FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE From Zulu 5 Oscar Inc HQ Nafticon, Commonwealth of Antica Today, we announce the launch of Zulu 5 Oscar's response to the favoritist, censorship-crazed Micronational News Network. In order to provide an unbiased, uncensored, and functional representation of all the micronational news we can get our hands on, Zulu 5 Oscar has created the Micronational News Service, a new website devoted to presenting the news without any form of hindrance. This press release will attempt to outline the ways that this new system is superior to the old one in three sections. This includes technical, policy based, and quality superiority. Technical Superiority The Micronational News Network is based on an older implementation of Lilna, an RSS reader that uses temporary caches of feeds in a file on the server to provide the list of news articles. The big drawback of using this kind of system is the speed, and the inability to syndicate the results. To combat this, MNS uses a modified version of Gregarious, a true RSS aggregator that uses a database to speed and improve the results. This allows us to enable a broad range of features the MNN could never provide: - Loading the page takes 75% less time - All news articles can be viewed through the website, OR through an aggregated RSS feed - Full texts of most feeds (except where the feed is truncated) - Feeds from different spheres of micronational influence can appear in different categories Other features are in development, such as the ability to listen to radio shows directly on the website instead of having to download the whole show, among other things. Policy Superiority As with the MNN, the MNS will be an opt-in system. News sources will be added by request only. All requests should be submitted to MNS@nafticon.net where they will be added to the feed as soon as they are received by the staff. Removal of a feed can, similarly, be done through the same email address, but only by the same person that registered the feed. However, unlike the MNN, the MNS will NOT filter content for any reason. The MNS believes that a free and open press, without the fear of being "de-listed" for posting content that is contrary to the agenda of those running the aggregator, is an essential mechanism in micronational politics. Further, the MNS will make no complaint against anyone who infringes upon the copyright of another. Such situations are solely between those who created the content and those who are distributing the content, and it is not the place of an aggregator to step in and pre-emptively punish the "wrongdoers". To ensure this quality, the MNS is actively looking for any interested persons to join the administration staff of the MNS. The first three applicants will be accepted immediately provided they pass a simple background check. This offer includes any MNN admins that wish to help this new service. Quality Superiority For those of us old enough to remember when MNN accreditation meant that the news source was trusted, thorough, and compliant with certain guidelines, we believe that the accreditation process increased the quality of the newspapers for the betterment of the entire hobby. We aim to bring that quality back to the hobby by setting aside a special category of news sources within* the MNS, specifically accredited based on their compliance with the following requirements: - All news stories must contain at least three links to external sources backing up the views presented in the article. Three consecutive stories that violate this policy will result in the accreditation being revoked, but the news feed will remain on the website. - All articles must contain a by-line, including the author, place of publication, and a method of contacting the author, placed at the beginning of the article. - The feed in general must be considered by a majority of the administrators to be of a superior quality to the average micronational news source. - For radio shows, the show must NOT infringe upon the copyright of others, including both micronationalists and real life content creators. Clips of music less than 30 seconds in length will not be considered infringing, as they fall within the fair use policy of the United States. - Radio shows must also contain at least three pieces of news and two musical pieces. 30 second clips of music do not count. However, this requirement can be waived if an interview takes place on the show with someone featured in a news article elsewhere. It is the hope of the MNS that these requirements will shape the way news is presented and allow for a better understanding of the micronational world by everyone involved. It is because of these superior improvements, namely the technical, policy based, and quality ones, that Z5O has decided to launch their new Micronational News Service, in the hopes that a more impartial, non-judgmental, and supportive system of news aggregation will provide the micronational world with the best possible news. -30- *Feeds will be displayed using a seperate tag that denotes their status, and will eventually have their own feed, but shall still be on the main MNS feed as well.