Ben Waters

Disclaimer: While place descriptions and news events may coincide with the real world, all characters and the plot are fictional. 
== Biography ==
=== Early Years ===
Ben is a member of the Yakama tribe and his family live on the Yakama Indian Reservation in southern Washington.
At 16-years-old, while still in high-school, he joined the protests at Standing Rock in North Dakota against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. He took a video camera, and was there the day that water cannons were turned on protestors in freezing temperatures.
=== Education ===
Ben is double majoring in Indigenous Studies and Film Studies programs, two extremely intense and competitive programs at PSU.(4:83/864) 
=== Eyewitness News ===
Ben Waters started at Eyewitness News in 2018. 
After an FCC violation in Spring Term 2019, Ben instituted a countdown and warning bell before the station goes to air. This must have been one of his first decisions as the television station manager, as the FCC violation was in celebration of Ryan Matthews' initial appointment as EIC. 
He runs a tight ship, and is strict about the precise timing of the news show and the pieces for it. Ryan considers Ben as 'easily the best hire he ever made'.
==== Book 1: Stories We Tell ====
On Friday May 29, 2020, Ben negotiates for an additional 2 hours of broadcast time from 11pm, for rough-cut documentary video of the BLM protests downtown to follow the news broadcast.
In the early hours of the following morning, when Cage Washington returns from the downtown protest, Ryan, Ben, Cage, Miguel Garcia, and Corey Washington discuss what will happen if the protests continue beyond the end of the Spring term. Ryan feels that stopping coverage would harm their credibility as an objective source of news. However, if they continue, it's a commitment to continue forever.
That afternoon, Ryan meets with Ben to discuss expanding EWN's coverage from the 210 days of the academic year to year-round coverage. Ben thinks it should have been done years earlier, as only broadcasting during the academic year reduces EWN's stature in the city. The expansion would also improve student's resumes, and make it more like a professional internship, rather than just a college media experience. Financially, the only significant expense would increased wages for staff. All other fees are already annual, regardless of broadcast time. Ben gives Ryan a spreadsheet of EWN expenses, that shows their cost per day actually decreases, as annual expenses are divided by 365 instead of 210. As Ben's family expects him home for the summer, he will need to negotiate with them, and see if he can remain at the residence hall on campus during the break..
By 4pm on the following Tuesday afternoon, Ben says his father knows he will stay in Portland during the summer break. Later that evening, Ben notices Ryan dithering about the decision, and wonders if he has cold feet about staying on-air year around. Ben says that he passed up an internship at the tribe's radio station to stay in Portland that summer, and would hate to have to pump gas at his dad's business in White Swan WA instead.
==== Book 2: Choose ====
At an 8pm editors' meeting in the EIC's office on Thursday October 15, 2020, Sarah King shares that J.J.'s father is a Portland police officer. No one present has concerns other than for J.J.'s mental health. 
Later that night, a group of men claiming to be law enforcement want to search the EWN building, and Ben goes to 'police-proof' the lockers. When Ryan does an introduction for the live broadcast, Ben says he would be a sensation on screen, but that night was the first time he's seen Ryan willing to even do a voice-over.
Early Friday evening, Ben plays the previous night's security video on the big screen in his office so J.J. can better identify their law enforcement type. Around 8:30pm, Emily Andersen lets him know that they will have late video from the protest. At 10:40pm Ben asks J.J. to upload his entire live-stream for later broadcast, and then heads to the party at the Loft. Emily asks Ben to let Cage know that J.J. did a good job. When Ben arrives at the Loft party sometime after 11pm, he lets Ryan, Cage and Sarah know that J.J. is sleeping on the couch in the newsroom after missing the bus home.
At the editors' meeting the following day, Ryan runs through minor agenda items smoothly, then introduces discussion on the protests, the attempted raid, what happens next, and the issue of the 6 blackmail photos sent to Carroll. Ben suggests only one photo - well-cropped - be used on the broadcast, with a reference to other locations. The decision to publish is unanimous.
====Book 3: Don't Go====
At 5pm on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 Cage Washington calls Ben, Miguel, and Will Bristol into the EIC's office. Ryan lays out the plan for the evening. Ben and Miguel look at each other and shrug. They discuss the stories coming in that night. When Lam Deng arrives, Emily call him in as well.
On Tuesday, October 27, 2020 a commotion in the EIC's office around 4pm draws in Ben, Sarah and Lam. Ryan says he has to take Teresa Valdez to Mexico, and with luck will be back for graduation in Spring. He's submitted his honors thesis: Dreamers, the Children without a Country. Ben asks if it's a more academic version of what Bianca Parks is doing with her stories about Dreamers?
====Book 4: Hold Me====
*Tuesday December 1, 2020
**10:30am?: Ben receives a call from Emily saying that one of the EWN ad reps has tested positive for COVID. Corey will be setting up a Zoom meeting for all department heads and Cooper, Provost McShane, and the head of Campus Health Services if he's can join them. Emily says she is heading over to EWN to shut everything down, and send everything remote.
**Noon: Ben is already at EWN when Emily arrives. Emily exasperatedly says it was supposed to be a Zoom meeting, and Ben replies that they can Zoom right there. Emily tells them they have a positive COVID test on staff, so they need to think about how to contain it. But more than that, they need to discuss how to cover it, because she thinks it's going to be bad. She relays Cage's briefing to the staff, and asks who covered the tournament, and if anyone has heard from Joanna. Ben says that Joanna covered it, and she's not answering her phone. Emily says they need to do a wellness check on her. Emily asks Ben how they track down Joanna's roommates to do a wellness check. Ben snickers he doesn't know Joanna as well as Robert Smithson does, but she tells him to make some calls. Ben returns from his office, saying Joanna has been at the Health Clinic since updating the EWN website the night before, when she started showing symptoms - she's still waiting to be tested. Emily asks about the rest of the sports staff. Ben says Joanna filed from home, and they used footage from the Boise game as B-roll for the news broadcast. He doesn't think any sports reporters were at EWN during the broadcast. Emily tells Ben to track them all down and then call Joanna back and get the name of every person she's been in contact with since the Boise trip two days before. They'll do their own contact tracing, as rumor is that Campus Health Services may not consider it a priority. Ben returns to say that all of Joanna's roommates are accounted for, and none have symptoms. Health Services have told them to self-quarantine at home. He's also found all the sportswriters, but the sports copy-editor is at the clinic. She hadn't gone to the game, so must have caught it from Joanna since she returned home. He has a list of everyone that Joanna interacted with then the past 48hrs. Ben suggests they do a special newscast at 6pm, and do on-the-hour updates to give out info on what people need to know. With PSU students scattered over four counties, there could be a hundred students positive and not know. Public access will be delighted to have free public service announcements produced and broadcast.
*Wednesday December 2, 2020
**10:30am?: Ben is meeting with 4 alumni when Cage arrives in the newsroom (Karen, Doug Williams, Ange and one other man). He waves Cage over to join them, saying the alumni have some ideas for extending EWN's coverage and their time on-air. Ben says they need staff they don't have - student staff, or they'll lose the connection to their target market. Cage suggests vlogs and voiceovers, about what people are seeing and feeling about what's happening.
**4pm: After Emily opens the editors' Zoom meeting, and Doug presents the offer from Hewlett Packard's civic engagement office to underwrite expanded programming at EWN in order to reach the 20 to 30-year-old market segment, Corey asks about how much expansion is being considered, and Ben replies that it will be 24/7 on television, radio, and internet.
== Physical Appearance ==
Born in 2000, Ben Waters is very good-looking. He is about 5-foot-11, and 50lb lighter than either Ryan Matthews or Cage Washington. 
He has brown skin with a copper tone to it, and black-brown hair cut close to his skull. 
== Personality ==
Ben is smart, talented, and competitive, but also usually serious and calm. 
=== Book 1: Stories We Tell ===
Ryan thinks that if Ben and Cage were to fight, Ben would 'get it done' even though Cage is taller and heavier.
=== Book 4: Hold Me ===
Emily thinks Ben is a quiet, contained young man.
== Relationships ==
=== Family ===
Ben's father owns the gas station at White Swan WA.
==== Book 1: Stories We Tell ====
* Ryan is pretty sure Ben has a crush on Bianca Parks.
== Residence ==
Ben lives in one of the residence halls at Portland State University.
=== Book 1: Stories We Tell ===
* On Wednesday June 3, 2020 Ben signs a room lease for the summer term. 
Category:Character
Category:EWN