| 1 | %%% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %%% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ->''"So I called that guy I know at NBC. And then I got to thinking -- You know what I hate? I hate those lame action movies where the good guy calls just one person who ends up betraying him. So I called ABC, CBS, The Post, The Times, the local news channel, and the FBI."'' |
| 8 | -->-- '''Smith''', ''Film/ShootEmUp'' |
| 9 | |
| 10 | A character [[BrokenMasquerade breaks]] the {{Masquerade}} by sending the details they have uncovered to the press -- often to multiple publications at once, so that the envelopes can't be intercepted. Usually happens at the end of a work. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Occasionally this is the posthumous revenge of a DeadManWriting. This can be used to subvert a ShootTheShaggyDog ending -- the MainCharacters achieved nothing and [[HeroicSacrifice died in the attempt]], but it's subsequently revealed that they managed to get the word out, and it might all be worth it in the end. It can also be played [[AmbiguousEnding ambiguously]], with the audience unsure of whether the information gets delivered or not (or whether or not it [[ExtraStrengthMasquerade has any effect]] if it does). |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Naturally, this is the ''modus operandi'' of the IntrepidReporter, especially when they're GoingForTheBigScoop. If the messenger is relying on other people making a LastStand to give him a chance, it's BringNewsBack. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Compare and contrast the villainous counterpart, DoNotAdjustYourSet. Also contrast HaveYouToldAnyoneElse See also InformationWantsToBeFree, YouCannotKillAnIdea, IrrevocableMessage, IMadeCopies, and FlingALightIntoTheFuture. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | !!As this is an {{Ending Trope|s}} and frequently also a {{Death Trope|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]]. |
| 19 | ---- |
| 20 | !!Examples: |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 25 | * ''Manga/{{Akumetsu}}'' uses this ''continuously''. [[spoiler:When the government decides to stop Akumetsu from broadcasting his final "movie" on hijacked TV signals, he puts it all over the internet.]] |
| 26 | * ''Manga/DontMeddleWithMyDaughter'': Athena retired from being a superheroine, after suffering years of sexual harassment from her enemies; including one incident where [[spoiler:[[RapeAsBackstory she was gang raped]]]]. Her friend, Hanna, used her connections as commander of N.U.D.E.[[note]]"Next Ultimate Defense Exports"[[/note]] to cover it up and silence any witnesses. But things are different in her daughter's day and age, thanks to the prevalence of the internet and social media. Athena fears [[DefiledForever what could happen to Clara's reputation]] as a heroine if she were to suffer the same humiliation she endured, especially if anyone were to broadcast it, so she comes out of retirement to keep it from happening. |
| 27 | * Episode 22 of ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' has Chevalier, who hijacked the ''[[CoolStarship Deucalion]]'' in the previous episode, broadcast all the illicit background dealings and incriminating evidence of corruption by the [[BlueBlood Nouvlesse]] to every single news channel in the galaxy as well as the ship's true purpose: to disable the [[PortalNetwork warp gates]] with a [[EverythingIsOnline quantum virus]] then warp out of the galaxy, leaving the commoners to their fate of dying off as trade and planetary economies collapse while planets under {{terraform}}ing will [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill revert back to inhospitable, killing their entire population]] who can't relocate since the warp gates are kaput. Needless to say, the commoners [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating didn't take it well]]. |
| 28 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 29 | ** The World Government puts the planned execution of [[spoiler:Portgas D. Ace]] on [[OceanPunk the equivalent of television]] and keeps it going even as the event is attacked by the Whitebeard Pirates. Sengoku, the leader of the Marines, orders the signal to be cut so people won't find out that [[spoiler:they made a deal with some of the pirates to kill Whitebeard for him]]. Then it turns out Buggy grabbed one of the cameras for the sake of showing off to bolster his reputation, and he keeps it rolling throughout the battle, most importantly [[spoiler:Whitebeard shouting out that One Piece exists]]. |
| 30 | ** At the end of the Dressrosa arc, Admiral Fujitora goes behind the World Government's back and transmits the aftermath of the islandwide battle (read "half the city has been reduced to rubble") to the neighboring countries, while also affirming that the country was saved not by the Marines but by [[TheHero Straw Hat Luffy]], a pirate. He then publicly admits to [[TheGoodKing King Riku]] that the entire debacle was the World Government's fault for making [[ArcVillain Donquixote Doflamingo]] a [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections Warlord]], before [[PoseOfSupplication prostrating himself]] to King Riku along with his men and ''apologizing on behalf of the World Government'' for allowing it to happen. By the time the World Government and Fleet Admiral Sakazuki learn what has happened, it is too late for anyone to stop the news from spreading. Fujitora [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight did all of this deliberately]] so that the World Government couldn't cover up the event, paint themselves as the heroes and pretend nothing happened like they did in the Arabasta arc with Crocodile, something which Smoker was very sore about. |
| 31 | ** "Big News" Morgans is a crooked, greedy news magnate, but the one thing he takes pride on is [[GoingForTheBigScoop his journalistic integrity.]] When the World Government sends a Cipher Pol agent to stop him (first with a bribe, then with threats of physical violence) from publishing a specific piece concerning an incident that took place during the Levely, he promptly beats up the agent, moves his entire workshop and has his people publish before the World Government decides to use more drastic measures. |
| 32 | --->'''Morgans:''' I may be a miser, but I am first and foremost a journalist!!! I am a DJ of words, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt one who occasionally spins lies]] to move the hearts of the people!! I decide what gets published!!! |
| 33 | ** Morgans does it again at the end of the Wano Country arc, when he publishes the aftermath of the Onigashima War: [[spoiler:[[WorldsStrongestMan Kaido of the Four Emperors]], [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable defeated by Straw Hat Luffy]], who has now taken his position (along with a new picture for Luffy's wanted poster, showing him transformed into the Sun God Nika, while refusing to remove the "[[SecretLegacy D.]]" from his name)]]. He gets the information from [[RefugeInAudacity tapping on the World Government fleet]] stationed outside of Wano Country at the time, whose transmission was cut off after they were attacked by the Big Mom Pirates. |
| 34 | --->'''Morgans:''' I won't let them manipulate ''this'' narrative!! At moments like these when the world is in flux, the straight facts are the most fascinating news there is!!! |
| 35 | ** In the Egghead arc, after [[spoiler:Vegapunk flatlines]], an automated transmission is [[DeadMansSwitch activated]] that is set to broadcast an unencrypted message worldwide (by piggybacking on the Marines' comm network), with anyone who receives it being given 10 minutes of time in advance to prepare video screens in order to show its content to the rest of their countries. The idea is that both civilians and news agencies across the globe will have already received and spread it by the time the World Government tries to suppress the information. The contents of said message? Well... |
| 36 | --->'''[[spoiler:Vegapunk]]:''' While many of you will likely be shocked by what I have to say in this message... I assure you that it is [[spoiler:''[[AwfulTruth the truth of this world]]!!!'']] |
| 37 | * One episode of ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' has the duo attempting to recover every copy of an old porn tape Panty made that's ruining her upcoming movie career. They eventually succeed and Stocking is given the last copy, with Panty figuring she can't do any harm with it. However, when Stocking learns Panty had all her scenes from the film cut, she puts the video on the 'net as revenge. |
| 38 | * In ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'', the [[spoiler:remaining]] Module 77 kids use it to expose the Magius to the world by [[spoiler:showing the Dorssian Fuhrer's immortality]]. {{Double Subver|sion}}ted when [[spoiler:Cain destroys the terminal, but ARUS President Anderson exposes them anyway. A global upheaval and hunt for the Magius erupts as a result]]. |
| 39 | [[/folder]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 42 | * ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange: The Oath'' involves Strange's efforts to recover a magical potion which was stolen from him by a pharmaceuticals company intent upon WithholdingTheCure. The CEO winds up dead in a way which looks like suicide by the end of it, and it looks like no one will know what they've done, but one of Strange's allies finds his "[[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade we have to kill 'em all]]" memo to the board of directors and proceed to fax it far and wide. |
| 43 | * {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''ComicBook/Hardware1993''. This is the first thing the protagonist tries, anonymously sending the media all the evidence he's gathered on Alva's wrongdoing. And the media pointedly ignores it. |
| 44 | * The original ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' plays this slightly differently to [[Film/{{Watchmen}} the film]] (see below) -- Rorschach puts his diary in a mailbox before the {{denouement}}, and we only discover its destination at the very end. Whether the world finds out (let alone whether they ''should'') is [[AmbiguousEnding left ambiguous]], and the reader is asked to decide. |
| 45 | * The ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' issue [[http://www.4thletter.net/2006/11/the-top-100-what-if-countdown-part-19/ "What If Gwen Stacy Had Lived?"]] (vol. 1, #24) concludes with a reversal of this trope, in that it's the ''villain'' who sends information to the press rather than the hero. The Green Goblin posts evidence of ComicBook/SpiderMan's SecretIdentity to the hero's "second-greatest enemy": [[DaEditor J. Jonah Jameson]]. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 49 | * ''Fanfic/AvengerOfSteel'': Wilson Fisk mantains a tight grip on New York's media... so Clark circumvents it by starting a blog to spread word of his crimes. It doesn't take long for the news to spread worldwide. |
| 50 | * ''Fanfic/ConversationsWithACryptid'': In ''Kidnapping of a Cryptid'', Izuku writes an article detailing how the Japanese government has been abusing their power. This article ultimately ends up being published, causing [[spoiler:riots to break out across Japan]]. |
| 51 | * ''Fanfic/{{Implacable}}'': An {{Omake}} chapter entitled "The Dead-Man's Switch" {{Invoke|dTrope}}s this; Danny buys Tinkertech from Uber and Leet, then sets things up so that if he's ever killed or incarcerated, a tell-all message will automatically be mass-uploaded and spread across the network. |
| 52 | * ''Fanfic/JulekaVsTheForcesOfTheUniverse'': When Side-by-Side sends out a call for fans to send in their '[[ExactWords Best Ladybug and Chat Noir moments]]', intending to make a montage [[ShipperWithAnAgenda shipping the two together]], Juleka submits a TrojanHorse that starts off with properly credited pictures of the pair before seguing into [[CaughtOnTape a recording of]] Ladybug calling her partner out on his constant harassment of her. While [[DownplayedTrope the show cuts to a commerical before the full thing plays]], the majority is still broadcast live, including the part where Ladybug reminds Chat Noir that she's repeatedly ''told him'' she's in love with someone else. |
| 53 | * In ''Fanfic/QuantityOverQuality'', Sister and Jax {{Invoke|dTrope}} this by holding a livestream while they're [[spoiler:raiding the Freelancer's ship]]. |
| 54 | * ''Fanfic/TheScorpionJar'': After years of having teachers [[ApatheticTeacher look the other way]] or outright ''encourage'' [[BarbaricBully Katsuki]] and his other tormentors, Izuku doesn't trust that that the Board of Education will actually ''do anything'' about their crimes even when presented with ample evidence. So in order to force their hand, he releases all that evidence to the media as well. |
| 55 | * In ''Fanfic/WeaverAndJinx'', Maribel strongly suspects that Taylor will stop her if she finds out about her plan to publicly expose all of the bullying Sophia, Emma and Madison have subjected them to, along with how the school had been covering it up. So she uploads her tell-all video without letting her know about it, so that Taylor won't actually be able to ''stop her''. |
| 56 | * ''Fanfic/WhatIsWrittenInBlood'': The existence of the Diclonius is exposed to the world by Angel broadcasting her murderous rampage through Kamakura all over TV. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 60 | * The ''Film/{{Apocalypse}}'' film ''Revelation'' has a very different version of this particular trope: two people who have taken the MarkOfTheBeast try to stop the anti-Day of Wonders virus program from uploading by pulling out the disk from the computer and even shooting the computer it's uploading on, all to no avail as it miraculously continues to boot up. Unfortunately, this plan [[YouCantThwartStageOne only delays the Day of Wonders program from being released worldwide]], as it shows up in full use in the following movie ''Tribulation''. |
| 61 | * The second half of ''Film/BlueThunder'' involves getting a video tape to a TV broadcasting station, despite various attempts by the conspirators to intercept it. |
| 62 | * The entire plot of ''Film/TheBookOfEli'' is his attempt to deliver the [[spoiler:Bible]] to someone capable of disseminating it. |
| 63 | * ''Film/TheBourneUltimatum'' ends with this, exposing the program. {{Subverted|Trope}} according to ''Film/TheBourneLegacy'', as the attempt was in fact stopped. In that film, the government is killing off everyone connected to the program. ProfessionalKiller Aaron tells scientist Marta that if she doesn't want to go into hiding, her only chance for survival is to go public. The rest of [[Film/TheBourneSeries the series]] plays with this: maybe the signal can't be stopped, but the possibilities of [[SinisterSpyAgency the CIA]] deciding to [[HeKnowsTooMuch murder you anyway]] or finding a way to discredit you are absurdly high. |
| 64 | -->'''Aaron:''' But you better ask yourself this: Could you ever say it loud enough, fast enough, that they'd leave you alone? |
| 65 | * In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', [[spoiler:all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s information is unencrypted and leaked online, thus stealing all advantage HYDRA might gain]]. Apparently, it started trending. |
| 66 | * In ''Film/ChainReaction'', the good guy releases to the world the details of the machine allowing production of functionally unlimited energy by [[TechnologyMarchesOn faxing it]] to news offices everywhere. |
| 67 | * This is how ''Film/{{Clonus}}'' ends; the RetiredBadass IntrepidReporter Jake Noble is murdered, but manages to get a tape exposing the Clonus project to the media. |
| 68 | * The story of Sonmi-451 from ''Film/CloudAtlas''. |
| 69 | * In ''Film/TheConstantGardener'', Justin sends a letter to his friend containing details of [[PredatoryBigPharma a pharmacy company's unscrupulous testing methods for their medicines]], knowing he's about to be murdered for knowing too much. His friend reads it out as his eulogy. |
| 70 | * ''Film/TheCore'': TheRat sends the details [[spoiler:of the government earthquake-weapon research and the save-the-planet mission that cost the lives of most of the heroes]] to all the world's news outlets. Noteworthy that the team hired him explicitly to stop the signal in the first place and prevent word from getting out to avoid mass panic. |
| 71 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgdE-qPv6kw The final words]] in ''Film/DeadlineUSA'' (1952), one of Creator/HumphreyBogart's finest later films. He's speaking to a gangster he's about to bring down in the final issue of his paper just before it's bought out and closed down. |
| 72 | -->''"That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. '''Nothing!'''"'' |
| 73 | * ''Film/DefenceOfTheRealm'': [[spoiler:Though Nick and Nina are both killed at the end, the story Nick wrote, and that Nina sent out -- about how the British government framed MP Dennis Markham for being a Soviet spy to cover up the story he was going to expose about a petty criminal being able to sneak into an American Air Force base -- gets published in Europe, and the fact a British journalist was murdered for writing the story gets the rest of the British press writing about the story.]] |
| 74 | * ''Film/EdgeOfDarkness2010'' sees Elle Craven's whistleblowing video sent to the press by her father, [[spoiler:who knows he's dying of thalium poisoning courtesy of her employers]]. |
| 75 | * Attempted in ''Film/{{Good Guys Wear Black|1978}}'' (1978), only for the BigBad to reveal that the only witness who can verify the story has just been admitted to a mental hospital. Creator/ChuckNorris then decides to settle the matter [[VigilanteExecution via more direct means]]. |
| 76 | * ''Film/GreenZone'' ends with the hero mass-E-mailing to multiple press agencies through the world evidence of the corruption [[SinisterSpyAgency within U.S. Intelligence]] (namely their faked "Magellan" contact) that led to the start of the Second Gulf War (the alleged existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Irak) and [[WarForFunAndProfit their attempt at setting a puppet government]] ([[spoiler:which [[ShaggyDogStory just ended quite futilely]]]]). |
| 77 | * ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'': The [=LoTeks=] transmit the cure for NAS stored in Johnny's head around the world in the end. |
| 78 | * In ''Film/ManOfSteel'', Lois Lane is told by Perry that he refuses to publish her article about a mysterious man of alien origin with superpowers wandering the country incognito. Lois Lane gives the article to an alternative media site's owner instead, who puts it online. |
| 79 | * The climax of ''Film/TheNet1995'' has Angela Bennett e-mailing all the proof she has on the Praetorian conspiracy to the FBI, as well as setting up a virus to infect and destroy the backdoor software that they used to wreck her life when they [[BatmanGambit inevitably try to use the computer she just occupied to send the message]] to hack into the FBI mainframe and delete it while she is forced to watch her efforts become worthless. |
| 80 | * ''Film/TheNiceGuys'': Healy and March ultimately fail to [[spoiler:prevent Amelia's murder, but they do find her]] and discover the whistleblowing significance of the porno movie they had thought was just a lead. The rest of the film is about their attempt to keep the last surviving copy out of the hands of [[spoiler:Amelia's killers]]. |
| 81 | * ''Film/PromisingYoungWoman'': After she's murdered during her quest for vengeance, it turns out that Cassie did this as a XanatosGambit. A couple of months later, Jordan receives her final message, telling him that she was murdered by Al with all the evidence of where and when it happened, which leads to the police finding the body. To get justice for Nina, Cassie set up the video of Nina's rape to be sent around to everyone on Al's wedding guest list, meaning that he can no longer deny that he'd raped her and that everybody knows. |
| 82 | * At the end of ''[[Literature/{{VALIS}} Radio Free Albemuth]]'', [[spoiler:as a political prisoner, the main character hears over a radio that the resistance-song has been released, justifying his sacrifice in getting it to the public]]. |
| 83 | * In the final act of ''Film/RogueOne'', [[spoiler:Jyn Erso and her companions travel to an Imperial base on the planet Scarif in order to steal the Death Star schematics and relay them to the Rebel fleet above. All of her companions except Cassian die in the ensuing battle, but during the conflict Jyn reaches a computer on the top of the Citadel Tower and transmits the schematics to the Rebel flagship. Once receiving the blueprints, the Rebels copy the data and rush to get as far away from the planet as possible, with the Empire in close pursuit, setting up the events of ''Film/ANewHope''. Jyn and Cassian are eventually killed by the Death Star's superlaser firing on its own base as a failed last resort]]. |
| 84 | * ''Film/Serenity2005'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}} -- the heroes use the late [[KnowledgeBroker Mr. Universe]]'s equipment to broadcast the truth about Miranda and "Pax" to the four corners of the 'verse. |
| 85 | -->'''Mr. Universe:''' Mal. Guy killed me, Mal. He killed me with a sword. How weird is that? I got a short span here. They destroyed my equipment, but I have a backup unit. Bottom of the complex. Right over the generator. Hard to get to. I know they missed it. They [[TropeNamers can't stop the signal]], Mal. They can never stop the signal. |
| 86 | * Film/{{Serpico}} makes futile attempts to get his various police superiors and the Mayor's office to do something about police corruption, but it's only when he and his colleagues go to the ''New York Times'' that a proper inquiry is held, not only into corruption but how it's allowed to flourish. This only makes Serpico a greater target, however. |
| 87 | * ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' has a small-town variation on this. As he escapes and takes all of the secret kickback money out of false bank accounts, Andy drops a package of hard proof of the warden's crimes into the outgoing mail. That gets sent to the local newspaper; in the next scene, the front-page article indicting the prison warden is shown on the Warden's desk, just as the cops are trying to beat down his office door. |
| 88 | * Smith from ''Film/ShootEmUp'' does this because [[GenreSavvy he's aware of how this goes in movies]] -- see the page quote. Unfortunately, it's an AvertedTrope -- the villains have too much power and keep the news from getting out. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Which is all right for Smith]]... |
| 89 | * ''Film/StateOfPlay'' ends with a credits montage of Cal and Della's story on Point Corp going to print. |
| 90 | * ''Film/TheyLive'' [[InvertedTrope inverts the trope]]; the villains are the ones ''sending'' the signal (which maintains their {{Masquerade}} as humans like us), and the heroes wind up ''stopping'' it in the end. |
| 91 | * Subverted at the end of ''Film/ThreeDaysOfTheCondor''. Turner reveals to CIA chief Higgins that he's had told everything to the ''New York Times''. But as Turner walks away... |
| 92 | -->'''Higgins:''' Hey, Turner! How do you know they'll print it? ''How do you know...?'' |
| 93 | * In ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach sends his diary to [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Not The]] ''[[ConspiracyTheorist Weekly World News]]'' before the big showdown. At the end, a writer is sent to dig through the "crank file" for a story, but it's ambiguous as to whether the journal was chosen or not. |
| 94 | [[/folder]] |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 97 | * The ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' {{novelization}} reveals that the Na'vi and scientists sent a message to Earth (either by SubspaceAnsible or radio, but either way, it would beat the RDA {{Sleeper Ship}}s there) about the RDA's actions on Pandora to incite public opinion against the MegaCorp trying to retaliate against their eviction. |
| 98 | * In Creator/FrankHerbert's short story "Committee of the Whole", a man uses the broadcast of a U.S. Senate hearing to describe a cheap, easily built laser that could cut the Earth in half like a ripe tomato. He then spends several pages trying to justify distributing information that could allow any madman to destroy the planet. He later admits he had distributed the information far and wide earlier. |
| 99 | * In "Literature/TheDeadPast", a man discovers the secret of {{chronoscop|e}}y (a machine that can view the past), which has been placed under government control. He releases the information to several publicity outlets so it will become public, then learns ''why'' the government suppressed it. It can look at any place at any sufficiently recent time... which means there is no privacy, since there are no limitations on how ''close'' to the present it can look. The government knew about this before (it was their motivation for their draconian rules, the intent being to keep it out of the public's hands and unused), but once the protagonists invent a cheap and simple way to duplicate the technology and spread it widely, everyone can look at anyone at any time. The government even admits that their own agents have used it for indiscreet purposes. |
| 100 | * {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': magical rituals can be performed by anyone, and magical ''summoning'' rituals can be particularly bad if they summon [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow Things Man Was Not Meant to Know]]. However, the likelihood of a ritual working is inversely proportional to the number of times it is attempted: the more people try to summon a devil, the less likely it is for the devil to show up, to the point that you can reduce the chance to zero if you disseminate the information enough. Thus, the White Council's standard practice when they find a particularly bad ritual spell is to tell ''everyone'' about it by publishing a book, almost immediately invalidating the ritual.[[note]]This is, on occasion, a bad thing, however, as detailed by Thomas in the short story [[Literature/SideJobs "Backup"]].[[/note]] They were also responsible for sharing Dr. Van Helsing's research on vampires in the form of Bram Stoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', to allow ordinary mortals to fight back against and almost completely destroy the Black Court of vampires, aka the ones that were complete monsters with no moral compass or desire to remain hidden. |
| 101 | * ''Literature/{{Fatherland}}'' ends with an [[BolivianArmyEnding ambiguous]] use of this; what we see is what the main character hopes/believes is happening, not necessarily what is. [[Film/{{Fatherland}} The film of the book]] plays it straight. |
| 102 | * At the end of ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'', Charlie gives her story to the one major publication she can trust not to be controlled by the government... ''[[Magazine/RollingStone Rolling Stone magazine]]''. |
| 103 | * In Greg Iles' ''The Footprints of God'', the main character exposes the AI project he's working on after he recovers from a coma. |
| 104 | * ''Literature/TheGapCycle'' uses this in the climax, giving humanity its best defense against the Amnion. |
| 105 | * ''Literature/ImperialRadch'': In ''Ancillary Justice'', Breq's plan for revenge against [[TheEmperor Anaander Mianaai]] is to reveal his secret actions to ''herself'', leaving her unable to deny the [[SplitPersonality split]] in the HiveMind that composes her. This succeeds, plunging the Anaander Mianaai into civil war against the other parts of herself. |
| 106 | * ''Literature/JohnRain'': |
| 107 | ** In ''A Clean Kill in Tokyo'', Rain finds himself up against this problem with the MacGuffin, a computer disk with a list of Japanese officials involved in corruption. Due to the nature of the Japanese media, no-one will touch such a potentially divisive story, so Rain gives the disk to a US journalist who can publish the story overseas, allowing the Japanese media to comment on it. Unfortunately, the journalist is then murdered, putting them back to square one. |
| 108 | ** In ''The Detachment'', Rain discovers a GovernmentConspiracy to launch a FalseFlagOperation in the United States and asks his friend in the CIA why he can't just leak it to the newspapers. He points out that the New York Times has changed a lot since the Watergate days, and that they sat on a story of illegal domestic surveillance until after the election... so when they finally uncover undeniable proof of the conspiracy, they release it on Wikileaks instead. |
| 109 | * In the first book of ''Literature/TheNexusSeries'', the protagonist Kade and his friends have invented Nexus 5 -- a way to cheaply and efficiently boost one's mind and body by injecting nanomachines and running software on them. This has the potential of having ''enormous'' consequences for the whole of humanity -- in both good and bad ways. Concerned that humanity might choose the bad over the good if given Nexus and left to its own devices, and suddenly finding themselves on the run from a number of conservative government entities who want to shut down the "outbreak" before it starts, the protagonists spend most of the first book closely guarding the source code to their creation. At the end, [[spoiler:Kade finally realizes humanity deserves to choose its own path, and releases the source code on the Internet. The NSA ''almost'' looks like it's about to end it... but there's always ''someone'' who's continuing the chain, resulting in the code ultimately spreading far and wide and changing the balance of power forever]]. |
| 110 | * Literature/SherlockHolmes does this before he ends Moriarty once and for all in "The Adventure of the Final Problem". |
| 111 | * In Desmond Bagley's spy thriller ''The Tightrope Men'', Giles Dennison has been kidnapped, brainwashed and altered by MagicPlasticSurgery to take the place of KidnappedScientist Meyrick. Meyrick's British intelligence minders discover what's happen and convince Dennison to continue the impersonation. However, Meyrick's daughter realises that her 'father' is an imposter and threatens to go to the press unless Giles gets proper treatment for what's happened to him. When the intelligence minders say they'll suppress the story with a D Notice, she replies that she knows several student newspapers that would simply ignore it. |
| 112 | * Villainous example at the climax of ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance''. The humans win the Battle of Narak, crushing the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Voidbringers]]. But it's already too late. The Voidbringers have had time to release a magical signal that will transform all the parshmen into Voidbringers, and there are parshmen ''everywhere''. The enemy may have lost twenty or thirty thousand Voidbringers at Narak, but he'll soon have twenty or thirty ''million'' to replace them. |
| 113 | * ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'' ends with the protagonists calling a journalist to reveal the GovernmentConspiracy, despite having already been bought off. |
| 114 | [[/folder]] |
| 115 | |
| 116 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 117 | * Attempted in the season finale of ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' when [[spoiler:Dr. Rosen broadcasts testimony of the existence of alphas and the government's response. They eventually cut him off, but not until it's far too late]]. |
| 118 | * In the ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' episode "Bunker Hill", a slave uprising on Earth against the Drago-Kazof Nietscheans is crushed because the ''Andromeda Ascendant'' couldn't get there in time to provide air support, but the rebels get off a video message about the uprising that sparks similar uprisings all across the Drago-Kazof empire. |
| 119 | * The second season finale of ''Series/BabylonFive'' with Inter Stellar News getting a copy of Warren Keffer's gun camera footage after his fighter is destroyed, revealing to the galaxy the existence of the Shadows. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Unfortunately]], the heroes had been trying to ''suppress'' that information, so as to avoid tipping their enemies off to the fact that they were aware of their plans. |
| 120 | * In ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', Legasov's suicide two years after the titular disaster and the tapes he recorded spark an investigation into the events, finally forcing the Soviet government to reveal exactly what happened and the scale of the disaster. In Legasov's case, he was already dying from radiation exposure and has been made a virtual UnPerson by the KGB, so this may also count as a ThanatosGambit. |
| 121 | * Several ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' episodes involve a government trying to keep something hidden. In one episode, a planet is demanding that the ''Excalibur'' hand over a refugee, promising him safe passage to the surface. The shuttle explodes mid-flight. They learn that the government has been purging great cultural works, and the man gave his life to save as many of them as he could, leaving the recordings aboard the ''Excalibur''. In another, a pre-hyperspace civilization's government is deliberately spreading conspiracy theories in order to blame aliens for any problems caused by the government's incompetence. Gideon, pissed that the government has chosen humans as the culprit, reveals the truth to the planet's people. |
| 122 | * ''Series/TheExpanse'': |
| 123 | ** In "[[Recap/TheExpanseS01E02TheBigEmpty The Big Empty]]", a Martian ship is about to grab the ''Canterbury'''s life pod and Holden thinks that the people who destroyed their ship are coming to finish them off, so he sends a broad-spectrum message accusing Mars of destroying the ''Canterbury''. It causes riots to break out throughout the Belt. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} immediately afterwards because Holden turns out to be completely wrong; the whole thing was a FalseFlagOperation, and finding out who was really responsible takes them the rest of Season 1.]] |
| 124 | ** A flashback in "[[Recap/TheExpanseS01E05BackToTheButcher Back to the Butcher]]" shows a Belter protest earlier that was brutally taken down by the UNN, destroying an entire station inhabited not only by protesting miners but their children as well. After numerous offers to surrender were ignored one of the protest leaders sent a transmission showing his oxygen-deprived daughter and explaining that they were just trying to improve their kids' lives, which cuts off as the station is destroyed. Apparently, it was so effective that the assault's leader defected to the OPA. |
| 125 | * {{Subverted|Trope}} in the 1991 British mini-series ''Series/{{For the Greater Good}}''. A politician's secretary leaks a Cabinet document to a newspaper, but not only do their lawyers advise them not to use it because they could be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act, they actually send the papers back to the Cabinet office. The whistleblower is justly infuriated because this risks exposing her. She then has to try and find a sympathetic politician who can raise the matter in Parliament, allowing the press to legally comment on it. |
| 126 | * {{Averted|Trope}}, barely, in ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series'' only because Duncan uses the Quickening to fry Paris' power grid and thus the computer holding the disk which holds information about Immortals and Watchers. Lucily, the BigBad of the season who had been using the that disk in an attempt to blackmail Duncan chose the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower as the site of their showdown, providing a convenient antenna to transmit the lightning from the Quickening.[[note]]Convenient, but in-character; the villain in question had a massive flair for the theatrical and saw the highest point in Paris as the ideal place to enact his vengeance against Duncan.[[/note]] |
| 127 | * Series/{{Nikita}} often threatens this, but she never actually does it. The problem is that the actions that [[RogueAgent Division]] carry out could never be released to the world due to all of the problems it would cause. |
| 128 | * In ''Series/PushNevada'' (Creator/BenAffleck's gimmick show where a viewer could win the money stolen from an InUniverse casino), the protagonist sends his evidence to every email address he can find. |
| 129 | * Played with in the second season of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. Whoever said that the unstoppable signal had to speak the truth? |
| 130 | * {{Defied|Trope}} in ''Series/{{V 1983}}''. IntrepidReporter Mike Donovan gets proof on video that the Visitors aren't friendly HumanAliens who come in peace, but mice-swallowing reptilians planning to TakeOverTheWorld. He gets the tape to the broadcast studio, and just as they're about to tell the world, all the stations cut out for a 'special announcement' that the Visitors have taken 'temporary' control of the media for our own good. In the follow-up series, LaResistance rips off a Visitor's LatexPerfection face on live television. The Visitors claim that it's a fake and show the 'real' broadcast the next day with the same audience managed at gunpoint to applaud on cue. |
| 131 | [[/folder]] |
| 132 | |
| 133 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 134 | * In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', this is how the Helm Memory Core was distributed to the Inner Sphere. The Gray Death Legion mercenaries, rightfully not trusting [=ComStar=] in the matter, instead distributed copies of the library core to a large number of free traders, as well as certain specific people (such as Duke Hassid Ricol, who had aided them in the defense of the core); which ensured that, in spite of [=ComStar=]'s efforts to destroy the core, they ultimately failed at eradicating it, which allowed for the long-standing [[LostTechnology decline of technology]] in the Inner Sphere to be reversed. |
| 135 | [[/folder]] |
| 136 | |
| 137 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 138 | * This is the [[PhantomThief Yatagarasu]]'s entire schtick in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations''. The Yatagarasu steals evidence of corruption from businesses and political offices, then sends it to the media to expose the truth. [[spoiler:They do this because they've lost faith in the legal system, and it's the only way they can bring some measure of justice to people above the law.]] |
| 139 | * Some of the endings in ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' involve Michael Thorton carrying this out against Halbech and [[spoiler:Alpha Protocol]]. |
| 140 | * Post-''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' lore includes [[CoolOldLady Wynne]]'s use of this trope; she uses a magical broadcasting device in one of the [[MutantDraftBoard Circles of Magi]] to get out the word that [[spoiler:it is possible to reverse the Rite of Tranquility and restore a mage who has been rendered both unable to cast spells and effectively lobotomized]]. |
| 141 | * The old InteractiveFiction adaptation of/sequel to ''Literature/Fahrenheit451'' ended with Montag publicly broadcasting the contents of a lot of the banned books. |
| 142 | * In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', this is the Refuse ending. The galaxy is being swarmed by a techno-horror HordeOfAlienLocusts led by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that destroy every advanced civilization in a cyclical manner. The PlayerCharacter has the option to obliterate or rewire them, but all of the possible choices involve great sacrifice and loss. Or the PlayerCharacter can simply refuse to accept any of their choices -- and then the bad guys win, all technologically advanced life is destroyed, but not before one of the TrueCompanions executes her plan to FlingALightIntoTheFuture. She does so not on a single planet, but on many planets that harbor intelligent (or potentially intelligent) life, with smart programs to aid decryption by any who find it and incredible volumes of data that would propel a society almost instantly to a spacefaring one. This ensures that the next invasion is the last one. |
| 143 | * This is what drives one of ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'''s branches, the Revolution/Matt Horner missions. [[spoiler:They manage to bring the truth to the Dominion's civilians, thus starting a revolution.]] |
| 144 | [[/folder]] |
| 145 | |
| 146 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 147 | * ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'' has Sam do this to expose vampires to the world as the first step of his plan to strip The Committee of their power by exposing the various supernatural species living in The Underground. Normally, the Committee's enforcers, the Erasers, check all forms of media and censor or filter out security breaks, but there is a threshold beyond which even they can't cover up the truth. In the vampires' case, Sam managed to reveal their existence to dozens of national news crews at once, making it impossible to shut down all of them, as the level of blackout required would just prove that someone is trying to cover things up. |
| 148 | * In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', when the crew finds out about the [[MegaCorp Wormgate Corporation]]'s AncientConspiracy to suppress the [[DestructiveTeleportation teraport]] drive, [[MadScientist Kevyn]] turns the invention open-source and submits the schematics to literally ''everybody''. He ends up sparking a galaxy-wide revolution, as practically ''everybody'' who had been prevented from fighting each other due to the Wormgate Network can suddenly go shoot each other whenever they want. Or, to put it in perspective for him: |
| 149 | -->'''Kevyn:''' I just spammed something like two thirds of galactic society. |
| 150 | [[/folder]] |
| 151 | |
| 152 | [[folder:Web Originals]] |
| 153 | * ''WebVideo/CriticalRoleExandriaUnlimited Calamity'': As the Calamity is getting started and the fall of Avalir becomes apparent, Loquatius receives orders from the [[CorruptPolitician Ring of Gold]] to tell the populace to channel their magic into the city to keep it afloat, giving the elite time to flee. Instead, Loquatius broadcasts a eulogy to Avalir, before telling the populace that the Ring of Gold have ordered the city's higher-ups to "go down with the ship", and ordering the civilians to evacuate by any means available. |
| 154 | * ''Website/SCPFoundation'': This trope is a big, ''big'' part of why the Foundation is so terrified of [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-096 SCP-096]] reaching a populated area. 096 will [[DontLookAtMe chase down and utterly destroy anyone who views its face, or a picture or video thereof]], and [[TheJuggernaut cannot be stopped from doing this by any means whatsoever]]. If a news crew caught even a ''single pixel'' of its face on camera, it would hunt down everyone who saw that footage... and the resulting violent rampages would guarantee even ''more'' news coverage, rapidly escalating to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. |
| 155 | * Part of the ''modus operandi'' of supervillain Brigand in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. First, he runs a huge ''Series/MissionImpossible''-style con on some CorruptCorporateExecutive types to steal money from them and make them reveal the really bad stuff they have been doing. Then he makes sure the media get all the details, while he makes his big escape. |
| 156 | [[/folder]] |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 159 | * The Internet in general. Since it's so integrated into our lives and ''anyone'' can post pretty much ''anything'', news travels faster than Franchise/TheFlash. Also, since the Internet is so touchy about censorship, any attempt to ''stop'' the signal results in it spreading even faster. See the StreisandEffect and ForbiddenFruit entries. |
| 160 | * Samizdat is an example as well. Despite the communist countries having some of the most formidable StateSec organizations, news, literature and music were still distributed through friends of friends of acquaintances. Musical disks were often recorded on bootleg disks made of spare X-ray images (hence "music on bones"), and the worst enemy of the CulturePolice was the photocopier. |
| 161 | * Now, the very idea of stopping books, raw images, or music is ludicrous, with the ability to carry thousands on a Micro SD chip the size of a thumbnail. |
| 162 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Main / CantStopTheSignal
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
