"Mayor Gilloway votes against citizen tax breaks! Read all about it in the Chusett Sentinel!" -paper boy on a streetcorner
Type
Broadcasting, Newspaper / Magazine
Premier Paper
Since its founding in 1865, the Chusett Sentinel has been the people's favorite for staying up to date on current events. As the years passed and the city grew, so did the Sentinel office and their printers. Originally the presses could only handle around 50000 papers printed once daily. Now, the facility prints close to 500000 papers, twice a day; morning and evening editions. The paper has adopted many common tropes of the medium, publishing crosswords, treasure hunts, police blotters, and letters to the editor. As gimmicky as such things are, many Chusett citizens have developed rituals around them.
Misleading Accuracy
As with most papers, the headlines are intended to catch a potential reader's attention at quick glance. This has led to several libel accusations against the paper through the years, mostly from businesses or politicians, but the paper has never been indicted. The Sentinel's strategy has always been to be "technically" correct when publishing pieces. The most common complaint against the paper is they would rather have a catchy headline than report "real news".
Current Staffing
In order to keep up with the increased demand of papers, the Sentinel was forced to increase their writing staff. When the paper started, it was four writers and an editor. Today the Sentinel employs over 100 writers and about 20 editors plus an editor in chief, as well as freelancers. Their once modest sized office overflowed with new writers, and the Sentinel bought a second building across town to fit its new employees.
Sentinel Firebombing of 1947
During the height of tensions between citizens and the
city council in 1947, when it was found that almost half of the councilmembers were embezzling money from community project funds, the Sentinel published a piece calling for peaceful resolution to the situation. The piece called for the five councilmembers who participated to step down from their positions and an immediate election be held to fill the would-be vacant positions. Two days later, for unknown reasons, a man hurled a fire bomb through the office's front window. Fortunately no one was killed, but several were injured, including a
firefighter, and the man who lit the fire was never identified.
"Whatever the reason, there is no excuse for violent actions. This attack is despicable and downright pathetic, and I can only hope to see justice brought against the man who did it." -Aiden O'Finnegan, Editor-In-Chief, 1947
All work (including art, designs, names, etc.) are created by ZogMadDog (Harry Hartzog) unless otherwise stated.
I like how the newspaper has grown over the years to keep up with demand. The firebomb incident is intriguing.