NationStates Jolt Archive

Official Statement of the Liberty Times Group

Ladies and gentlemen, today we would like to make an important announcement. Today, Allanea Times newspaper is no more. It is now the Liberty Times Group. Why this? Because, having reached the circulation of approximately 42 million copies per day on weekdays (and 50 million copies per day on weekends) we feel it is time for us to expand internationally.

So, what is the Liberty Times Group?

It's a high-end Allanean newspaper company, akin in popularity to the New York Times Group of Old America, but of course lacking it's social-democratic bias. Instead, Liberty Times now bears an imprint of classical liberal thought, with contributions from both Imperialist Liberals (of the Praetonian/Allanean/Menelmacari stripe) and non-Imperialists ones (we admit an anti-isolationist slant, however). At any rate, the Liberty Times Group, Inc. remains dedicated strongly to the ideas of free markets and civil rights around the globe.

Our flagship product is the Sovereign Liberty – an edition of Liberty Times adapted for distribution across the nations of the Sovereign League and elsewhere. It is, essentially, our 'global' newspaper, with versions available in English an Quenya.

We will further set up regional offices and local branches of Liberty Times (under names as appropriate locally) in local languages and adapted to audiences of other nations as needed. A Menelmacari headquarters is currently under construction.

Additionally, Internet distribution is available, as PDF for subscribers and one-time purchasers.

Estimated costs: $1.00 on weekdays, $3.00 on weekends and special editions. Subsciption costs $20 per month or $250 per year.

Distribution of Liberty Times

Sovereign League Nations

Allanea: 42 million daily circulation, 50 million on weekends.
Questers: 4 million (4.2 on weekends)

Elsewhere

Derscon 50,000 (60,000 on weekends).
Juumanistra 1 million (1.2 on weekends).
Distribution of other LTG publications

OOC: Post here for the circulation you want Liberty Times to have in your nation, ads in LTG publications, or whatever. Also post here with RP ideas if you have any.

OOC: Quenya isn't the right language for Menelmacar. While it is known to all Menelmacari, it is not the main language. Sindarin is spoken in everyday usage - in Menelmacar, Aelosia, Thelas and Taurenor, all use Sindarin for everyday use - and, did you ask Siri about this Menelmacari headquarters?

50 million? Isn't that like, 1% of your market?

And PDF. Eww.

And goddamnit. Make one 'Grand Allanean Business Exports' thread, beshrew you.

OOC: I spoke to Siri about having an all-out Quenya edition and a Menelmacari headquarters, with elven staff and all. But I'm not going to go into that market until LTG is big and multinational.

Also, it's basically the New York Times/Wall Street Journal of Allanea.
The WSJ has a circulation of 2.6 million copies/day, and I've got me about 25 times the population to contend with.


Also spoke to Derscon and Juumanistra.

IC:

In other news, Juumanistran circulation of our newspaper has reached 1 million copies per day, and we have been cleared for printing in Derscon. The initial circulation there will be set at 50,000 copies/day.

Early morning by the window, I lay
Watching sun sneak through aura
Of clouds, and gas, burning the day
Upon a line of brilliance and aurora
Immeasurable metals in brilliant array
Part only of ring of measureless power
Where weapons are laid in cache
For any unforeseen and distant hour
When some colossal human dismay
May call upon this monolith of production
To bend its limitless mass to the display
Of its awful capacity for destruction
Looking forward to such a time is a manifest terror
But only the foolish think that ignorance is fairer

English is hardly the most poetic language in existence, but it’s quite appropriate for the theme, I think, to myself, sitting here, for there’s many wars conducted entirely in it, on both sides. So aberrant and disgusting. I think as much, reading the ‘papers’ specifically, an Allanean one, with, ironically, a greater readership in G.M. than it has at home (perhaps it’s the only half-legible one, I don’t know) I didn’t pay for it, at least, not that I’m aware of; they should probably make online copies free and just load them up with adverts. It’d be much more efficient.

Warfare rages across the Earth. They love it; they die by the millions, and they keep at it. Here, one unlawful death causes a mass panic and a diplomatic crisis. Are we over sensitive? I don’t think so, merely a lot wiser about the way we conduct ourselves interfering in other people’s business. They hate the idea. We went out of our way to keep them from enjoying the horrific after-effects of radiation, recently; bully for them, I wish I could bring myself to criticize that move, but in all honesty, a ‘lesson’ that involves such an unethical thing is the antithesis of wisdom.

I doubt it would change much anyway. Alas.

Still, it’s peaceful here – most humans (English, again) refer to the world I see below me, constrained by a metal ring, as Venus, after an ancient goddess of love. And so it is.

I suspect the six-foot ants with no comprehension of ‘civilian’ (and maybe not even ‘cease-fire’) and a gigantic space ship have something to do with that. Nice ants. We should bribe them with sugar more often.

I picked up one of the Giltherani ‘moon elves’ that can occasionally be found in G.M. amusing themselves (and seeing the galaxy, and avoiding actually having to do any work {not that they’d actually have to anyway}) by frivolously attaching themselves to the locals for one night stands and such - amuses their hosts, too, as I discovered – yesterday (which reminds me to have Aeresan [Notes: Valet, Guest-Worker from Karistina - other references available in this journal; 2,492] see what kind of foods they prefer anyway; pastries and vegetables {uncooked?} I believe) a fringe benefit of the peaceful existence out here. Silly Allaneans, yet it’s useful to know what the warmongers are up to, in among all the other human types, anyway, best be off…

Now, where did I leave that gun?

Journal of Airaehtë Endaúruva, Resident of the Eärandil Ring, micro-missile construction operator, military munitions manufactory twenty-nine alpha

Captain Preator of the Nautilus stood on desk, sucking a fat cigar and letting the brisk sea wind carry his smoke over the water. A fair trade wind was sending them south, south, south to home and hearth. It would be another tenday before they spotted the green jungles of Kesshite, however.

He was amusing himself with one of the dozen or so souvenirs he'd picked up at Allanea, a newspaper. Novel idea, that. It was a thick group of papers folded together and containing a wealth of information about places he'd never been and people he'd never heard of. Stained the hands though.

Imagine if you could make these in bulk. Why, you could send them out via riverboats and horses to all corners of Kesshite. It would be like a storehouse of information available to people all over. Think how useful that would be.

He'd have to show it to one of the higher ups, maybe a Minister, such a clever lot. They'd get a kick out of his idea, yes they would.

Considering the large number of Allanean expats, Allanophiles, and various other groups in Questers, circulation within the first few weeks topped 4 million and 4.9 million on weekends.

Gorkon Standard - "The news. Just the news." - 12th January 2007 - Business Section
NEWS NEWS

THE Audit Bureau of Circulation today released their annual national newspaper circulation report for publications sold within Gorkon and the colonies. ABC, an independently owned and operated non-profit auditing company, subjects all newspaper companies operating in Gorkon to an annual audit. ABCe also released figures for New Media publications, which in some regards caused more controversy than the newspaper figures.

The results for major print publications in Gorkon are displayed below, in order of circulation figures (does not include Sunday editions):

Official News* - 4,526,938,231 average net circulation
Gorkon Standard - 310,520,056 average net circulation
Gorkonica Today - 95,581,951 average net circulation
Imperial News - 92,962,019 average net circulation
Veltor Evening News - 63,126,578 average net circulation
Manchuna Mail - 16,286,191 average net circulation
Sporting Star - 12,581,374 average net circulation
News Today - 8,157,195 average net circulation
The Star - 5,286,831 average net circulation
Telegraph - 2,691,021 average net circulation
Colonial Standard - 986,186 average net circulation
Nelvin News - 463,926 average net circulation
Weekly Review - 235,191 average net circulation
Langford Gazette - 93,572 average net circulation
Gorkonian AP - 42,591 average net circulation
Colonies Today - 23,681 average net circulation
Daily Review - 12,591 average net circulation
Armchair Alerts - 9,287 average net circulation
Liberty Times - 4,172 average net circulation
Regional Roundup - 2,681 average net circulation
* It should be noted that Official News is a government-produced publication distributed to all citizens over the age of 15 free of charge.

Gorkon Standard is still the premier commercial newspaper publication in Gorkon, with a vast lead over their primary competitors Gorkonica Today. Colonial Standard, owned by Gorkon Standard Press Ltd, is the most popular publication in the colonies, with a significant lead over their chief competitor Colonies Today (owned by Gorkonica Today). Industry analysts are particularly impressed by the Langford Gazette, a previously local publication which only went to national press for the first time six months ago and has already achieved impressive circulation. The brotherly duo responsible for the runaway success are said to be "pleased".

Another newcomer to the market saw little success, however. Liberty Times, a foreign-owned newspaper, has failed to see significant market penetration. Frederick Bore, an analyst in ABC, says, "Liberty Times is a foreign publication trying to appeal to a domestic audience who traditionally have little trust for outside opinions. Although it has only operated for a short period of time it already has the stigma of being biased towards foreign ideals. Until the company commits to a significant rebranding for its Gorkonian edition, to move it away from this image it has of a foreigner trying to spread foreign propaganda, I can't see them making any significant gains in the future."

Meanwhile ABCe released more surprising results for New Media publications this year:

Langford Gazette Electronic Edition - 146,176,915 unique page impressions
GorkonicaToday.gk - 143,918,224 unique page impressions
Gorkon Standard Online - 142,016,861 unique page impressions
Gorkonian AP - 96,186,551 unique page impressions
Sporting Star - 39,816,591 unique page impressions
Imperial News - 39,186,911 unique page impressions
Veltor Online News - 36,262,888 unique page impressions
Liberty Times - 32,916,991 unique page impressions
Colonial Standard Online - 27,961,115 unique page impressions
ManchunaMail.gk - 26,296,136 unique page impressions
TheStar.gk - 25,991,516 unique page impressions
News Today - 22,586,877 unique page impressions
ColoniesToday.gk - 22,216,555 unique page impressions
Telegraph.gk - 19,681,134 unique page impressions
Nelvin News - 16,656,625 unique page impressions
Daily Review - 12,616,665 unique page impressions
Weekly Review - 7,561,996 unique page impressions

"Numerous companies have seen their online counterparts reach greater success than their print editions," Janus Pris, industry expert at Gorkon Online Solutions Ltd, commented. "To a disproportionate level in some cases. And the Langford Gazette has seen its electronic edition race ahead much faster than its print edition to become the market leader of New Media - this is probably due to their policy of putting all of the news online for free, and relying purely on impression-based advertisements for revenue, which may also explain why their print edition has not done so well comparatively speaking. By using PDFs to create a virtual, animated version of their paper online via Flash (which is superior in quality and accessibility to Ajax and ActiveX versions used by competitors), complete with search functions and advanced statistical software, they have achieved domination over the Gorkonian online market and demonstrated without a doubt that the internet very much is the way of the future. Whether editors want to admit it or not.

"Also surprising is the comparative success of the Liberty Times compared to their print publication," Pris continued. "One would imagine that the image their brand suffers from would preclude success on either medium, but somehow they have achieved a reasonable position in the New Media market regardless of this. Their online editor for this region should congratulate him or herself. The success of Colonial Standard Online is a little easier to explain however - availability, pure and simple. The islands are difficult places to live and certainly to navigate, and most newsagents do not deliver for these reasons. The advent of the internet makes information more readily available to people living in the most remote areas, and they are taking advantage of that as we can see from these results."

The results of the audits will be published into a hardback report available at nominal cost from ABC.gk later this month.

The Gorkon Standard is available for a mere 0.35 gold sterling per edition, or you can subscribe for just 1.50 per week. Visit our website, www.gorkon-standard-online.gk, for more information and to subscribe online. Look out for our interactive online publication, coming soon!

OOC: You know that the circulation of ALL your papers is really small given the size of your nation?

IC:

Somewhere in the LTG headquarters

"I see we cannot penetrate Gorkon."

"That's correct, Sir. It's a completely different culture."

"You understand, James, our purpose is not to sell Liberty Times."

"It is not?"

"It is to make money. As such... I want you to send an emissary to that nation. Find out if there's any large newspaper there that's like ours, and try to buy it. If not, buy several small outlets and see if we can have success with them. Don't try and make them LT clones -won't work. Just let the locals work it the way they know best, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

OOC: You know that the circulation of ALL your papers is really small given the size of your nation?

OOC The figures published in the article above were average daily circulation figures for national newspapers only. In terms of percentages, the circulation of the Gorkon Standard is roughly on a par with the circulation figures of leading UK national dailies. The rest are significantly lower and deliberately so - regional newspapers are the more lucrative form of media in Gorkon, given its vast geographical size and different communities. As the Liberty Times is a national newspaper, it was placed in with the national figures. It may be handy to know that the ABC in Gorkon doesn't count national newspapers with regional variations as 'regional newspapers'; the brand name must be locally based and marketed.

Now, some more business news for your company staff to consider, that anybody could find out - the Gorkon Standard is flourishing and family owned, and their shares are not publicly traded. They have presses all over, and also own a large chain of newsagents which operates under the brand Standard News Shops.
Gorkonica Today is in a similarly successful position as the Standard, and also owns a chain of newsagents. They are a public limited company however, and their shares are quite expensive at the moment, especially since their online editions trumped those of the Gorkon Standard.
Langford Gazette make most of their money through online advertising, and lead the market in that regard, and whilst their print sales continue to rise they are still not achieving big profits with them - LG is owned by two brothers, and again its shares are not publicly traded, but they may be willing to sell one or two of their several presses.
Imperial News, despite being amongst the top few papers in the country, recently wasted a great deal of money on a redesign and a restructuring of their company that failed to increase their circulation figures or efficiency. They are a public limited company, but they are also in a great deal of debt.
The Star, News Today and Manchuna Mail and the four smallest newspapers (minus Colonies Today and obviously Liberty News) are all publicly traded companies, achieving modest profits. Any I haven't mentioned are either privately traded or not worth the trouble...

Somewhere in Allanea


“Wait. Let me get a better phone line. Okay. That's better. So, what you've got?”

“I think we're going to try and buy a controlling stock package in Imperial News. They're in debt, and they're going to be easy to buy. If that fails, we're going to buy presses and set up our own newspaper. Do an advertising blitz, have it all run – and 40% owned by – local people. Also, buy some smaller, regional papers, make them part of the group.”

“Good. I also want you to buy a local tabloid. A tabloid per nation – that's a good goal if I ever heard one.”

The CEO of Liberty Times Group dropped the phone, and then dialed a different call.

“Hey there. I think our site needs a renovation.”

“How so?”

“Fuck the PDF format. Fuck it in the ear. Replace it with a regular website format – with lots of ads. Make it so that it uses IP data to give the user the edition relevant to his country, by default, with a choice to shift to a different edition. Also, create a subscription-only service, with video and of course less ads. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now we need a Menelmacari staff – we have a lot of people who want to know what happens in elf country, and even readers there. And... can you check for me if Governor Sharan's wife is available for a permanent position with the Times?”

Bumped for glory.