The reporter's first account of a dolls' strike was tendentious. (tendentious: biased, partisan, one-sided) He called the dollmaker myopic, his assistants fickle and their proposed walkout unjustifiable. (myopic: shortsighted, narrow-minded, unforesightful; fickle: inconstant, capricious, changeable; unjustifiable: indefensible, insupportable, unwarranted) In truth he had spoken only to the dollmaker. His editor considered the story's caliber well below that of his previous work. (caliber: quality, standard, grade)
He met the assistants on the doorstep. The issue was the termination of their apprenticeship before the exhibition. (termination: ending, cessation, conclusion) A transitional month would let them sign their own work. (transitional: intermediate, interim, bridging) The dollmaker wanted their signatures too, but feared the insurers would withdraw. That, presumably, could be checked. (presumably: probably, presumptively, in all likelihood)
A call settled it. The assistants signed the miniature furniture. The editor ran a different headline, and the reporter discovered one advantage of a small beat. He could photograph the whole settlement on the palm of his hand.