How Are Freelance Journalists (And Journalists in General) Going?

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello,

The new journalist job with its alt title have been implemented for about a month now. We ultimately went in a slightly divergent way from the original suggestion on Press Freedom, which can be found here:

https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?p=101531#p101531

To summarize,

"The Corporate Journalist has basic access to all departments. Their guide (and intro blurb) encourage them to put a positive NT-friendly spin on their stories. They are here for morale and to make the corporation look good. They can be d-noticed and their news stories censored freely by the Captain. Because they are a private agent of the corporation, they are not granted freedom of the press.

Freelance journalists are conceptualized like the Merchant; they are detached from the station command. They have no extra access outside the office. But with their lack of access, they have a lot of freedom. They can report as they see fit. Their channels cannot be given a d-notice. They cannot be censored. They are not beholden to station command, and can't be fired by the captain of head of personnel. The only legal recourse to stop the reporting of a freelance journalist is by having Central Command grant the authority to dunk on them, just like we have to ask CC to legally dunk on merchants. Otherwise, it is very easy to punish an annoying freelance journalist by simply not working with them. If all they do is post negative stories, then you can sideline them. Without their access they do not have the ability to get as much of a scoop as corporate journalists."

https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?p=101753#p101753

How have you found the rogue Freelancers? How is the power dynamic between the freelancers and station command/security? How are corporate reporters? Have you noticed any over-arching attitudes from Corporate journalists and freelancers? Have you met any notable characters or have you had rounds/stories impacted by their presence?

[AmoryBlaine]

Pretty sure neither have had much of an in-round impact. No one cares about what some guy who yells over comms to read his articles says because it's just junk, usually, anyways. It's like most service jobs, they're just there. I think the only way for journalist characters to actually have impact is to do canon stuff, rather than focus on antag stuff. Like Xander's thing.

[Jakers457]

I've had some positive responses from when I was writing my Starwalker articles. I think it can add to the round or give something to talk about if it's done creatively.

[Doxxmedearly]

I see a lot of them running around. It really seems like people are enjoying the role, which is only a positive thing in my eyes. I think they're fitting, and a nice addition!

[Ferguson]

I really havent seen journalist at all, only one who is more annoying then anything and then another who just screamed " im a journalist " and demanded to be let into security situations.

[Arrow768]

As with every role, there are good journalists and there are bad journalists.

With certain players being absent the number of bad journalists has taken a slight dip in the last weeks.