NationStates Today

[NationStates Today]

NSToday is the central location for news media in NationStates, covering everything from gameplay to roleplay to culture. Read our latest edition!

Website | Discord | Apply to Join

We're an inter-regional project aimed at developing a central location for news media, podcasts, and other relevant media. While many, if not most, large regions have some kind of news project (whether run by the regional government or otherwise) there is not any form of project design to effectively collate and centralize news writing and publishing efforts into one platform. Besides services such as the NewsStand, which serves as a linking service, the only place for a player to get their news is to search the NS forums or to visit every region they are interested in themselves. While this does increase traffic to regions, it massively cuts down on the number of players who hear about or care about gameplay or domestic news from other regions and leads to further fragmentation of the community.

Thus, we introduce a platform and an organization that crafts, collates, publishes and develops news from around NationStates, bringing the community closer together and bringing more players into the loop in regards to both gameplay and the affairs of regions from across the world. This organization will not be controlled by any particular region, nor will it be controlled by those who founded it - our Charter outlines a clear leadership structure, led by elected Governors across diverse regions and the writers and readers of the organization. For more details, contact Chief Executive Officer @Somyrion#8047 or Public Relations Director @Cubic#1608 on Discord.

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[The NewsStand]

Sounds like an exciting project - I look forward to seeing your first edition!

[NationStates Today]

Our first full newpspaer edition has been published and can be found here: Link

Any questions about this should be directed to Editor-in-Chief Brihimia on Discord at @brihimia#8845. Thank you!

[Mommy Yuno]

Bri this is one of the best newspapers ever, and incredibly long/fancy/details. I read 90% of it, good work ^~^ and well done research
-yun a reader

[Drop Your Pants]

The asking for stamps to be donated is a bit cheeky. Think this is the only GP newspaper that wants financial return for writing.

Besides that, very good paper and hope it continues.

The regional endorsement cap, limiting the number of en-dorsements a single nation can have, was set to 120.

Minor correction on that. The endorsement cap for the newly appointed princes is 120, everyone else is at 15.

[Big Bad Badger]

Bri this is one of the best newspapers ever, and incredibly long/fancy/details. I read 90% of it, good work ^~^ and well done research
-yun a reader

I agree with Yuno. Nice work!

[Glen-Rhodes]

Looks good, hopefully it lives up to its principles.

I would be wary of soliciting stamps or any other form of compensation. Stamps being turned into a form of currency is against the site rules. To be safe, you should double check with admins that there’s no problem.

[Bedetopia]

I don't usually read newspapers but there's one thing that bothers me: Fracturing articles by putting the start on the first page then continuing them on another page.

[Wycliffe]

I don't know what I expected, but whatever it was, this is a lot better than what I expected. This is the most comprehensive NS paper I've seen yet.

[Jar Wattinree]

I look forward to future editions. I hope this becomes a recurring NS feature.

[The Church of Satan]

The problem with the initial idea behind this organization was that it required citizen-level access to it's member regions and the structure was unnecessarily complex. The spirit of it was appealing but signing on was an enormous security risk to their governments and communities. Additionally, the concept ultimately stole resources from other media outlets and undermined those same media outlets. I think this is the best outcome the whole thing could have achieved. Best of luck to NationStates Today and it's journalists.

[NationStates Today]

The asking for stamps to be donated is a bit cheeky. Think this is the only GP newspaper that wants financial return for writing.

I would be wary of soliciting stamps or any other form of compensation. Stamps being turned into a form of currency is against the site rules. To be safe, you should double check with admins that there’s no problem.

Thanks for pointing this out. We've contacted moderation about that and they've informed us that doing so is a violation of site rules. As a result, we will not be placing stamp donation ads in our publications anymore.

The regional endorsement cap, limiting the number of en-dorsements a single nation can have, was set to 120.

Minor correction on that. The endorsement cap for the newly appointed princes is 120, everyone else is at 15.

Thanks for correcting this. The correction will appear in next Saturday's newspaper.

[Austerain]

I hope to see this continue!

[North Prarie]

Oh my jesus. This is great! A ton of newspapers don't have this good of a NSGP section

[Trabardia]

Bri this is one of the best newspapers ever, and incredibly long/fancy/details. I read 90% of it, good work ^~^ and well done research
-yun a reader

Besides that, very good paper and hope it continues.

I agree with Yuno. Nice work!

Looks good, hopefully it lives up to its principles.

I don't know what I expected, but whatever it was, this is a lot better than what I expected. This is the most comprehensive NS paper I've seen yet.

I look forward to future editions. I hope this becomes a recurring NS feature.

I hope to see this continue!

Oh my jesus. This is great! A ton of newspapers don't have this good of a NSGP section

Thank you all ❤ We look forward to continuing the service!

I don't usually read newspapers but there's one thing that bothers me: Fracturing articles by putting the start on the first page then continuing them on another page.

I formatted it this way in the fashion of pretty much all real-life major news publications. While I'm not too knowledged in the reasoning behind why the editors of the New York Times or the Washington Post decide to make layout decisions, I presume it is to point the reader's attention to all the most important stories of the day without covering the front page with words and words of a just a few articles. It can be mildly frustrating to go from one page to another to finish the article, but as I've learned by reading RL newspapers that problem usually falls to the back of your mind once you get used to it

The problem with the initial idea behind this organization was that it required citizen-level access to it's member regions and the structure was unnecessarily complex. The spirit of it was appealing but signing on was an enormous security risk to their governments and communities. Additionally, the concept ultimately stole resources from other media outlets and undermined those same media outlets. I think this is the best outcome the whole thing could have achieved. Best of luck to NationStates Today and it's journalists.

Thank you for the kind words

Our (Lewis Flood and I's) initial idea was to create an interregional media organization that would be democratically owned & operated. This was to ensure that everyone that the paper impacted -- its journalists, its member regions, and its readers -- would be fairly represented in the organization's management and so that the leadership would be dynamic and the paper would not stagnate as a result of the same leadership.

As Lewis explained in his special section on Saturday, there were definitely some hurdles that we tripped over before realizing that we should start off writing articles and getting people's attention. In the future, we will be looking into bringing some of our initial ideas back and talking with regional administrators about how to adequately provide relevant journalists with the information they need without compromising regional security.

Let me know if you have any more questions

-- Brihimia, from the main nation

[NationStates Today]

We've posted a new reader's poll at the top of the opening post as well as our region. The results of both polls will be combined and published in the Saturday newspaper.

This week's poll asks: Did you spend less time on NationStates than usual over the holidays?

[NationStates Today]

Hello all.

Over the last week, we have published the following articles, all of which will also be included in the Saturday Edition due to be released later today.

• ‘Red Phone’ Leaks Reveal Concerted Attempt to Undermine South Pacific Government
• Mariner Trench Holds Elections
• Up Close and Personal with Cormac
• South Pacific Begins Highly Competitive Delegate Election

In the future we hope to provide more frequent postings throughout the week! Every time an article is posted our Discord is alerted, so you can join it to get the latest news.

</Lewis>

[Vetelo]

The asking for stamps to be donated is a bit cheeky. Think this is the only GP newspaper that wants financial return for writing.

Yeah once again in typical TCB fashion, they beg their users for money.

It's a good concept and the site has some nice design, but I can't see this being anything but another TCB propaganda mouthpiece. So beware of that. We can already see a demonstration of this in their Soviet Democracy article, which looks like an article you'd read in Pravda. Soviet Democracy Dares to Defy Now I don't even necessarily support SD, but what they did is not an uncommon practice by any means, and certainly not a reason for sanctions or whatever you're calling for. In fact, Mcmannia in HYDRA Command recently decided to recruitment telegram The Pacific, The South Pacific, and my region, the USSD. If this was such a dishonorable practice or whatever, then why wasn't there an article about that? The only reason you chose to write that article about SD is because you already closed embassies with them after a fascist supposedly being in their server. That sounds rather familiar, like when TCB reached out to me and my region and pretended to be friendly, and established an embassy with us. Only, days after that, they used the opportunity to post defamatory messages on our RMB, and mass telegram my entire region to tell everyone that I am a "fascist collaborator". You have "poached" a few members that I can think of using similar tactics. Absolutely hypocritical and I would personally avoid reading this drivel at all. I certainly can't approve any news coming from a region that consistently lies to its own citizens and the public. Maybe when they stop calling me of all people a fascist I'll give it a shot C:

[North Prarie]

The asking for stamps to be donated is a bit cheeky. Think this is the only GP newspaper that wants financial return for writing.

Yeah once again in typical TCB fashion, they beg their users for money.

It's a good concept and the site has some nice design, but I can't see this being anything but another TCB propaganda mouthpiece. So beware of that. We can already see a demonstration of this in their Soviet Democracy article, which looks like an article you'd read in Pravda. Soviet Democracy Dares to Defy Now I don't even necessarily support SD, but what they did is not an uncommon practice by any means, and certainly not a reason for sanctions or whatever you're calling for. In fact, Mcmannia in HYDRA Command recently decided to recruitment telegram The Pacific, The South Pacific, and my region, the USSD. If this was such a dishonorable practice or whatever, then why wasn't there an article about that? The only reason you chose to write that article about SD is because you already closed embassies with them after a fascist supposedly being in their server. That sounds rather familiar, like when TCB reached out to me and my region and pretended to be friendly, and established an embassy with us. Only, days after that, they used the opportunity to post defamatory messages on our RMB, and mass telegram my entire region to tell everyone that I am a "fascist collaborator". You have "poached" a few members that I can think of using similar tactics. Absolutely hypocritical and I would personally avoid reading this drivel at all. I certainly can't approve any news coming from a region that consistently lies to its own citizens and the public. Maybe when they stop calling me of all people a fascist I'll give it a shot C:

NST isn't a TCB-run newspaper, dude. A ton of our staff (including me) are from other regions.
Maybe look into things a little further before you post stuff like this :/

[Klaus Devestatorie]

[list][*]‘Red Phone’ Leaks Reveal Concerted Attempt to Undermine South Pacific Government

Well, that explains the leaks of several pieces of OOC drama from that channel. Thanks for solving that question, TSP.

[Vetelo]

NST isn't a TCB-run newspaper, dude. A ton of our staff (including me) are from other regions.
Maybe look into things a little further before you post stuff like this :/

The Chairman is Lewis Flood, who is the leader of TCB. The Editor in Chief is Brihimia/Trabardia, MoD of TCB. So it's operated by TCB and it's obvious how involved they are in the actual writing of articles. You really can't avoid being associated with them when they are in the two top positions of the paper, and when most of the content so far has been written by someone with their perspective. I'm looking on the site and all I can see listed for the executive board is TCB members, no one in the editorial staff, and a bunch of correspondents, some of them also being from TCB.

Maybe you should reconsider being a part of their staff if you don't want to be part of their propaganda too?

[Lord Dominator]

Ever-Wandering Souls, the leader of raider organization The Black Hawks, noticed this opportunity and convinced his fellow raiders to join him on a mission to move into The South Pacific and make Tsunamy delegate

Mild thing, this reads like Souls jumped with Hydra, which I don't think the logs said

Otherwise good articles (okay, I only read the Red Phone & Cormac ones >_>)!

[Th Empire of Wymondham]

NST isn't a TCB-run newspaper, dude. A ton of our staff (including me) are from other regions.
Maybe look into things a little further before you post stuff like this :/

The Chairman is Lewis Flood, who is the leader of TCB. The Editor in Chief is Brihimia/Trabardia, MoD of TCB. So it's operated by TCB and it's obvious how involved they are in the actual writing of articles. You really can't avoid being associated with them when they are in the two top positions of the paper, and when most of the content so far has been written by someone with their perspective. I'm looking on the site and all I can see listed for the executive board is TCB members, no one in the editorial staff, and a bunch of correspondents, some of them also being from TCB.z

Maybe you should reconsider being a part of their staff if you don't want to be part of their propaganda too?

As Prarie said, a large part of the staff is from other regions, the only thing they are involved in when it comes to the writing of articles is editing, ensuring neutrality in the direction of a non-opinion piece. Thye in no way control the writing and direction of articles not written by themselves

[Stiegae]

NST isn't a TCB-run newspaper, dude. A ton of our staff (including me) are from other regions.
Maybe look into things a little further before you post stuff like this :/

The Chairman is Lewis Flood, who is the leader of TCB. The Editor in Chief is Brihimia/Trabardia, MoD of TCB. So it's operated by TCB and it's obvious how involved they are in the actual writing of articles. You really can't avoid being associated with them when they are in the two top positions of the paper, and when most of the content so far has been written by someone with their perspective. I'm looking on the site and all I can see listed for the executive board is TCB members, no one in the editorial staff, and a bunch of correspondents, some of them also being from TCB.

Maybe you should reconsider being a part of their staff if you don't want to be part of their propaganda too?

The asking for stamps to be donated is a bit cheeky. Think this is the only GP newspaper that wants financial return for writing.

Yeah once again in typical TCB fashion, they beg their users for money.

It's a good concept and the site has some nice design, but I can't see this being anything but another TCB propaganda mouthpiece. So beware of that. We can already see a demonstration of this in their Soviet Democracy article, which looks like an article you'd read in Pravda. Soviet Democracy Dares to Defy Now I don't even necessarily support SD, but what they did is not an uncommon practice by any means, and certainly not a reason for sanctions or whatever you're calling for. In fact, Mcmannia in HYDRA Command recently decided to recruitment telegram The Pacific, The South Pacific, and my region, the USSD. If this was such a dishonorable practice or whatever, then why wasn't there an article about that? The only reason you chose to write that article about SD is because you already closed embassies with them after a fascist supposedly being in their server. That sounds rather familiar, like when TCB reached out to me and my region and pretended to be friendly, and established an embassy with us. Only, days after that, they used the opportunity to post defamatory messages on our RMB, and mass telegram my entire region to tell everyone that I am a "fascist collaborator". You have "poached" a few members that I can think of using similar tactics. Absolutely hypocritical and I would personally avoid reading this drivel at all. I certainly can't approve any news coming from a region that consistently lies to its own citizens and the public. Maybe when they stop calling me of all people a fascist I'll give it a shot C:

Hi Vetelo,

Few things;
1) We have been exceedingly open from the outset about our intent for this paper, and have never tried to hide our founders' home region.
2) Our staff come from a range of regions, and we have done our best to ensure there is no bias in the recruitment and writing process.
3) We have clear editorial guidelines that outline the duty of our writers in staying as neutral as possible.
4) We have not had the opportunity to appoint any other editors as of yet, being that we are a week old. Our process for appointing editors will include a discussion with writers as to our pick before it goes ahead, with the intent of making sure we get the agreement of our writers for their own editors.
5) We will not be asking for stamps again, and our advertising will be allotted to regions for free based on a lottery system, which will be established mid week.
6) I am not the leader of TCB, and haven't been for over a year - I know this is a foreign concept to you, but our region is based on strong democratic traditions, and I hold no position that gives me political power (my official role is Administrator, and I am in charge of Discord and parts of the forum. However, I am in de-facto retirement from TCB affairs). While Bri is Minister of Defense, I trust him to write and edit articles in a neutral manner.
7) In the Soviet Democracy article you list, we included a disclaimer that this wasn't our (NS Today's) official position on the matter. In the future, such articles will be more clearly labelled if they include opinioned views.


While I appreciate that you hold a grudge against TCB for making you PNG, and more generally against the majority of the NS Left community, I think you need to try and judge this project on its merits. If this was a propaganda project, it would be obvious. And I wouldn't have offered writing positions to people from regions that are not aligned at all with TCB.

For everyone else, unfortunately Bri/Trab has been unable to finish the Saturday Edition on time. He did his best, but he is only human I expect it will be released today, and in the future we will have more robust procedures within the Graphics & Publishing team to ensure we get all editions out on time. In the meantime, we have released four new articles that you can read right now on our website!

Best Regards,
Lewis
Chairman, NS Today

Edit: I should stress that if anyone wants to help add a larger range of opinions and regional positions to our paper, you should apply. We are open to almost anyone. We also need creative writers for our roleplay section. If you don't want to write, we also have positions in the Graphics and Publishing Team. You can apply here.

[NationStates Today]

Saturday's issue can be found here: https://nationstates.news/saturday-edition-5th-january-2019/270/

Any questions should be directed at @brihimia#8845 on Discord