed up the process. She graduated with flying colors and was offered a job at the official news outlet of the New Reich in National City.
It was the perfect job: writer for an online newspaper. They apparently hired writers specifically for those internet articles. She would have to start at the bottom, but that was no big deal – everyone has to start somewhere. The senior writers often left the office building in pursuit of a story, but during her first months, Leslie was only allowed to write the material assigned by her mentor, after he'd gathered the information. It must have been a test on their side, she told herself, to see how well she could write. She retained her trusted method, namely speech-to-text, and soon her supervisors believed she was good enough to be sent out in the field and take interviews herself – under supervision, of course.
That was when she was confronted with the hard and sad truth.
It was a simple story, and it was not too dramatic or sensational. There weren't even any rebels involved. Leslie went out and interviewed the poor woman whose husband attempted to kill her, but whom she killed instead by accident. She said he'd always been rather violent and that he believed this behavior was justified. The violence only escalated the past few months. He'd started drinking and thought his wife was cheating on him – she wasn't – which ended in a murder attempt. One painful detail; her late husband was the New Reich leader of the Logistics department in National City. Work pressure was doubled and stress weighed down on him, but he apparently had been a model employee.
After Leslie wrote her article, her mentor changed it so it would be 'appropriate' for their audience. This minor change was the omission of the husband's profession. This minor change was the first indication that the news she was supposed to present to the people was not entirely objective, as it should be, but highly manipulated.
Leslie dived into the archives and came to the not-so-shocking conclusion that the media was incredibly partisan and catered to the views of their government. Whenever the New Reich was mentioned, it was never painted in a negative light. They always used to superlatives to describe its impeccable state, the generous leader and the wonderful people. In sharp contrast, the rebels never did anything good – and if they did, they never were called rebels. Still, even if one of a large group was confirmed to be a rebel, everyone in their presence had to be a rebel as well, according to the media. If a New Reich official stepped out of line, he was only ever 'a good citizen' – and if even if there was no way to separate the criminal from the prestigious job, the media always found a way to pin the crime on someone else to keep their government's reputation spotless.
This was a problem Leslie saw within all types of media she consumed – there was not one exception. She recognized she had been spoon-fed these lies since birth, and that what she saw or read wasn't always the full truth. In fact, to wake up more Reichspeople, she was going to become an independent reporter with a vlog. The odds were stacked against her – the last person who tried to be an honest reporter ended up dying by Blitzkrieg's hands.
She would not write articles this time. No, she turned to another strong medium: radio and podcasts. Once on the internet, always on the internet – it can never truly be deleted and though the New Reich may try to hide it, people could still stumble on it unintentionally and, if they were curious enough, they would listen. She posted them directly, never from the same electronic device, and always leaving the computer or phone behind as soon as she'd uploaded her latest episode. The New Reich had a tendency to show up almost immediately after she posted something new – she wasn't just committing crimes, but she also was a serious threat to their nearly infallible propaganda machine, and Führer forbid she went against it.
One day, Leslie was running for her life from the New Reich soldiers as they were catching up to her. She had no idea where to run to since she had moved to a part of town she was unfamiliar with. Carrying only her phone, she fled and ran into a hallway with a dead end, and the soldiers trapped her. Still, Leslie refused to give up without a fight.
Then, the particle accelerator exploded. It had no life-altering effects on the soldiers, were just thrown into the wall by the shockwave. However, it did affect Leslie, who braved the shockwave, also expecting to be thrown into the wall. everything went dark and when the soldiers came to, their suspect was long gone and her phone, now with a cracked screen, was left behind.
Little did they know, Leslie had been transformed into a feared meta-human. She ditched her name and chose the moniker Livewire for herself. Quite fitting, considering the dark matter released by the particle accelerator explosion gave her electrokinesis – in other words, she could control and become electricity. On top of that, like electricity, she could also "jump" into TVs and phones and place her image on each screen, able to communicate with anyone watching it.
This was an incredible experience since it allowed her to literally stay out of her enemies' hands by staying on the wires. The New Reich could impossibly cut off any power lines to counter her – the people they tried to control would be mad. She had become untouchable and unstoppable.
Livewire no longer needed to record radio shows or podcasts. She now appeared on any TV screen in National City and talked to the people, who most of the time pulled out their phones and posted their findings on the internet. More often than not, the people she tried to educate just stared in shock and barely registered what she was saying, then freaked out and called the police forces when they realized she wasn't a recording. Once in a while, someone held a conversation with her, and she would either succeed in opening their eyes or at least plant a seed of doubt in their minds, which could lead to something more.
Once, accidentally, she made contact with a black man going by the name of James Olsen. He saw potential in her, listened and agreed with her points, already having realized this. Then, he did something no-one had done before: he offered her a job. James was part of the resistance and he frequently hung out with the general. Livewire and the general later discussed the conditions of her (non-paid) work with the resistance, and she agreed to the terms. She continued what she was doing already, but if she ever accidentally (or not) stumbled upon information the resistance may need, she would communicate or send it to them.
Still, despite her reputation and her involvement with the resistance, she refused to hide. She was visible for everyone; there wasn't a person in the city that did not know her name; she was untouchable. People either listened to her or alerted the authorities. Either way, the New Reich knew Livewire was active and they were trying to capture her without cutting off the power grid. You could always count on her being someplace with a high density of people, or someplace where you couldn't immediately cut off the power.
Unfortunately for her, she had become a great threat to the New Reich – so much so that they had specific people working on her capture as their job. Along with that, Livewire herself had become arrogant and reckless. Being in a constant state of electricity and not being able to get caught will do that to you.
Harrison Wells was involved. As was the other Wells, the doppelgänger speedster from Earth-1. Their combined minds were enough to set a trap. They lured her away from the comfort of the power grid. They shut off electricity at the abandoned factory, and Wells and the speedster turned on the sprinklers when she tried to attack them. Electricity and water don't go well together. She was arrested and detained. She was tortured for months on end, her captors demanding to know what she knew about the resistance. Livewire was strong and all she ever told them were taunts and vile insults, as well as the promise to never give her what they wanted.
Approximately five months after her capture, she passed away during a torture session. According to various sources, she only lamented the way the media was going to report on her death, such as using terms like 'rebel' and 'enemy of the people'.
Leslie Willis was a courageous woman with a mission. She saw how unjust the world can be and trusted nobody to change it, so she tried to shake things up herself. Unfortunately, people – especially those in charge – are wary of any change and stopped her before she could do even more damage.
There is an important lesson to be learned here; a lesson I didn't learn for many years and when I did, it was too late. It's the lesson Leslie wanted to teach everyone she visited, and probably the one she wanted to be her legacy.
Don't blindly trust the media. Off course, many would want you to believe to not trust the news, period, but I wouldn't go as far as to leave the adverb out of the equation. It can be good to trust the news – you should just always be critical about the news you are being presented with.
How is the news item framed? What verbs or adjectives or nouns do they use to describe certain people? Do they show favoritism towards certain topics or people, and do they report on those instead of something else? And, most importantly, who decides what you'll see on the news, and are they non-partisan or not?
Still, what they say on the news must be true. Possibly. Mind the way they talk about facts and presumptions. If something is breaking news, do they approach every detail that hasn't been confirmed as a fact, or do they use specific speech markers to indicate presumption?
The thing is, media is powerful. The way it uses language and shapes our own use of language is terrifying. If they repeat something – anything – often enough, people will start believing it, no matter the facts. There is a reason why propaganda through news reports works so well.
I am not asking you to avoid media altogether, because that's impossible. Just be careful with what you read and see, especially when it comes from questionable sources and even mostly credible sources. When information is presented to you, take it with a grain of salt if you have to. Not every news item is written or presented with good intentions at heart.
