We open on a staff meeting at Clickbait, A BUZZFEED STYLE ONLINE MAGAZINE. THEY COVER ALL THE HOT TOPICS - WHAT PET LOOKS LIKE YOUR LOCAL CONGRESSMAN, LIP GLOSS THAT TASTES LIKE REAL FOOD, AND HOW TO TELL IF YOUR BOYFRIEND IS FAKING IT IN THE BEDROOM.
MAHESH, DAN, AND JUSTIN ARE pitching stories for today’s articles: Possible spoilers for the upcoming Beyonce album, a quiz on ‘Which Ed Sheeran Song Are You’, and Sexual Harassment in Hollywood. KATIE WATCHES IN DISDAIN. Mahesh and Dan quickly decide for the group to do the quiz, while Katie yearns to tackle real news for once at ClickBait. Justin’s just happy to get out early for his date. While Katie bemoans the fact that they’re wasting the internet megaphone they wield on trivial fluff pieces, Mahesh and Dan are quick to remind Katie that her posts yield the least amount of views in the company. Just then, their new boss walks in: Rick, a grizzled veteran journalist -(RECENTLY FIRED FROM THE NY TIMES). With one salty look, the team knows the company is in for a change and Katie couldn’t be happier.
Mahesh, Dan, and Justin are in shock, but Katie is ecstatic. Rick quickly takes her under his wing to learn more about how to change this garbage dump of a company. He realizes Dan and Mahesh lack discipline and he tells them to straighten up or else. Rick asks Katie to work with self absorbed Justin to come up with a real news story.
On their way to lunch, katie and justin share an elevator with employees of a nearby company. Katie gets a hunch that the assistant is being sexually harassed by her boss, and convinces Justin that they need to look into this.
Meanwhile, Mahesh and Dan keep getting in trouble with Rick - and they eventually decide to take him down. They want to find out why rick got fired from his last job, the new york times, and use that info to get him fired form ClickBait. When Mahesh and Dan come up empty, they decide to pay off the I.T. guy, Orlando, to hack into the company emails. When Orlando finds that Rick was fired for violating the patriot act, Mahesh and Dan decide to rat rick out to the CEO of clickbait.
Katie and Justin track down the assistant to private club - and Justin decides their best chance to get information out of her is to get her drunk. The plan backfires when Katie gets too drunk and thrown out of the bar. However, it creates enough of a distraction for Justin to work his magic, and it also shows him that Katie can loosen up a litte. Justin finds out that the assistant was not getting harassed, but was covering up that she may have accidentally leaked the upcoming Beyonce album. Katie and Justin have to decide whether to leak the album news, even though it means destroying the poor assistant’s career.
Mahesh and Dan track down the CEO and she informs them that everyone knew rick was let go from the times - because it was in the company memo. She is furious to learn how much these two slack off and plans to tell Rick about their insubordination.
Back at the office, Rick gives Mahesh and Dan an ultimatum: reveal their source about Rick’s past and they can keep their jobs, otherwise they’re fired. Mahesh and Dan refuse to give up their friend Orlando and decide to take the punishment themselves. In a shocking twist, Rick reinstates mahesh and dan because they passed the test. Rick reveals that he was fired from the times for not giving up a source and that he’s proud of the boys for doing the same. Rick begins to think they have some potential after all.
Justin convinces katie that they have no choice but to leak the beyonce album, seeing as they have nothing else to show for today’s work. Katie feels like a failure and resigns to go along, even though she feels it’s morally wrong. However, WHen Katie is about to pitch the beyonce story to rick, Justin has a change of heart and buries the story. Even though they both take heat from rick, Justin and Katie find a mutual respect and understanding.
At the end of the day, Rick sees that the company has hope. If the right story comes along, they could step up and become real journalists. As the staff leaves the office for the day, for the first time as a team, Katie gets a call with a legitimate lead. By the look on her face, we can tell that This is a new beginning for ClickBait News.
