A Voss and Pike Casefile
Section 10: The Sentinel
The Saltmarsh Sentinel occupied a glass box on the ring road, all screens and standing desks and the smell of burnt coffee. Rex Halloran lifted his head from a layout table as you entered, and he didn't look surprised.
"Voss. I wondered how long. Have a seat."
On the screen behind him a headline sat in draft, big and bruised: TERRACE TERROR? GANGS HAUNT CITY CENTRE. Halloran leaned back and spread his hands. "People want to be afraid, Ada. In bite-sized pieces, delivered daily. I supply the fear. Advertisers supply the antidote."
Jonah frowned. "Does it work? Do people really copy what they see?"
"Imitation. Desensitisation. I don't care which; both sell." Halloran grinned. "Long-term, the effect is small, indirect, cumulative. Everyone's a little more scared, a little more sure crime is everywhere and a little more certain who's to blame. I decide the conversation. I don't have to win the argument if I set the topic."