Intelligence Report/Soft Company/News You Can Use

Name: News You Can Use

Type: Independent Soft Company

Products/Services: Information/News

Company Line: Keeping the Downtown population in the know since 899SD. Knowledge is power!

Public Information: Since the burning of the Downtown Phoenix in 895SD, truly informative print media has all but vanished from the World of Progress. Without saying a word, SLA Industries made it perfectly clear that print media is for glossy idol worship and celebrity dirt, not creating an informed and aware public. SLA Industries especially does not want a print media that trains the populace in potentially subversive skills. This is exactly what News You Can Use (NYCU) does. It is an underground newspaper full of literally life or death information. For the savvy Downtowner, NYCU is a veritable survival guide.

A good old-fashioned black and white fold-up newspaper, NYCU does not have a set publication schedule. The paper, much like Channel Zero, goes to print whenever there is enough material to fill an issue. It is not abnormal for weeks or even months to pass in between issues, especially if the heat is on from SLA Industries. The contents of the paper range from the practical to the dangerously subversive. In a single issue you are likely to see updates of gang activity and territory, recipes for cooking rats, tips for waterproofing your apartment and reviews of recent books, films and Contract Circuit events. However, you are also likely to find Shiver patrol routes, detailed accounts of Operative activity Downtown, tips for making hooch in your sink and schematics for antipersonnel mines.

Distribution of NYCU appears to be handled through a large series of reliable drop points. These drop points are generally shops and bars, but some of the bolder newsstands carry NYCU as well. The newspaper is often concealed in another publication or tucked into a shopping bag. Requesting the paper is done by speaking a code phrase. The phrase differs with each issue. Authorities speculate that the phrase for the next issue is concealed in the current issue. SLA has people working on cracking the code.

SLA Intelligence: SLA Industries has given NYCU Soft Company status on the grounds that “the classified and restricted information reproduced in this publication constitute a training manual and field guide for DarkNight agents and other insurgents.” SLA suspects that NYCU is operating multiple “presses.” Shivers have located and destroyed five NYCU printing facilities to date but have apprehended no NYCU employees. Raids on presses have done little to stop publication. As there is no set schedule of release, it is often hard for SLA to tell if its raids are making an impact. Is the lag between issues a result of raids, or is it simply due to a slow news period? SLA hopes that the Dark Finders recently assigned to NYCU can find out.
The source of funding for NYCU is unknown. The paper runs no advertisements. The paper is free and anyone greedy enough to charge for it is quickly taken off the circulation route. DarkNight involvement is actually not suspected as the paper has, on several occasions, printed reports damning to DarkNight.

Employees: Unknown. Size of distribution area would indicate a sizable staff.

Facilities: Unknown. Assumed multiple facilities. Possibly mobile.

Addendum: Clip of recent edition attached for reference. Click link for larger image. Image property of Departments of Misinformation and Subversion. Misuse prohibited.