The public affairs channel at Haicheng Television has a program that netizens joke is proof that reality is far more outrageous than short dramas.
Back before the sensationalist "UC shock headline" style had even taken shape, the program The Mediation Experts became a ratings champion with a string of shocking titles, such as "Seventy-Year-Old Man Refuses to Admit Defeat to Age," "Where on Earth Did Dad Go?" "Living Under the Same Roof, We Slowly Feel Our Hearts Changing," "As Long as It Doesn't Chew You to Death, Chew It to Death," "Ten Years as Partners, Split Up in a Day: I Won't Do It for Less Than 200,000," "Uncle Yu from Xiaoshan, Your Family's Relationships Are So Complicated," and "The World's Unsolved Mystery: Why Do Terrible Men Have So Many Wives." Years later, people were still talking about them.
Zhu Fu, the instigator of it all: Huh? How did the ratings go up so much again without me noticing?
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Zhu Fu had dreamed of becoming an investigative journalist. After graduating, she was hired by Haicheng Television and assigned to intern at the notoriously sleepy department behind The Mediation Experts, where all her colleagues were retirees.
When faced with a mother who had a child in secret and a father who ran off, she said: "Is it really that hard to buy contraception? Well, now this little girl has had the worst possible start from the start. Isn't she the one who most deserves to speak up?"
When faced with a husband who was abusive, gambled, and cheated, and a wife who could only rage helplessly, she said: "Stop crying for a minute. Isn't the thing you should be doing right now getting an HPV test?"
When faced with a child who'd eaten their way to over two hundred pounds and parents on the verge of a breakdown, she said: "I get it. Your stomach's taken over your brain. You eat boiled eggs and cucumber salad in the daytime, then have eight delivery riders racing to your door at night. That's weight loss for you."
As a public affairs mediation reporter, Zhu Fu most often dealt with feuding parties who would break into a full-on brawl at the slightest provocation.
After yet another incident in which she was caught up in the fighting, she once again faced the pensive look of the police officer: …
Zhu Fu: "I was really just telling the truth!!!"
A boss who makes empty promises, coworkers who smooth everything over, and a job full of petty hassles... She was at her wit's end.
Years later, Haicheng Television's public affairs channel was named a provincial satellite channel, and Zhu Fu received an award for her outstanding work. Standing onstage with the heavy trophy in her hands, she looked down at her coworkers, who were busy stuffing their faces: ...Actually, I still want to be an investigative journalist.
Theme: No news story is too small, and no public concern is insignificant
