Chapter 829 - 797: Tit for Tat
Wang Tiejun initially wanted to give up, but the capital backing him was not willing. Now, Wang Tiejun is not fighting alone. From selecting the target, to producing test results, formulating compensation plans, and even strategies for gaining and monetizing traffic, it’s all a collective effort of the team working together.
Several people in the team believe that getting into a spat with such a major internet celebrity like Three Two Three isn’t a bad thing. The more they fight, the more attention it draws, enabling them to quickly attract focus and societal attention.
Since Three Two Three could mobilize masses against them, they could use the same tactics against Three Two Three. They suggested that Wang Tiejun publish the chat records between himself and Three Two Three and also came up with three conscience questions.
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First ask Three Two Three, is the popularity of Dongzhou Barbecue a long-planned publicity stunt? Why has Dongzhou Barbecue been around for so long and only exploded this year? As an ambassador promoting Dongzhou Culture and Tourism, how much did Three Two Three benefit from it?
Second ask Three Two Three, what exactly is his relationship with Dongzhou Culture and Tourism Bureau? The person in charge of specific affairs at the bureau is named Xu Chunliang, and he is called Xu Xiaoyue. Are they relatives?
Third ask Three Two Three, in order to gain traffic, are you not hesitating to avoid important issues and deceive the public? Where’s your conscience? Isn’t a food safety issue bigger than the sky? Isn’t the issue with the iron skewers a food issue? Isn’t it a real problem? What’s wrong with speaking out for the people?
Meanwhile, Wang Tiejun made an important statement that all compensation funds obtained from this anti-counterfeiting effort would be donated to the Hope Project.
Wang Tiejun’s team displayed a momentum of preferring traffic over money in their response, challenging those who accuse him of being money-hungry by stating, "I’m donating! Is it wrong for me to speak out for the common people for free? Is it wrong for me to speak out for justice?"
However, Wang Tiejun didn’t understand how to truly handle traffic. Xu Chunliang and Three Two Three did not miss the opportunity to kick a man when he’s down. As Wang Tiejun countered with the three conscience questions, they started to play on popular culture.
What is playing on popular culture? It means stirring up a topic for the entire population to participate in, not limited to text replies but also including animations, video edits, and various memes of eating iron skewers to call out fakes.
Wang Tiejun’s team soon realized that most people didn’t care about right or wrong anymore, nor did they believe in so-called expert opinions. They only believed what they wanted to believe. If they thought something was interesting, they would participate without caring who Wang Tiejun was. What is right and wrong in this world doesn’t matter, nor does truth or falsehood. What matters is whether I’m happy.
Wang Tiejun looked at one meme after another of turtles eating iron skewers online, as if thousands of iron skewers were piercing his heart simultaneously.
His thrice-married wife was shouting that life was unbearable, saying, "In the past, people said turtles eat weights and make a firm decision. Now they say turtles eat iron skewers. It’s heartbreaking, Tiejun."
Wang Tiejun realized that the teammates he had were all useless. Their three conscience questions didn’t hit the mark at all, while Three Two Three’s three strikes hit directly at his vital points, and their strikes didn’t even scratch the surface.
Wang Tiejun’s biggest problem was his own dirty record, which led to him being ridiculed by the entire internet, frustrating him to the core. Even his father called to scold him, saying, "Why do you have to squeeze into every hot topic? What’s the point of wrestling with iron skewers?"
Dongzhou’s health supervision department immediately publicized the handling of the issues, taking serious action against the problematic businesses, urging them to replace their iron skewers with ones that meet standards, and prompting all businesses to conduct strict self-inspections. If any issues arise, they must cease operations and make corrections immediately with no leniency. A comprehensive inspection of all businesses in the barbecue city will be conducted within a week, and any businesses not complying with the regulations will be closed and removed from the city, and violations will be recorded in personal credit files.
This series of measures has regained some public trust, and the storm triggered by Wang Tiejun’s fight against counterfeits in Dongzhou Barbecue has begun to subside.
Fu Guomin contacted Xue Meizhen, the head of the TV station’s news department, who had already reached out to the "Focus" program team. Before they even met with the program team leader, the "Focus" team had already launched another episode discussing the online violence Wang Tiejun faced recently.
The perspective of this episode is that regardless of Wang Tiejun’s motives for fighting counterfeits, his actions should be applauded.
It is well known that food hygiene issues have always been a regulatory blind spot. It is precisely because Wang Tiejun repeatedly exposes unscrupulous traders that some illegal activities in the food safety field are stopped. If everyone could be like Wang Tiejun, food safety would not be a problem.
We should not criticize or ridicule Wang Tiejun’s actions. The issues with Dongzhou Barbecue objectively exist and cannot be overlooked. The harm of heavy metal excess to the human body is no less than gutter oil, Sudan Red, or melamine...
Food is the primary necessity of the people, and food safety is even greater than heaven.
CCTV’s program refocused public attention on food hygiene.
Just as things were calming down for the Dongzhou Culture and Tourism Bureau, they found themselves under enormous media pressure again. Xue Meizhen told Fu Guomin that young people are the ones at the forefront of news now. They don’t play by the rules nor respect authority. She didn’t even know the higher-ups at CCTV. In such situations, the best way to counteract is by using public opinion to defeat public opinion, and news to counter news. It is ideal to find a platform comparable to or close to CCTV to clear Dongzhou Barbecue’s name.
However, Dongzhou TV Station is clearly not in the same league. No matter how continuously their news programs broadcast to clear Dongzhou Barbecue’s name, it’s no match for one deep-sea bomb dropped by CCTV.
Fu Guomin doesn’t have many strong connections in the news media industry either. He recalled Su Qing had helped promote Dongzhou Barbecue multiple times before. Pinghai Satellite TV is one of the top five satellite TV platforms, second only to CCTV in terms of influence. If they could use the Provincial Satellite TV to clear their name, perhaps they could reverse some of the negative impact from "Focus".
Su Qing is currently hosting a program called "Distance," which has very high ratings within Pinghai Province. Fu Guomin noticed this point and understood that he didn’t have the influence to persuade Su Qing, and the most suitable person was Xu Chunliang.
Xu Chunliang was somewhat concerned that this matter might cause trouble for Su Qing. He contacted Su Qing, advising her to carefully consider the pros and cons and not to force herself.
QuSu Qing didn’t hesitate at all. In fact, she had been following this matter closely over the past few days. She believed that the "Focus" program had unfairly targeted Dongzhou Barbecue. The hygiene problem with barbecues was the fault of a few unscrupulous businesses and shouldn’t have smeared the entire industry. Such exposure effectively placed an "unhygienic" hat on Dongzhou Barbecue.
Originally, this matter was about to fade away, and Wang Tiejun had already backed down. Then the "Focus" team came out to support Wang Tiejun, clearly intending to destroy the momentum of the Dongzhou Barbecue industry.
Su Qing had already drafted a script for a news special titled "Abandoning Food Over Fear or Retaining the Essence," but she was worried that it might not get approved, fearing it would seem like a challenge to CCTV since "Focus" aired first.
She thought it would be best if Xing Wenhua, the head of Pinghai Culture and Tourism, would reach out to the provincial satellite TV leadership. With leadership support, everything would be much smoother.
Xu Chunliang had a good personal relationship with Xing Wenhua, and Xing Wenhua owed him a favor. If he stepped in, theoretically, Xing Wenhua wouldn’t refuse. But using personal connections for public matters isn’t wise, so Xu Chunliang suggested that Fu Guomin make the contact instead.
Fu Guomin worked up the courage to contact Xing Wenhua, who was also feeling aggrieved. He had praised Dongzhou Barbecue a lot in various meetings. Now, Dongzhou Barbecue’s scandal was like a slap to his face. Just days ago, he had even called for other cities in Pinghai to learn from Dongzhou. Now he had become a laughingstock in the system.
Xing Wenhua believed that the "Focus" program was unfair in exposing the hygiene issues of Dongzhou Barbecue. He has a sense of protecting his own both in family and at work. Defending Dongzhou’s image and interests is part of his duty as a leader.
Without further ado, Xing Wenhua contacted the provincial satellite TV leadership, and his gesture was indeed crucial. The main leaders of the Provincial Satellite TV held a small meeting and decided to strongly support Dongzhou in this incident.
Their decision was mainly based on the sudden shift in online sentiment. Initially, due to Wang Tiejun’s anti-counterfeiting actions, Dongzhou Barbecue’s reputation plummeted, but after Three Two Three’s conscience questions, public opinion reversed.
Aside from the online controversies, from within the news media industry, "Focus" was clearly biased in its two reports, and Pinghai Satellite TV also had the responsibility to speak out for Dongzhou.
After considering everything, the provincial station decided that the "Distance" program’s in-depth special reporting on the Dongzhou Barbecue phenomenon would officially broadcast two days after the "Focus" aired.
This episode comprehensively analyzed and interpreted Wang Tiejun’s recent anti-counterfeiting actions while also subtly criticizing that journalists should take the bigger picture into account and shouldn’t be partial or stop at the first signs of issues.
The episode hosted by Su Qing had a significant impact after airing, with someone immediately mixing clips from her program with the two CCTV episodes, sparking another wave of controversy online regarding Dongzhou Barbecue.
This time, it was evident that more people stood by Dongzhou Barbecue. There’s an old saying in Dongzhou, "Eating messy food won’t make you sick," suggesting that the hygiene conditions have actually improved significantly. Most netizens also believed that the positive aspects of Dongzhou Barbecue shouldn’t be entirely overshadowed.
This was the first weekend after Wang Tiejun’s anti-counterfeiting campaign. After a series of ups and downs, tourist numbers in Dongzhou rebounded significantly. The Dongzhou Culture and Tourism Bureau introduced the concept of Dongzhou Barbecue 2.0, aimed at comprehensive upgrades in ingredients, hygiene, and service to ensure every visitor to Dongzhou enjoys fresh, healthy, and hygienic barbecues, and each tourist feels a welcoming experience.