What I mean, of course, isn’t this harmful method of utilizing online news, and to directly attribute online news to oneself is a grave taboo in the profession. The correct approach is to use the information from online news for secondary interviews. To be blunt, the world is full of fools, and in a profession like journalism, which demands a high level of personal judgment and cultural cultivation, this holds true. You often see a thousand-word article that says nothing or focuses on trivial, well-known facts while glossing over the newsworthy content; conversely, a potentially significant story might only be covered in a brief 200-300 word piece. If you spot such news online, consider yourself lucky; a follow-up call can lead to an excellent article, and I’ve even won awards for such pieces, making it look effortless.
On this day, around 10 AM, I walked into the office, brewed myself a cup of Tieguanyin, sat down at my computer, and browsed through the major news websites for yesterday’s and today’s news. Finding nothing worth following up on, I began to wander aimlessly through different sites. That’s when I stumbled upon this news on the Sina Travel Channel’s Odd News section. I rarely lose my composure like this — just as I took a sip of my still-hot tea, I froze. A chill ran up my spine, my scalp tingled, and I stopped breathing. As Lin Haiyin, a beautiful reporter from the Economics Department, passed by and greeted me, I didn’t react at all, my eyes fixed on the screen. The memories I had desperately tried to forget, terrifying enough that I hadn’t wanted to include them in my memoir, came rushing back in an instant. For over three minutes, I held my breath, longer than I ever had while swimming. Fresh air entering my lungs gradually brought me back to normal. I struggled to swallow the now lukewarm tea, my tongue stinging from the heat. Below the news, there were comments from netizens, many believing it to be a hoax. They found the idea of over a hundred skeletons absurd. If they read my memoir, I wonder what they would think. A fantasy novel? Let them think what they will; after all, only a handful of people in this world know the truth. To be precise, fourteen, plus you, the fifteenth.
