When Pablo walked out of the newspaper office in a daze, Sport Daily finally issued a statement overnight. It was posted directly on the headlines of the website and app, and was also pinned on social media accounts.
The statement read:
We have noticed the controversy on the Internet regarding the content that our reporter, Pablo, posted on social media platforms recently. After investigation and verification, Pablo's interviewee, Mayes, did not tell the truth in front of the camera out of concern for the home team. Pablo also posted the content on Facebook without rigorous verification.
Although Facebook was Pablo's private platform, out of trust in his professional conduct, Sport Daily also reposted some of the content. Here, Sport Daily would like to extend our sincere apologies to the public for the bad impact this matter has caused. We deeply regret Mr. Mayes's approach. Sport Daily has always adhered to the principle of news authenticity and strongly condemns dishonest behavior.
Mr. Pablo has taken the blame and resigned from the newspaper office due to a serious mistake in his work and has been approved. We wish Mr. Pablo all the best in his future career path!
Finally, Sport Daily thanks to the supervision of public opinion again. Sport Daily will strengthen content review in the future to prevent similar mistakes from happening again.
When Sport Daily posted the apology statement, it was almost four o 'clock in the morning in Barcelona. Not many people saw it immediately. Xia Ruofei also went back to her bedroom to rest after browsing the news for a while.
Xia Ruofei only saw the statement on Sport Daily after he got up the next morning.
In fact, Sport Daily had been completely criticized in the reports of the major sports media in Europe. In particular, Marca and AS in the Madrid area were even more unscrupulous in their satire. But in any case, Sport Daily had found a way to barely justify itself. It did not matter whether other people believed it or not. At least it would not go bankrupt.
The news broke out relatively late last night. Except for the media industry, which had dedicated personnel to monitor public opinion, many people only saw the news in the morning when they got up. From this point of view, although Sport Daily released the statement a few hours later, it was not too late in terms of timeliness.
However, in the face of the overwhelming coverage of the European sports media, the statement of Sport Daily seemed so pale and powerless. More and more people saw the news in the morning and participated in the discussion.
Among them, the Barça fans were the most upset. When Pablo posted the video of the interview with Mayes, the Barça fans were truly elated. However, after the next day, they found that it was an out-and-out piece of fake news. Whether Pablo deliberately concocted it or Mayes lied, there was no doubt that the content of the interview was fake. Most importantly, all of Ruby's accusations at the press conference turned out to be true. For the Barça fans, it was really terrible.
Therefore, the storm of public opinion was still blowing, and it seemed to be getting more and more intense.
However, when Xia Ruofei saw the statement in the Sports Daily, he was quite upset.
Xia Ruofei was not surprised that Sport Daily was trying to distance themselves from it. Anyone would do the same.
What Xia Ruofei found most unacceptable was that Sport Daily's statement did not apologize to the RCD Espanyol and Ruby himself. They did not even mention that they had ridiculed Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei. It must be noted that Sport Daily had republished Pablo's fake video two days ago and even wrote an article that mocked RCD Espanyol with harsh words. Now that the tables had turned, they were pretending to be deaf and dumb.
Although Sport Daily also expressed an apology in the statement, it was just an understatement. Moreover, the object of the apology was actually the "public." There was simply no sincerity at all.
Xia Ruofei scrolled through the comments of the netizens on Sport Daily's official Facebook page with a sullen face. The Barça fans must be in an awkward silence at this time, while other neutral fans commented one after another. Many people also said that Sport Daily's statement was simply a continuation of the lie, and the apology lacked the most basic sincerity. The RCD Espanyol team should be the one to be apologized to the most, but they did not mention it. That arrogant and rude face was nauseating.
Seeing that the general direction of the netizens' comments was to blame Sport Daily, Xia Ruofei's mood was slightly better.
At that moment, his cell phone on the bedside table rang.
Xia Ruofei did not get up. He reached out and grabbed the phone across the air.
It was a call from Zhou Leiyun. After Xia Ruofei picked it up, he said indifferently, "Director Zhou, you're up so early!"
Zhou Leiyun said, "Boss Xia, have you seen the statement issued by Sport Daily?"
Xia Ruofei sneered and said, "I'm reading it! This bunch of bastards is really insincere! Not only are they shirking responsibility, they're even playing word games when apologizing … "
Zhou Leiyun also scolded, "The pro-Barça media is all like this. They just look down on RCD Espanyol from the bottom of their hearts!"
"What are you going to do?" Xia Ruofei asked with great interest.
"They can't get away with it!" Zhou Leiyun said, "Now the public opinion is almost one-sided. They're all supporting us! There's still a big question as to whether they deliberately faked it or not! Boss Xia, I want the club to immediately hold a press conference to severely condemn Sport Daily and strongly request them to apologize to the club. Otherwise, we reserve the right to sue them, because they have caused a great negative impact on the club's reputation! "
Xia Ruofei said with a smile, "Now we're on the side of the victim, and the side of justice. There's really no problem with doing this, and absolutely no one can blame us."
Speaking of this, Xia Ruofei changed the subject and said, "However, I still suggest that we don't act too hastily. Again, let the public opinion soar for a while! "
Zhou Leiyun was slightly stunned and asked puzzledly, "Boss Xia, now Sport Daily is obviously a dead pig that's not afraid of boiling water. Anyway, they don't admit that they made fake news. As for the so-called flaws in the review process, no matter how much the public criticizes them, they have no response. This public opinion will pass eventually. When the time comes and we hold a press conference again, will it not be as popular as it is now?"
"The public opinion will naturally pass. There's no time to maintain a high level of attention." Xia Ruofei said with a smile, "But in my opinion, the public opinion this time is far from reaching its peak."
"Oh?" Zhou Leiyun asked with interest, "Boss Xia, do you think there will be any new developments in the future?"
Xia Ruofei shrugged and said, "Of course! Now that Sport Daily has thrown out such a perfunctory statement, it's considered an explanation to the public. Pablo has also resigned in disgrace. If he's smart, he won't jump out at this time to stir up trouble. But the Barcelona club can't play dead, right? They can pretend that they didn't see the farce of the news media, but the core of this matter is the 'watergate' incident at Camp Nou! Now that we've thrown out the evidence, it's already solid! Could they pretend that nothing had happened? Wouldn't that damage the image of the Cosmos team? So, Barça must come out with a crisis PR! "
"It makes sense …" Zhou Leiyun said thoughtfully.
"Also, don't forget that there's still a key person in this incident!" Xia Ruofei said with a smile, "It's the so-called Barça annual pass member, Mayes. According to Sport Daily, this Mayes is a die-hard fan of Barça and lied in an interview to protect the home team's image. How credible is this explanation? Would Mayes accept such an explanation? What's the real situation? No one knows now. "
Zhou Leiyun frowned slightly and said, "Even if he's a fake fan hired by Pablo, he can't come out and say it now! One is being paid to help people fabricate fake news, and the other is lying to protect Barça's image because he loves Barça so much. As long as there's nothing wrong with his brain, he'll definitely accept the second explanation! "
"But now, we don't even know if this Mayes is a Barça annual pass member! That means there are a lot of unknowns. "Xia Ruofei said," Will Barça respond? When will they respond? How will they respond? What's Mayes' real identity? Is there a deal between him and Pablo? Are the higher-ups of Sport Daily aware of it? These things aren't clear yet, so I suggest that we postpone the press conference for the time being and let the public opinion run wild for a while! I believe that the resourceful reporters will persevere in digging. When the time comes, we may be able to find out the truth without any effort! "
Zhou Leiyun said, "Boss Xia, what you mean is that we wait and see how Barça responds and what's the situation with this Mayes guy. When these things are cleared up, our press conference can be more targeted, right?"
"That's what I mean!" Xia Ruofei said, "I don't think it'll take too long. At most, it'll take a day! If Barça is so inefficient, how can it be run as one of the top super clubs in the world? "
"Okay! Then I'll listen to you! "Zhou Leiyun said readily.
Xia Ruofei then said, "Also … When we hold the press conference, I'll attend it personally!"
Zhou Leiyun was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Boss Xia, didn't you always want to keep a low profile? Why are you suddenly … "
Xia Ruofei grinned and said, "That's because I didn't want to cooperate with Pablo's hype before. Now that he's ruined himself and his reputation is ruined, of course I have to beat him when he's down! Also, I have another purpose for attending the press conference. You'll know when the time comes! "
When Zhou Leiyun heard this, he knew that Xia Ruofei was probably going to announce something. He was also curious, but since Xia Ruofei didn't want to talk about it, he didn't want to pursue the matter.
"Understood!" Zhou Leiyun said with a smile, "Then we'll wait for another day or two! I'll let them prepare in advance! "
"Okay!" Xia Ruofei said, "There's nothing going on today. Qingxue and Weiwei were a little tired yesterday, so they're going to rest in the hotel today."
"Then do you want to go out for a walk?" Zhou Leiyun smiled mysteriously and said, "I know a few places in Barcelona that are pretty good! Many men linger there! Boss Xia, do you want me to take you out to have a taste of foreign meat? "
Xia Ruofei said, "I'm not interested! I'll leave the foreign meat for you, Director Zhou! "
Speaking of foreign meat, Xia Ruofei couldn't help but think of Monica.
Speaking of which, Spain wasn't far from Italy. The actual distance was equivalent to the distance between the two provinces of Huaxia.
He hadn't been in contact with Monica for a while, so he wondered how she was doing now. She was probably busy! After all, she was now the head of the family …
"Boss Xia! Boss Xia! "
Zhou Leiyun's voice woke Xia Ruofei up from his imagination.
"Ah?" Xia Ruofei said, "Sorry, I was a little distracted! Where was I? "
Zhou Leiyun said with a smile, "You said that your two friends don't plan to go out today and are resting in the hotel."
"Oh, right!" Xia Ruofei said, "I don't have anything to do. I've been to Barcelona more than once, and I've visited all the places … So today, I thought I might as well go to the training base! I'll train with everyone and treat it as a form of exercise! "
Zhou Leiyun was a little surprised and said, "Training?"
The amount of training for a professional team was quite large, especially for the top European league clubs. Because the pace of the game was fast and the intensity of the confrontation was high, the physical requirements were also very high.
Who would go to training for fun when they had nothing to do?
Xia Ruofei said with a smile, "I'm just going to relax. Don't you know my physical fitness? How tiring can team training be? Besides, after the game that day, I haven't seen my teammates. I don't have anything to do today, so I'll go and see everyone! "
Zhou Leiyun said, "So that's how it is! No problem! I'll ask the club to send a car to pick you up! But I won't accompany you to the training base today! I have a business meeting today, the kind that can't be pushed off … "
"Go do your thing!" Xia Ruofei said, "Don't ask the club to send a car. I want to go out and walk by myself! I'll just walk around! "
"How can that be …"
"That's settled! The hotel is not far from the training base. I want to see the scenery! "Xia Ruofei said," General Manager Zhou, don't ask someone to send a car! I'll be out of the hotel in a while. Don't let the driver miss me. "
Zhou Leiyun heard this and said helplessly, "Well then … If there's anything or if you need anything, just call me!"
"Don't worry!" Xia Ruofei said with a smile, "My Spanish is better than yours! I won't lose it! "
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