Part 5 (2/2)
”Then the virus story will give you a little break,” kidded Doug
”You've been working too hard”
”da,” Scott defied ”Viruses are a dime a dozen and worse, there's no one behind it, there's nobody there There's no story”
”Then find one That's e pay you for” Doug loudly ht dead printing ”Besides, you're the only one left” As he left he patted Scott on the back saying, ”thanks Really”
”God, I hate this job”
Scott Mason loved his job, after all it was his invention seven years ago when he first pitched it to Doug Scott's original idea had worked Scott Mason alone, under the banner of the New York City Times, virtually pioneered Scientific Journalisht
Scott Mason was still its most vocal proponent, just as he hen he connived his way into a job with the Times, and without any journalistic experience It was a childhood fantasy
Doug re had said with aant but very likable Mason had gotten cornered hiressiveness, points for creativity and points for brass balls ”What is Scientific Journalis away all of the long techni- cal ter the facts to the people at home”
”We have a quite adequate Science Section, a co had tried to be polite
”That's not what I mean,” Scott explained ”Everybody and his dead brother can write about theabout finding the people, the y”
”No one would be interested,” objected Doug
Doug rong
Scott Mason immediately acclimated to the modus operandi of the news business and actually locked onto the collapse of Kaypro Co family who rode serendipity until competence was required for survival The antics of the Kay fa in his articles and contributions as well as several libel and slander suits froainst the law to print the truth or a third party speculations, as long as they're not malicious
Scott instinctively kne to ride the fine edge between false accusations and impersonal objectivity
Cold Fusion, the brief prayer for iy inde- pendencedeep and found that some of the advocates of Cold Fusion had vested interests in palladiu concerns He also discovered how the experih to fool most experts
Scott had located one expert asn't fooled and could prove it Scott Mason rode the crest of the Cold Fusion story for months before it became old news and the Hubble Telescope fiasco took its place
The fiasco of the Hubble Telescope was nothing new to Scott Mason's readers He had published months before its launch that the overnment didn't heed the whistle blower's advice The optical rind the ra used on the Hubble The GSA had been tricked by the contractor's test results and Scott discov- ered the discrepencies
When Gene-Tech covered up the accidental release of ineering labs, Scott Mason was the one reporter who had established enough of a reputation as both a fair reporter, and also one that understood the technology Thanks to Mason's early diagnosis and the Ti, a potentially cataclysenetic disas- ter was averted
The software problems with Star Wars and Brilliant Pebbles, the payoffs that allowed defective X-Ray lasers to be shi+pped to the testing ground outside of Las Vegas - Scott Mason was there He traced the Libyan cheered the subsequent destruction of the plant
Scott's outlook was si the possibilities and then the probabilities Therefore, if so is possible, someone, so it, then it's only ahim in the act”
”Besides,” he would tell anyone ould listen, ”coy and electronics represent trillions of dollars annu- ally To believe that there isn't interesting, human interest and profound news to be found, is pure blindness The fear of the unknown, the ignorance of what happens on the other side of the buttons we push, is an eneuised and easily avoided”
Scott successfully opened the wounds of ignorance and technical apathy and made he and the Times the de facto standard in Scien- tific Journalism