The product of Affiliated Interalliance Press Services, Newsfeed Aggregators are portable devices hooked into a centralized stream of newsfeeds. Despite the company's name, their devices pull headlines from various press corps throughout Known Space and Mutuality territory. Topics cover all aspects of human life, including Alliance-specific and Interalliance affairs, the economy, sports, entertainment, and even tabloid journalism. Newsfeed Aggregators only display news headlines, forcing users to purchase full newspapers if they want to get the larger story. (Note: Newspapers are not available in the game. We don't have the staff for that much writing!)
Aggregators display the 10 most recent headlines per category, with the option to view full archives for the given choice. The "recent" category option displays the most recent headline from each of the 10 categories.
On news and roleplaying:
Players will sometimes assert that the news is lying, particularly when it has something bad to say about them. From both an IC and OOC standpoint, the news will never print outright falsehoods (except tabloids, which are generally fiction). ICly, there are laws against printing libel in the game world, and OOCly, the hosts writing headlines have no need to lie about a character's words or actions. However, ICly, it also makes sense for the various news companies to have different biases, and we make an effort to have them react as a real world might. Headlines are written with this in mind. (Of course, it is fine for a CHARACTER to believe or claim that the news is printing falsehoods, but the PLAYER should be aware that this makes their character slightly irrational.)
In terms of privacy, the media will often catch wind of anything juicy (or incriminating) said over a public communicator channel or in a public place with other people around. The media has no direct access to your ships, offices, phones, or mail. Things can always be leaked, but this is an extremely rare occurrence (and something that we as the staff would only simulate in dire circumstances). Also, a government will occasionally release a statement to the press with information that would otherwise be private, if it benefits them to do so; for instance, if a pilot is espousing an unpopular position that the government doesn't want to be seen to hold. Again, we seek for the news to react as a real world might, something players do not always consider when deciding their characters' actions. It should be seen as a form of feedback.
The source of a headline is displayed as a three-character acronym alongside the headline and the date of the article. Some of the newsfeed aggregator affiliates include:
Major Neutral Sources:
DNA - Distributed News Access
ISN - Intersector News Corporation
Major Alliance Sources:
LCR - League Central Reporting
NEN - New Earth News
CPC - Confederation Press Corporation
ESR - Egalitarian Scientific Research
DFP - DeMargas Free Press
Minor Neutral Sources:
PFP - People's Free Press
ANX - Alternative News
THN - Town Hall Network
EXN - Exploration Now! News
Minor Alliance Sources:
VET - Velourian Times
ENN - European News Network
NAO - North American Observer
UPN - Uxmal Press Network
Sports and Entertainment Sources:
IAS - Interalliance Sports
USN - Underground Sports Nation
VAR - Variety
EFX - El Fantastique
TPR - The Providence Reporter
Tabloid Sources:
TBX - The Beacon
SSX - Sector Stories
OTI - Omega V Tales of Interest
TTT - Turrets, Torpedos, and Tits
