The Standard/The Walmington Bugle ((AMW))

[Walmington on Sea]

The Standard, Walmington's most popular newspaper, traces its lineage to a 1747 publication by Black Gull, which saw a small pilot issue, barely recognisable in terms of modern newspapers, run a headline that spoke opaquely of a Mrs.Pike's 'Trouble With The Gulls'. As no complete copy survives it has proven impossible for scholars to shed light on the newsworthiness of the seemingly small matter. It was some time before The Standard became a regular publication truly identifiable as a newspaper in the modern understanding, and the golden days of pan-imperial publication are already over, but today The Standard exists as Walmington's only nation-wide domestically owned and operated broadsheet. The paper now operates a website with limited free content and a subscription service, though hard copies continue to be flown over-seas to several locations for the benefit of ex-patriots and other Walmingtonians abroad, and editions are also printed in the Cape Colonies and Drapol.

In per-capita terms The Standard is one of the most widely read national newspapers in the world, though the slightness of the Walmingtonian population makes it a small fish in global terms. Never the less, the owners Standard Media Group have long refused to sell and today the government has designated the paper a national heritage piece that can not legally be discontinued or foreign-owned, promising to nationalise The Standard rather than let it fail should such a prospect ever arise.

The Walmington Bugle is The Standard's principle competitor in Walmington and is also several generations old. Though a tabloid, it is regarded by most as a respectable publication, though it lacks the imperial-scale resources of its rival, and is typically read by working class residents of Norbray and the Home Islands.

[Walmington on Sea]

'Is This An Empire, Still?' His Royal Highness Expresses Views

In the 529 years since Godfrey Walming and his intrepid shipmates arrived in North America aboard the Saint Aldhelm, we hardy northwestern boatmen have pursued cultural, industrial, and social advances fueled by a deep-set belief in our inate abilities as a stoic and ingeneous race and steered by our faith in the inherent goodness of the Godfreyite Church.

And yet we have, since covering ourselves in glory during the Anti-Fascist War, allowed ourselves to relax, surrendering an imperial jewel to pagan and atheistic chaos and muting our disputes with the corrupt Catholic empire, not even seeking to consolidate let alone expand our sacred mission in the New World. Papists, meanwhile, continue to hold trading and proselytizing empires across the globe, to multiply in their insatiable fashion, and to actively pursue imperial expansion (all be it with characteristic Latinate frailty).

Still, observing the gulf between our capabilities and our efforts, and between our efforts and those of our traditional rivals, one wonders, is this an empire, still?

-The words of HRH Prince Edryd, Duke of Newry, Heir Apparent to the throne of his otherwise-childless father, His Walmingtonian Majesty King Godfrey III. Edryd's previously low profile has been steadily raised in recent months, adding to fears for the health of the King, and the Prince's ambitious vision of a Walmingtonian future is now at the centre of nationwide debate about the wounded but wealthy Godfreyite Empire's role in the new century.