After rumors that Jan Balther of Net-7 News was actually rewarding certain reporters with expensive gifts there has been a frenzy of activity among the journalist comunity. After an initial flurry of sign-ups for Net-7's freelance reporter program earlier this year, the interest seemed to fade when applicants realized that Net-7's focus was on the "free" in freelance. This all changed when a number of freelance reporters where seen leaving meetings with Mr. Blather, clutching state-of-the-art equipment sporting the Net-7 logo. Since the rumours started to fly there has been an unprecidented upsurge in new reports filed with Net-7, and if the following quote from one freelance reporter is anything to go by, we can see why. The unnamed reporter was heard to say, "What! This job actually pays! Where's my datapad, I feel a story coming on."
Whether this is positive change in direction for Net-7 or just a shameless publicity stunt remains to be seen.