“Nervous?” the WJZ anchor asked.
“Kind of,” Ash admitted. “I’m more used to asking the questions.”
“I know,” the anchor said, straightening his tie. “And don’t stop. You’ve got a big career ahead of you.”
For real? Ash thought. But there was no time to ask. Maya was escorted to the chair next to hers. The director began counting down. The cameraman got into position. And the anchors cleared their throats, ready to roll.
CHAPTER 36
11/11 Brings Endings, Beginnings
It was a whirlwind weekend. The news and radio segments led to calls from reporters at the Washington Post and the New York Times. Van Ness Media’s secretive selling of children’s private data made headlines all over the country, as did the team of young reporters who’d originally broken the story. The Underground News got more and more subscribers. Ash had a feeling that this was just the beginning, and it was the beginning of something big.
For the second time in less than a year, Ash and Maya found themselves with a viral video. This one was the raw footage of Maria Van Ness in Federal Hill Park. It racked up 2.5 million views in one week. They added a link to the full Underground News episode about Van Ness Media, and close to one million people watched that as well. They got lots of emails from people who’d seen their report, but the best one of all was from the admissions office at Baltimore School for the Arts, saying they hoped Brielle would apply to their filmmaking program for next year.
For every step Ash took into the spotlight, Maria Van Ness tried to step out of it. She refused to give interviews, leaving a spokesman to comment on her behalf, usually with the same vague talking points about there being no advertising in Van Ness Media software. When reporters pressed him about the claim that they were still selling their users’ details to advertisers, the spokesman never had a convincing response.
Maria Van Ness was lying low in another way too. Ash and Sadie didn’t have to dodge a single pile of dog poo on their walk to school Monday morning.
But Ash wondered if Harry had stepped in some. She found him on a bench outside the entrance to John Dos Passos Elementary, his backpack in his lap and a scowl on his face. His eyes lasered in on Ash as she approached. She said goodbye to her sister and walked slowly up to the bench.
“Well, you finally got what you wanted,” Harry said. “I’m no longer lead anchor of The News at Nine.”
Ash’s mouth dropped open. “What? Why not?”
“Because there is no more News at Nine. We lost our sponsor. They’re taking back all their equipment. The show is canceled, effective immediately.”
Ash slowly lowered herself onto the bench next to Harry. Had there really been a time when this was what she’d wanted? Yes, back in the beginning of the year. She’d been so bitter, so jealous, that she’d have taken a wicked pleasure in The News at Nine being canceled. Schadenfreude, she remembered Olive calling it. Taking pleasure in someone else’s pain. But she didn’t feel that way anymore, partly because she’d had her own show to focus on, but also because Harry had become a good anchor. Great, even.
“I can’t believe this happened today,” Harry said glumly, “of all days.”
“What do you mean?” Ash asked.
“It’s November eleventh,” he explained in a voice that suggested it should have been common sense. “Eleven-eleven, and I’m eleven.”
“Uh-huh,” Ash said in a voice that conveyed just how strange she thought Harry was being. “I’m eleven too.”
“But I’m Harry E. Levin,” Harry said. “This is my day. In the only year I’ll be eleven. I knew something big would happen. I just thought it’d be big in a good way. And that it’d happen at eleven eleven this morning, or maybe tonight.”
Oh, Ash thought. That was kind of cool. It was also terrible. His show was canceled on the day he’d been looking forward to for eleven years. And it wasn’t his fault. Harry had helped Ash report the truth when Van Ness Media had tried to silence her. They couldn’t silence Ash, but they could silence Harry, and they did.
“I’m sorry,” Ash said genuinely. “I never thought about what my report might mean for The News at Nine.”
“I did,” Harry said. “I mean, I figured they’d cancel it if we aired your story.”
“You did?” Ash shifted to look right at him. “And you decided to do it anyway?”
“Well, yeah,” Harry said, fiddling with his shark-tooth necklace. “I mean, it was important news. And good reporting.” He held her gaze for a second, then looked down at his backpack.
Ash had been complimented on her reporting by print journalists, radio broadcasters, even professional TV news anchors. But it was this compliment from Harry E. Levin that made her bones feel like jelly. “Your reporting’s good too,” she said. “I’m going to really miss watching The News at Nine.”
“Liar,” Harry said.
“For real!” Ash said, getting annoyed. But then she saw that he was smiling. She hit him with her elbow and smiled back. “I’m serious. You’re a good anchor. Not as good as I am, but you’re getting there.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Harry said, rolling his eyes.
The two of them got up, put on their backpacks, and started walking to class. As they passed the dark News at Nine studio, Ash had an idea. She probably should have saved it for 11:11 a.m., but it’d be too hard to wait. “Hey, do you want to join The Underground News? I’d have to ask Maya and Brielle, but I’m sure they’d be okay with adding a co-anchor.”
Harry stopped. “You’re seriously asking if I want to be a ‘renegade reporter’?”
Ash shrugged. “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
Harry crossed his arms. “Who says I can’t beat ’em?”
“Um,” Ash said. “We’ve got, like, a hundred thousand subscribers.”
“Whatever,” Harry said, his face transforming into a familiar smirk. “Just one big story, and my friends and I will have twice that.”
Ash looked at her rival and genuinely hoped he was right. “You know what?” she said. “May the best anchor win.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Van Ness Media does not exist in real life, but digital tracking does. Every time you and I use our phones, computers, or other devices connected to the internet, we leave a digital fingerprint. Companies collect and store that information, creating detailed profiles of who we are, where we go, and what we do. They use that data to show us targeted advertisements, recommendations, search results, and more. When we agree to various privacy policies and terms of service, we’re often granting permission for companies to use our personal information any way they’d like, which might include sharing it with other companies or selling it to data brokers. There are laws aimed at protecting the digital privacy of children under the age of thirteen, but there are also numerous instances of companies breaking those laws.
You can do a few things to limit tracking on your phone and in your browser, but it’s impossible to avoid being tracked entirely. Whether this makes you as uneasy as it does Maya or you’re as indifferent as Brielle, it’s important to be aware that it’s happening, especially as more and more of everyday life moves online. A good source for more information is Eyes and Spies: How You’re Tracked and Why You Should Know by Tanya Lloyd Kyi.
If you care deeply about digital privacy—or any cause!—remember that, like Ash and her friends, you have the power to use your voice for positive change.
While I’m distinguishing between fact and fiction in The Renegade Reporters, I’ll note that Ash’s neighborhood in Baltimore is real, but John Dos Passos Elementary is not. If Ash and her friends attended a real Baltimore City public school, they’d have graduated elementary school in fifth grade, and Brielle would have to wait a few more years before applying to the Baltimore School for the Arts, since their film program begins in ninth grade.
A rea
l dog poo bandit was on the loose in Federal Hill some years ago, and a scooter (not a bike) was really stolen from and returned to Riverside Park (believe it!). As far as I’m aware, both culprits remain at large.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When I do school visits, kids often ask me where I get the ideas for my books. Well, I got the idea for this book from doing school visits!
When I was in elementary school, sixth graders took turns reading the morning announcements over the loudspeaker in the main office. But visiting schools as an author, I discovered that there are a surprising number of schools in America—both private and public—where the morning announcements now take the form of a television show. Schools have professional-quality studios, with microphones and green screens and advanced editing equipment. The kids do everything, from pitching and writing stories to holding cue cards and cameras to reporting and directing the finished product. As a visiting author, I’ve had the honor of being a guest on a number of school TV shows, and the students running them—broadcasting experts all—inspired me to write a book about kids who work on a show like this. I owe a big thank-you to the 2016 news crews at Sunset Palms Elementary and Timber Trace Elementary in Florida for sparking the initial idea. And I’m especially grateful to the “National Pickles” at Tuckahoe Elementary in Virginia, who generously showed me the inner workings of their News @ 9 and even inspired the name for the show in this book.
My research on digital privacy was broad, but I owe many thanks to the Center for Humane Technology, the New York Times Privacy Project, and the contributors to both.
A million thanks to the brilliant Swapna Haddow, Corinne Brinkley, Amy Roza, and Matt Freeman for their thoughtful feedback on the many characters in this book whose lived experience would be different from my own. The always supportive Shawn K. Stout, Elisabeth Dahl, Erin Hagar, and Lori Steel gave me early encouragement, guidance, and cake! Thanks, as always, to Flip Brophy and Nell Pierce for helping my words reach the wider world. I am lucky and grateful to have you both on my side. The same goes for the team at Dial, especially my editor, Dana Chidiac, who asked the right questions, helped me find the right answers, and cheered nonstop along the way.
Finally, lots of love to Federal Hill Preparatory School #45 and to Baltimore City, places I am proud to have called home. I strove to capture the vibrancy of these communities in this book, but there’s nothing like the real thing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elissa Brent Weissman is the award-winning author of several middle grade novels, including The Length of a String, the Nerd Camp series, and the editor of Our Story Begins, an anthology of writing and art by today's kids' book creators back when they were kids themselves. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and earned a master's degree in children's literature at the University of Roehampton in London. After spending many years in Baltimore, where she taught creative writing to children, college students, and adults and was named one of CBS Baltimore's Best Authors in Maryland, Elissa currently lives with her family in Christchurch, New Zealand.
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The Renegade Reporters Page 16