Frank Elliot, a controversial investigative journalist, is shot outside a bar. He is "embedded" with a military unit in Iraq, and was due to return to the front the following day. Elliot is being sued, and has received death threats, because of the deaths of soldiers in his unit who were killed by the enemy after Elliot reported on their movements. The murder weapon is found to belong to Dixon Hawes, one of the soldiers who died.
Hawes' best friend in the unit, Sergeant George Meacham, was home at the time of the murder and had motive and opportunity to kill. He is charged with murder and brought back from overseas. Elliot is now out of hospital and claims at a press conference that the Pentagon ordered a hit on him. McCoy issues a gagging order, which Elliot fails to get overturned. Elliot is arrested by the FBI for treason in reporting on troop movements, but is released on bail.
Meacham's defence claims that he thought killing Elliot was a justified way to prevent more deaths. Elliot uses the Grand Jury hearing as a platform for his view that the Iraq War is wrong. Under questioning, Meacham changes his testimony and says he didn't shoot Elliot - or he wouldn't have missed. At this point McCoy and Southerlyn confront Elliot with their knowledge that he lied to the police, had access to Hawes' weapon, and could have had a friend shoot him and help him set up Meacham. Elliot says that McCoy cannot prove it, and all he's trying to do is expose the injustice of the war. Meacham is released, and McCoy resolves to find evidence against Elliot.
This episode contains examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: Until near the end of the episode, it appears that Meacham was the shooter. Then at the end, the audience is suddenly told that the shooting was all Elliot's plan.
- Endangering News Broadcast: Meacham's grudge against Elliot stems from an incident where Elliot, embedded with Meacham's unit in Iraq, disclosed the unit's location to his network during a top-secret operation, leading to an ambush and the deaths of three soldiers.
- Karma Houdini: By the end of the episode, Frank Elliot is back on a plane to the war zone and is never seen being held to account for his actions.
- The Last Dj: Frank Elliot considers himself to be this. Refusing to adhere to certain journalistic rules in favour of reporting the unvarnished truth, unfortunately his actions frequently have disastrous consequences for those around him and he doesn’t seem to care.
- Never My Fault: Despite the fact that his reporting of troop movements got three American soldiers killed, Elliot places the blame on the US government for joining the Iraq War in the first place. He also takes no blame for the suicide of a police officer he accused of corruption.
- No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Referenced by one of Elliot's rivals. Elliot clearly adheres to this view himself.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on a controversy involving Fox News host Geraldo Rivera, who revealed the details and location of an upcoming military offensive during one of his reports from Iraq. This led him to be expelled from the country.
- Smug Snake: Elliot is incredibly self-satisfied about his crusade to expose the evils of the war.
- Soapbox Sadie: Elliot uses the Grand Jury hearing to detail at length his opinions against the Iraq War.
- Title Drop: Briscoe gets one.
- Varying Competency Alibi: According to Meacham, if he had shot Elliot then Elliot would have been dead.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Elliot returns to Iraq at the end of the episode, the writers having apparently forgotten that he's still awaiting trial on treason charges.