In 1983, at the most dangerous moment of the Cold War, Soviet intelligence intercepts a transmission they cannot explain.

In Moscow, a senior analyst risks his career to keep it from being buried.

In London, an MI6 officer works to prevent a fatal misunderstanding.

In Washington, a decision is made to act — not on what the signal says, but on what the Soviets might do with it.

THE NEWS is the story of what happens when the most important information ever transmitted reaches a civilization that has already begun outsourcing its judgment to systems that can only confirm what they already believe — and what that costs the humans caught inside those systems.

It is set in 1983. It is about right now.

The signal is the news.

What governments do with it is the story.

What they fail to do with it is the warning that remains.