Avery joined Riley, Savannah, Nora and Clay for the meal, relieved to get away from the others. She felt Walker’s gaze on her but kept her back to him. He was the one who needed to sort out his life. He knew where to find her when he did.
Clay held baby Connie in his arms so Nora could eat. Avery was happy to see her friend was blooming; she’d been afraid Nora might struggle after her scare at the manor the other day. Nora had rallied, however. Clay kept close to her and Connie, and the new parents were so joyful about their baby they were a pleasure to behold.
Eve had her phone in her hand, reminding Avery of when they’d all promised each other not to be consumed by social media, back at the beginning of their time on the ranch. As couples had married, the old practice of sharing a cell phone had slid away. After all, the men had never agreed to that rule, and the women who’d arrived later in the year never surrendered theirs at all. Pretty much everyone had a phone now.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Eve said. A lively brunette who had come to Base Camp to expose Hansen Oil’s wrongdoing and stayed to marry Anders, Eve went on, “I wish those Star News people would just leave us alone. Listen to what they said about us last night!”
She held up her phone, and a female announcer’s voice cut through the hubbub of the bunkhouse as people lined up to get their food.
“Star News has discovered that the entire carbon savings of a year of Base Camp’s operations were offset by more than a million times by Anders Hanson’s father’s energy company. The senior Hanson has pledged to switch his operation to green energy, but so far we see no progress on that account. The hypocrisy is stunning.” The woman turned to her co-anchor. “These Base Camp people want to have their cake and eat it, too.”
“That’s not remotely true!” Anders burst out. “As soon as the show is over, I’ll be working 24/7 on the transition with my dad. He’s already conducting a survey of his operations so we have the information we need to get it done.”
“That’s the whole point, right?” Eve asked. “That their story isn’t true? They’re trying to make fools out of us—and out of our audience, too. Trying to make people feel bad for supporting us.”
“They want us riled up. We should ignore them,” Walker said.
“Easy for you to say; no one’s attacked your family,” Anders pointed out.
“Figure my time’s coming.”
Avery knew what Walker meant; it was obvious Star News was working its way through the cast of Base Camp. What would they hit him on? The fact that the Crow were exploiting their own fossil fuel resources on the reservation? Maybe.
“I’m doing my best to keep up with their lies,” Hope said. “Every time they have a segment, I’m refuting it point for point on the show’s website.”
“Are you feeding them this stuff?” Eve asked Renata.
Renata blinked. “Did you forget I’m a part of this community now?”
“What about you?” Eve turned on Byron. “Or one of the other crew members?”
“Nothing Star News has talked about is new material,” Avery pointed out. “They’re just lobbing mud at us to see what sticks with their viewership. They’ll take whatever does, turn it into a slogan and repeat it over and over again. You’ll see.” She shrugged at the surprised expressions around her. “Come on, you have to watch the channel only a half-dozen times to know their methodology. Every story gets a catchphrase—something that’s easy to remember and easy to repeat. They say that catchphrase repeatedly for a few days, and pretty soon anyone who watches is saying it, too. Today’s catchphrase is: Those Base Camp people want to have their cake and eat it, too. I’ll bet it’s already a social media hashtag.”
“Maybe we should do a segment about that on our next show,” Chris said from behind his camera.
“It’ll be too late,” Anders said. “By then the damage will be done. My dad made a mistake. He should have turned his company around sooner, but at least now he’s on the right road. And millions of people are going to attack him for it?”
“We have millions of viewers, too,” Eve told him. “And Chris can show them how Star News is manipulating people. That would be even better than just putting information on the website, although I think we should keep doing that. Chris, if we pull together a fact sheet about our intentions and a time line for when Hansen Oil is going to pursue them, can you add it to the story?”
“Sure can,” Chris said.
“But what makes you think Star News viewers and our viewers even overlap?” Addison spoke up. “I mean, aren’t you going to be preaching to the choir if you talk about this stuff on Base Camp? Our viewers already know Hansen Oil is transitioning to Hansen Energy. They saw it all unfold on the show. And our viewers probably don’t get their news from Star Television.”
“There must be some crossover,” Hope said.
“Some,” Addison repeated. “But not much.”
“So some is all we can expect,” Curtis said, ruffling Daisy’s ears. The dog sat at his feet. “But family members and friends probably talk to each other about what they watch.”
“Do they?” Hope asked. “Seems to me like people stick to their own side. Half the country is watching one type of news. The other is getting a completely different story. It’s like we’re not even living in the same world anymore. Every time I update the website, I wonder if I’m wasting my time. Do Star News fans ever come to read it? Probably not.”
Chris guffawed. When everyone turned to him, he shook his head. “Sorry, but that’s an understatement. When I was a kid, we had three channels to choose from. The national news came
