If you have been bouncing between Lawco.News, Monco.News, Greeco.News, and the rest since late summer, the sites should feel like they finally a network. That is the point of the rebuild. One network. Eight county faces and a million ways that an intrepid local journalist, ad-man or commentator can reach people and make some side money in the process.
What actually changed
Earlier county sites were an aggregator that shared other published articles and had a limited editing console. The August update was the same idea, pulled onto one platform so a Lawrence County story and a Monroe County story do not have to live on two different machines.
What you see now:
- One shared newsroom behind Lawco.News, Monco.News, Oraco.News, Jacco.News, Broco.News, Greeco.News, Martco.News, and Wasco.News.
- Stories tagged to one county or several.
- Sections that behave like a real paper: Editorial / Opinion, Politics, Zines, Ads / Services, Sports, Jobs, Obituaries, and Events.
- Weather in the header, Search that filters, and local calendar items pulled from the events site DO812.com.
- A Console that allows for tagging, sorting and review.
- Public author pages. A name, a short bio, optional support links.
- A tip. Something you saw around town or know that no one else does.
- A correction.
- A story idea you are not going to write yourself.
- A request for a writing account.
- A press release, a meeting notice, a hiring note, a festival date.
- A complaint.
- Who is speaking.
- What happened, or what is about to happen.
- When and where.
- Which county it belongs to — Monroe, Lawrence, Greene, Martin, Jackson, Washington, Brown, Orange, or more than one.
- A real name and a phone or email that will pick up.
- Whether you want it treated as news, as an Ads / Services listing, or as both.
- Counties switches the lens. Same network, different front porch.
- Editorial / Opinion
- Politics
- Zines is an experimental pilot feature to add independent print distribution into the mix.
- Ads / Services
- Sports
- Jobs pulls state and local openings.
- Obituaries
- Events
- Weather
- Search
- Play Tunes
Mr.Newz still does the research and the draft work when there isn't much human traffic. Publishing still waits on a person - This will never change.
Our Facebook is gone. It served our initial purpose to get out there but ultimately it is a distraction from the overall project goal.
The message system
Look at the top of any network page. There is a button that says Message.
Use it for:
You do not need an account to send it. Additionally, info@mrnewz.network still works if you prefer a mailbox.
The message is given to Mr.Newz — the same engine that already reads the public record and drafts a lot of the daily copy — and it gets passed on or acted on. We get them every day.
Press releases
Send the release through Message or to info@mrnewz.network. Put the useful parts at the top:
If you already have a writer account, you can file the piece yourself. A peer still has to approve it before it goes live. That is the same gate every other submission walks through, including the copy Mr.Newz writes.
How to request authorship
Do this:
1. Hit Message, or email info@mrnewz.network.
2. Say you want a console account. Give the name you want on the byline, the county or counties you actually know, and a sentence about what you intend to cover.
3. When the account is open, sign in to the Console.
4. Write in Markdown. Pick the counties. Mark the piece Editorial, Opinion, or Advertising if that framing matters.
5. Submit. It goes to the review queue. Another person on the platform reads it. They decide if it prints.
Author pages are public. Put a short bio on there. Put the links you actually use. Historical bylines stay locked to what was true on the day the piece ran, so a later profile edit does not rewrite the archive.
Authors can get paid. The network does not.
Writers on this network can put support details on their public profile — a tip jar, a coffee link, whatever they use. Readers who like the work can pay the person who wrote it. Directly.
A short tour of the rest
If you have ideas about the project as a whole or specific inquiries, please reach out. We'd love to collaborate!
No thoughts yet — be the first.