History PlayingWith / ImmoralJournalist

** Charlotte, an up-and-coming actress, was locked out her home naked. Alice brings a crowd of cameramen to interview her and [[InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube spreads uncensored photos and videos over the Internet]].

* '''Double Subverted''': Even though she was right about Dave being guilty, Alice violated journalism ethics numerous times during the investigation, and her finding the right suspect was mostly due to luck.

'''Basic Trope''': A journalist doesn't care about the truth or about whether or not running a story will hurt people.
* '''Straight''':

** Alice has a peculiar habit to swindle fellow reporters to do all the footwork in an investigative project, then swoop in and steal the credit.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** Reporter Alice badgers Bob for an interview mere minutes after his son Charlie is murdered, while Bob is holding his son's corpse. This drives Bob to take his own life then and there, and she airs the footage with glee because she thinks it'll advance her career.
** Charlotte, an up-and-coming actress, was locked out her home naked. Alice brings a crowd of cameramen to interview her and spreads uncensored photos and videos over the Internet.
** Alice writes a hit piece on Bob's fault in Charlie's death (which is completely unjustified, it was a drunk driver) tossing theories for anything from negligent fatherhood up to being an incestual necrophiliac pedophile, then sits back and wait for [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion the court of public opinion]] to kill ([[TorchesAndPitchforks in more ways than one]]) Bob, which she will then write a tell-all book about that she hopes will net her a few million, if not the Pulitzer.

** Reporter Alice is too lazy to fact check trivial stories like "Poppy the popstar buys another cat", but does put a lot of effort into the important ones.
* '''Justified''':

** Alice is a freelance journalist struggling to pay the bills and decides that journalistic ethics take a backseat to being able to afford rent.

** Bob, unfortunately, is an acceptable target for the populace for some reason (racism, he's a politician, he accidentally kicked a dog, whatever) so Alice is not only having an easy time manufacturing sleaze, it would be against the norm for her to ''not'' be doing it.

** Bob was a {{Jerkass}} to Alice in the past and she holds a grudge.
* '''Inverted''': Reporter Alice holds herself to an extreme standard of journalistic integrity, effectively being TheParagon in her news room.
* '''Subverted''': Reporter Alice investigates Charlie's murder and settles on Dave as the main suspect. She is disgraced after it turns out that her evidence is insufficient to convict him, and her investigation starts being viewed as little more than an excuse to go after someone she disliked. It is later revealed that Dave ''was'' guilty after all.

** The head of the news station fires Reporter Alice for her lack of journalistic integrity.
** After being ordered to run a false story, Reporter Alice refuses and [[ResignInProtest resigns in protest]]. She then goes on to get the true story out there ''and'' expose her old boss' corruption.

** Due to her constant pestering, coupled with the fact that ''his fucking son died'', [[TalkToTheFist Bob inevitably lays her the fuck out]] and breaks expensive equipment in the process, getting her in trouble with her boss, or if she's a paparazza, go out of business. Bob also gets in trouble for aggravated assault.
* '''Reconstructed''': Alice is able to [[WoundedGazelleGambit twist around the situation]] to paint her as a brave stalwart of the Freedom of the Press who got DisproportionateRetribution at the hands of Bob - [[CondescendingCompassion but rage not against Bob]], beloved viewers, because who of you who have families of your own ''wouldn't'' be blind with grief if it happened to you?
* '''Played For Laughs''': Alice's "reporting" is just a bunch of BlatantLies that contradict each other.
* '''Played For Drama''':
** The work focuses on how badly Reporter Alice's harassment affects her victims.

** Alice is essentially the propaganda wing of [insert political identity the author hates], using slander, manipulative editing, hatemongering op-eds and all other manner of low-blow tactics to foster division and push a race war ever-closer. Any attempt to stop her is met with a shrug and a [[SmugSnake cheerful]] "Freedom of the Press!"
* '''Played For Horror''': Reporter Alice orchestrates brutal murders just so she can write about them. After all, IfItBleedsItLeads.

* '''Straight''': Reporter Alice harasses Bob for an interview after his son Charlie is murdered, aggravating his grief until he has a mental breakdown.

* '''Exaggerated''': Reporter Alice badgers Bob for an interview mere minutes after his son Charlie is murdered, while Bob is holding his son's corpse. This drives Bob to take his own life then and there, and she airs the footage with glee because she thinks it'll advance her career.

** Bob, unfortunately, is an acceptable target for the populace for some reason (racism, he's a politician, he accidentally kicked a dog, whatever) so Alice is not only having an easy time manufactuing sleaze, it would be against the norm for her to ''not'' be doing it.

* '''Reconstructed''': Alice is able to [[WoundedGazelleGambit twist around the situation]] to paint her as a brave stalwart of the Freedom of the Press who got DisproportionateRetribution at the hands of Bob - but rage not against Bob, beloved viewers, because who of you who have families of your own ''wouldn't'' be blind with grief if it happened to you?

* '''Reconstructed''': ???

* '''Deconstructed''': Because of the bad practices of Alice and her colleagues, trust in the media deteriorates to the point of nonexistence. As a result, [[CryingWolf nobody believes her when she reports on a real story]].

* '''Lampshaded''': ???

* '''Discussed''': ???

** Alice wants to be a good reporter, but insensitive sensationalism is what sells, and she needs to pay the bills...

* '''Justified''': The Society in this story is shown to reward sensationalist news more than honest news, incentivizing reporters like Alice to throw decency to the wind.

** After being ordered to run a false story, Reporter Alice refuses and resigns in protest. She then goes on to get the true story out there ''and'' expose her old boss' corruption.

* '''Zig-Zagged''': Alice sometimes violates journalistic integrity, but she has good intentions.

* '''Invoked''': ???
* '''Exploited''': ???

* '''Played For Laughs''': ???

* '''Downplayed''': Reporter Alice exaggerates a story but never goes so far as to outright lie about facts.

* '''Subverted''': ???
* '''Double Subverted''': ???
* '''Parodied''': The news channel Alice reports for is called Local Informative Endevors Station, or "[[FunWithAcronyms LIES]]".
* '''Zig-Zagged''': ???

** The author hates journalists.
** The author believes journalists are important to society and wants to encourage them to take their role seriously with a cautionary tale about what'll happen if they don't.

* '''Conversed''': ???

* '''Deconstructed''': Because of the bad practices of Alice and her colleagues trust in the media deteriorates to the point of nonexistence. As a result, [[CryingWolf nobody believes her when she reports on a real story]].
* '''Reconstructed''': ???