SC.2023.34. The New Etruscan Citizen

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"

— Cliched way news attracted attention, in olden days.

"The meaning of family explained, Hit them hard: Slash." by A concerned reader.

"The Elementals IVL Quest for Family, pablum for the masses, or family entertainment?" by Another concerned reader.

— Sampling of headlines on a popular Jade News site in Kagomei, circla 814AK.

"There's just more and more sensationalism, and less and less actual news!" Common complaint.

"It feels empty, like empty calories." Another common complaint.

"All to feed clicks, not thought. I miss the old days."

"Ask any modern Jade Site consumer, and you'll get plenty such comments, that the headlines are bait, to get them to engage, but only on a superficial level. This is a common consequence of the financing ability of such platforms. But whine no longer! The New Etruscan Citizen, formerly the New Etruscan Times, is a new subscription service...

— Advertisement for the New Etruscan Citizen.

These are your options, pay them, no matter the quality of their material, or reward them with shallow engagement, for free. Any thoughts?"

"Why are we studying foreign media, Zim?"

"Oh, that's all you retained of all that?"

"Ehm, no, but I find it suspicious, Kagomei is as capitalist as the next nation, why don't we have an example closer to home?"

"Err, there's two reasons. One depressing, and one... well acknowledging our own limitations as it were. The first, well, the closest truly free press to our shores is either in Eurani or New Firenze or New Etrusca, depending on who you ask, and what criterion are applied. The second, well, for intellectual integrity reasons, we won't try to grade our own press, considering we're about to teach you on how to make them work for you, making them not quite free either. But for this first class, we will explore how they recruit new readers, and since Kagomei has granted a monopoly on news to a single organization, it would not be applicable. You will soon see that it is important, for many reasons."

"First, what the reader wants from a publication is signal in what can be expected of them in terms of reactions."

"Two, if they are event-driven, or headline-driven, or sensationalism-driven, can let you leverage that for your own ends."

"Third, the trends in a media market allow you to detect the influence of some outside agencies, at least to some degree. We will tell you what to look for. Who can tell me what's the best way to reach a click-bait audience?" He pointed to the first row, where a student had been raising his hand before he even finished.

"By being more sensationalistic than the most sensationalist, extremism sells in those markets."

"All right, and if you want to reach a subscription-based platform's audience, Zim?" He asked the same student.

"Err."

"You suborn the owners! Now let's take your textbooks and look to page nine-seventy-three."

— Naval Academy Class on propaganda and social media. 814AK.

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Type

Corporation, News & Media

Demonym

Newsies

Location

Tzekaukus

Structure

The executive editor leads the main desk, surrounded by supporting desks: sports, fashion, politics, international affairs, lifestyle and cute cats.

Culture

There is a great deal of cynicism attached to journalistic integrity at the paper, ever since forty-per-cent of the staff were laid off to be replaced by the staff of a purchased competing publication.

Public Agenda

"News you can trust." Is what they say their agenda is. "News, for a price." Is the common idea of their modus operandy.