Scenario 8: Independence
You are the business reporter for your area's top broadcast news station. You also periodically do a special "Consumer Affairs" segment in which you take viewers' complaints about local businesses and help resolve. You are preparing to air a segment in which you help a disgruntled viewer resolve a large billing dispute with a local fitness center, where the manager apparently refuses to even consider the complaint. The manager at the fitness center consistently rejects your attempts to hear his side of the story, and employees there have said they could be fired for speaking with you about the dispute. The fitness center is part of a regional chain that buys significant chunks of advertising from your network's affiliate. The day before you are set to air the segment, senior executives from the regional chain tell you the local franchise called to complain about your report and they start to pressure you not to air the segment.