Naturally, Pablo had no time to care about this woman whom he had met by chance. He ran out of the express hotel in a daze, his head filled with the chief editor's furious roar just now.
This place was quite far from the headquarters of Daily Sports. Pablo managed to hail a night taxi with great difficulty and hurried to the office.
On the way, the more Pablo thought about it, the more worried he became. He could not help but call an editor he was familiar with. The editor named Hilkins happened to be on duty tonight. He should still be at the office at this time, and certainly had not rested.
At first, no one picked up the phone. After a while, Higgins called back.
Pablo quickly picked up the phone and asked, "Hilkins, what's going on? Why is the chief editor so angry? "
Hilkins was silent for a moment. Then, he said in a low voice with a hint of sympathy, "Pablo, you'd better hurry back to the office! Things have gotten out of hand … "
"I'm already on my way to the office!" Pablo said. "Tell me what's going on first!"
Hilkins said vaguely, "You'll know when you open Facebook … I can't talk to you anymore. The editorial department is in a mess right now! I snuck out to call you just now. I have to go there right away … Don't call me again! "
After that, Hilkins hurriedly hung up the phone. If it weren't for their good personal friendship, Hilkins might have directly blocked Pablo's phone number. At this time, Pablo had become the target of public criticism, and his reputation would soon be tarnished. Who would want to have anything to do with him?
Hearing the busy tone from the phone, Pablo could not help but curse in a low voice.
Fortunately, Higgins had given him some hints. He hurriedly opened Facebook on his phone. Unsurprisingly, the number of notifications in the background had increased to 99 +. Over the past few days, Chinese netizens had been spamming his Facebook when they had nothing to do. He had already gotten used to it.
Pablo was not in the mood to check the messages. He directly opened his most recent post, which was the video of the interview with Mayes, the so-called annual member of Barcelona. He was dumbfounded the moment he entered it.
Originally, there weren't many comments from Huaxia's netizens. Most of them were from Barça's fans. Now, Huaxia's netizens had once again taken over.
But Pablo was still puzzled. It was not the first time that Huaxia's netizens came to his Facebook page. Did the chief editor have to be so angry? Although he had been scolded badly by the netizens of Huaxia on Facebook, his fame had greatly increased. Even the topic of Sport Daily had greatly increased, and he had even received a prize of 1,000 Euros because of it! Why did he suddenly change his attitude today?
Pablo browsed through a few comments. The comments from Huaxia's netizens were all ready-made copy from the forum. There were only a few versions in total.
At first, Pablo did not feel anything, but when he saw a comment that had just been refreshed, his face immediately turned pale. The comment came with a picture. It was a screenshot of the video taken by Song Wei, and it was a very representative screenshot. The score board had the time of the game and the scores of both sides. The sprinklers on the field had been turned on, the RCD Espanyol players were running away, and the scattered Barça fans on the opposite side of the stands were leaving. It could be said that it perfectly reflected what had happened.
The text of the comment was very simple. There were only a few words: Pablo, does your face hurt?
In fact, the people who left comments here at this moment were the advance troops of Huaxia's netizens. Many netizens who had just started work had not yet had the time to join the battlefield, but the number of comments was already considerable.
Pablo vaguely guessed what had happened. His fingers trembled a little. He found a few other Spanish sports media in his list of followers and clicked on them.
He did not look for the account of his employer, El Mundo Deportivo, because he knew that El Mundo Deportivo would certainly not report or respond at a time like this.
As he expected, Pablo found a post on the Facebook page of Marca that was pinned to the top. The title was quite eye-catching — "Pablo! The Shame of Journalism! "
When Pablo saw the title, he almost fainted.
He took a deep breath and clicked on the post. After reading it from beginning to end, and especially after watching the video carefully, Pablo no longer had the slightest bit of hope in his heart.
His face became as pale as paper, and he collapsed in the backseat of the taxi. His eyes were empty and blank.
The taxi driver who was driving in the front glanced at Pablo through the rearview mirror. Because the guy looked so scary, the driver even suspected that the guy was on drugs and hoped that he would not die in his car …
Thankfully, although Pablo looked half-dead, he was at least still breathing. The taxi driver observed Pablo's condition every few seconds and finally drove the car to the entrance of the newspaper office.
"Hey! Bro! We're here! "Seeing that Pablo was motionless in his seat, the taxi driver couldn't help but remind him.
Pablo's eyes moved, and he struggled to look at the newspaper office next to him. Then, he wriggled his body and got out of the car.
"The fare!" the taxi driver reminded him.
Pablo took out his wallet from his pocket in a daze, took out a hundred-euro bill, and threw it into the window on the passenger's side without looking at it. Then, he turned around and left.
"I'm going to give you the change!" the taxi driver shouted.
Pablo, however, turned a deaf ear to him and walked toward the newspaper office unsteadily.
The taxi driver shouted a few times, only to give up after seeing that Pablo ignored him. He picked up the bill from the passenger's seat and flicked it with his fingers. Then, he said to Pablo, "Thanks!"
After that, he stepped on the gas pedal and drove away.
Pablo walked into the newspaper office. His head was completely blank at this moment. He did not even know how he took the elevator to the floor where the editorial department was located.
The moment he walked into the office, the few colleagues who were on duty and those who were called back to discuss the crisis raised their heads at the same time. Among them was Higgins, who was on duty tonight.
They all looked at Pablo with complicated expressions. Some of them had pity in their eyes, while those who were not on good terms with him were gloating over his misfortune.
Higgins and Pablo were close. After hesitating for a long time, he reminded him in a low voice, "Pablo, the chief editor is waiting for you in the office … You … Be careful. He's very angry right now!"
Pablo looked at Higgins with his lifeless eyes. Then, he nodded in a daze and walked to the chief editor's office on the opposite side of the office.
Pablo knocked on the door of the chief editor's office, and an angry voice immediately came from inside. "Who is it?"
"Chief editor, it's me …" said Pablo.
A few seconds later, the door of the chief editor's office was opened abruptly, revealing Vesco's bald head. He stared at Pablo as if he were going to swallow him whole. Then, roaring curses echoed in the office.
"Pablo! You stupid pig! "Vesco cursed, his spittle flying." You've screwed up everything! Do you understand? Do you have any brains at all? They've obviously set up a trap for you to jump into! And you're still gloating about it, you idiot! "
Pablo was already numb to Wells' storm-like scolding. At this moment, his brain had basically crashed, and he could not say a single word of explanation.
After cursing for a while, Vesco felt that his mouth was dry. He glared at Pablo and said, "Get in here!"
Pablo followed Vesco into the office mechanically. Then, he sat down on the couch with a pale face.
Vesco raised his eyebrow and almost couldn't help but curse out loud. If an employee had come to his office so unruly, he would've kicked the employee out without mercy.
However, Vesco felt that he was powerless now. He sat down behind his desk and stared at Pablo sharply. "Didn't you tell me yesterday that you found a powerful witness? Now, tell me, what's the deal with Mayes? "
If not for the video released by Xia Ruofei that night, the video of Pablo interviewing Mayes would've been very convincing. After all, Mayes was telling the story of the incident from the perspective of someone who was present at the scene. Furthermore, Sport Daily quickly forwarded the video for Pablo.
Although Sport Daily's credibility was also at the level of a toilet, several major football newspapers in Spain had clear leanings. To put it simply, they were on the side of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Therefore, their leanings were naturally very obvious when they reported it. This was not a big problem.
In any case, this was a traditional media with a long history. They maintained a certain leanings, but they still had basic credibility.
Therefore, most people chose to believe the interview video. At the same time, they also had some doubts about Ruby's remarks at the press conference at that time.
Now, the video that Xia Ruofei released by Song Wei had clearly recorded everything that happened at that time. It showed that Ruby was not lying. The sprinkler system at Camp Nou was indeed turned on before the RCD Espanyol players left the field. Moreover, it was not as they said. The RCD Espanyol players were unscrupulously celebrating in the away game and were slow to take a stand. Even the Barça fans in the stands were still leaving the field. How could these Barça fans be interested in watching the RCD Espanyol players celebrate? Therefore, the sprinkler system should not have been turned on for long before the end of the game.
Since Ruby was not lying, there was a problem with Mayes' interview video.
And it was not an ordinary problem. To put it bluntly, this was a piece of downright fake news. Mayes' words in the video were supposed to provide the Barça fans with the most powerful cannonball to fight back, but now it had become the most ironic and indelible evidence.
Pablo could not help but lower his head under Vesco's burning gaze. He muttered, "Mayes is indeed an annual pass member of Barça, and he's a hardcore …"
"Who the f * ck asked you that?" Wells rudely interrupted Pablo and asked, "What I'm asking is, what's with the interview video? Why would Mayes talk nonsense in front of the camera with a straight face? "
Pablo trembled slightly and said, "I … I gave him … I gave him three hundred euros and told him to accept the interview according to the words I designed …"
Vesco was so angry that smoke was coming out of his seven orifices. He wanted nothing more than to take out his gun and shoot Pablo.
Pablo's actions had directly dragged Sport Daily into a cesspool. Even if they managed to break free, they would inevitably be covered in mud.
Pablo quickly explained, "Chief Editor, Mayes is really a hardcore Barça fan. I approached him and asked him to cooperate with such an interview. He was very happy to accept it. He even said that he would accept it even if I didn't pay him. He was willing to do anything as long as it could protect Barça's reputation!"
Vesco stared at Pablo coldly and asked in return, "So? Now that the scandal has been exposed, how can your bullsh * t help the situation? "
Pablo suddenly had an idea as if he had grasped a life-saving straw. He said in a hurry, "Chief Editor, we … we can say that Mayes lied to us! He is a hardcore fan of Barça, and he took the initiative to accept the interview in order to protect Barça's image by fabricating false facts. We just didn't realize that he was lying immediately, which is why we broadcasted the interview video … "
The more Pablo spoke, the smoother he became. He said somewhat excitedly, "Mr. Vesco, although we are at fault, it's not a flaw in our journalistic ethics. It's just a mistake in our journalistic business at best. We didn't fulfill our obligation to verify the news material carefully …"
Vesco's face was gloomy. He was actually quite conflicted.
Sport Daily had been supporting Pablo in the past few days of public opinion out of consideration for its own position. To be honest, it wasn't that Vesco didn't suspect the authenticity of Pablo's posts, but he didn't expect Pablo to be so bold as to fabricate fake news.
Sport Daily was already in a difficult position. To some extent, Pablo and Sport Daily were already one. Nobody would believe it if they said that Pablo had paid someone to fabricate fake news, and that it was the newspaper's negligence.
Therefore, Sport Daily had to protect Pablo if it wanted to protect itself. Although Vesco couldn't wait to cut Pablo into pieces, he had to consider the newspaper's point of view.
As a result, Pablo's proposal was truly tempting to Vesco.
Pablo had also come back to life. His heart was full of hope, because he knew very well that once it was confirmed that he had paid someone to fabricate fake news, it wouldn't just be a matter of losing his job at Sport Daily. With such a stain, his career would be over, and his integrity would go bankrupt. Which media would dare to hire him then?
Only by clinging to Sport Daily and making Vesco realize that Pablo and Sport Daily were in the same boat could there be a glimmer of hope.
With a gloomy face, Vesco finally said after a long while, "Pablo, the newspaper didn't know about this in the first place! Even if you explain it according to what you said, you can't escape responsibility! You're the primary person responsible for this matter! Do you really think you can continue working at the newspaper? "
As a matter of fact, Vesco had weighed the pros and cons. Instead of treating it as if Pablo had no idea that Pablo had hired someone to fabricate fake news, it was better to treat it as if Pablo had no idea that Mayes had lied, which would have less impact on the newspaper. Therefore, he had actually agreed with Pablo's proposal.
However, Wells really hated Pablo. How could he get rid of his hatred if he didn't fire him?
Pablo's face turned pale. He said, "Mr. Vesco, I've been working at the newspaper for so many years, and I've worked hard! This time, I was also acting from the standpoint of the newspaper. The video I made was just a moment of folly. Now, I'm going to lose my job because of your words. Isn't that … "
Vesco snorted and said, "Pablo, it's already good enough that the newspaper didn't hold you responsible for such a big mistake! What else do you want? "
Then, Vesco's voice turned cold as he said, "Think carefully about whether you want to resign with dignity, or let the newspaper fire you! If you resign, we won't mention that you hired someone to fabricate fake news when we make a statement. That way, you'll still have a chance to find a job in another media outlet. If you're fired by the newspaper, we'll expose the truth even if it means that the newspaper's reputation will be damaged. By then, you'll really lose your job! "
Pablo's heart trembled when he heard that. He knew that the initiative was in Vesco's hands.
If he didn't accept it, Sport Daily would fall out with him, and it would be a complete loss.
Vesco stared into Pablo's eyes and asked, "Pablo, there's not much time left. Sport Daily is now under enormous public pressure every second. We can't keep silent forever! Make a choice! Either we push all the blame to Mayes, and you take the blame and resign because of a serious mistake in your work, or we tell the truth and admit to the public that you spent money to create fake news without the knowledge of the newspaper company. You will still be fired from the newspaper company, and your career will come to an end as well! I advise you to choose the first option. It'll be better for everyone! "
After struggling for a while, Pablo finally said in frustration, "Fine … I choose the first option …"
He didn't mention anything about compensation. Since he was the one who resigned and caused such a big mess for the newspaper, the newspaper was already being merciful by not holding him responsible. How could he expect compensation? Dream on! As long as the newspaper didn't expose the matter during the background check when he applied for other media outlets in the future, he would be grateful.
Of course, Sport Daily probably wouldn't expose the matter during the background check, because it wouldn't be in their interest either.
Vesco nodded and said, "Very good! I hope to see your resignation letter in ten minutes! Go now! "
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