Is there anywhere that details the state of journalism and news outlets in the Sixth World?

I found a few things with Horizon but almost nothing beyond that.

Shadowrun Missions 4.

If you have access to older source books there's a few things.

Do you know which books offhand?

Yeah let's see going way back obviously there is Shadow Beat, a whole book dedicated that sort of thing; I believe but don't have immediately on hand that the Sprawl Survival Guide makes mention of media outlets; The original Corporate Shadowfiles has some mention of media stuff in various spots; I believe one of the Threats books covers KSAF-a media outlet and it's relationship with some unknown source.

There may be more, and I'll try to recall which would be useful for you.

Thank you

I have them all so if you come across something you need a reference to let me know. I have a lot of free time on my hands right now-so I might as well be useful for something.

I thought KSAF was in Threats.

Oh, and Shadowbeat, Shadowbeat, Shadowbeat.

Also, Shadowbeat is a good source. If I'm not mistaken, Threats features KSAF. ;)

Keep in mind, Shadowbeat, a book I ADORE, was written back in the day when we had newspapers and journalism. By 2050, let alone 2072, we may well have no newspapers left and we'll have Infotainment Journalism instead, where bias is expected in all sources. We might also have a more forceful Blogosphere and a lack of an Associated Press.

These concepts didn't *exist* back in Shadowbeat days.

A modern rewrite could be very, very different.

What I can tell you, however, is that every news media and channel listed in Shadowrun is now owned by a mega, and each mega spins their news in freindly ways, and as a weapon against their competitors. Pirate media used to be a Thing, back when Neo-Anarchy was pushed more by the line, but I don't think it's been mentioned since 2000 or so.

Have I mentioned that I want a new Shadowbeat?

RPGs are owned by Large Corporations now, too...

True, true, but some are owned by small time operators, indy folks, and so on.

Do you think that there's a PBS in the UCAS in 2073, however?

(And I suddenly can't recall if there was in Shadowbeat. To the cloest!)

[grouchy rant not necessarily entirely Wak's fault]


Yeah, but fuck modern rewrites.

Shadowrun isn't, shouldn't be, and never really has been, a realistic look at what our actual real-world future will hold. Retconning awesome things -- like Shadowbeat, and all that it entails -- out because technology in real life has progressed is a pattern of behavior I absolutely detest. I grudgingly accept the sudden prevalence of wireless technology because it, in theory, lets the matrix overlap a little more with the meat world, and lets the crew's electronics guy hang out with the rest of the team a little more on jobs.

But more than that? Introducing more Shadowrun tech that's based purely on real world tech, or more removing of perfectly cool Shadowrun tech because real world tech makes it obsolete? Screw that noise, man. I get enough reality in my reality. I want Shadowrun to make sense in the Shadowrun universe, established for over twenty years now, not in the real one.

Bah. "Modern rewrite." Get off my lawn!

[/rant]

Careful Critias, Bull might want his rocking chair and Panther Assault Cannon back.

Does the lawn have foxholes and/or impact craters?

No idea, it's not my lawn.

If you click the "Style and Substance" link in my sig, you'll find my work in progress book about Culture (and Style, though right now it's mostly Culture) in the 6th world. There's a part here about medias. Though it doesn't particularly clash with canon, it's still just my own point of view of how medias are in the 6th world.

@Critias: Good to know that a freelancer thinks like this. Many things I've read in the latest books made me feel like it was 2011 with cyber and magic, rather than the 6th world in 2070.

Believe me, I'm *much* happier keeping it Shadowbeatish (New word!) than a full extrapolation. Heck, I still want the Rocker archetype back.

I agree with you, to a point.

CGL should never update Shadowrun to be on par with the world of the 2010s. We've gone one way, they've gone another.

However, it would be useful to see just how much things have changed in the media with the aggregated force technology and magic from the last twenty years since Shadowbeat. For a small example, cyber-eyes are much more common in the mainstream now, and with ubiquitous wireless, news can be caught instantaneously and uploaded straight to the Matrix. Hell, you can edit it as you're watching it happen while madly writing the notes in the head. And as you do, the subscription I've got on my commlink is uploading it to me by the second while I watch the coverage from the six or seven drone feeds from a different corp and one or two pirate stations.

Don't be a celebrity in the Sixth World either. From hackers constantly getting into your personal shit and spilling it across gossip sites and blogs to having to live in warded rooms constantly so that free spirits and watchers can't just waltz into your place and record you taking a shower (dirty, dirty porno industry), it'd be a shit life.

ETA: Let me put it to you this way. Familiar with Oh No They Didn't? Imagine those folks with cyber-eyes and a constant Matrix upload and fear.

tl;dr Shadowbeat needs an update, but in a Shadowrun context, not the modern. It also needs an update because we need the rules for playing rockers and updated info on sports teams and, I'm ready to be jumped for this one, to remove the Neo-Anarchist vibe its got. That's a little irritating.

@ravensmuse : don't hesitate to take a look at Style over Substance (link in sig) and give me your feedback.

Blade, I keep meaning to, believe me. Just like I owe Ryu a read on his Matrix guides

On the issue of privacy, note that, by Shadowbeat, the explosion of recording devices meant that, under UCAS law, the expectation wa sthat everything was now recorded unless otherwise stated. This opens up a *huge* legal side, where the privacy rights are left dangling. In essence, unless you opt-out, you're assume to have opted in. Thus, any encounter that's had, be it in public or private, is free to record, re-edit, and re-transmit, and there's nothing you can do unless you had people sign out. Now, that can be sneaky (For example, tickets for sporting events likely carry legalese that state, via end0user agreement, that you won't record the event) but, in general, everything is for the grist mill. Heck, under the P2 system, the Facebooking of the 6th world is pretty darn huge.

Which makes soem people very, very happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqggW08BWO0

We, I mean they... already have that. I've seen ONTD change drastically with the technological advances that have taken place in the last 5 or 6 years. The big one was when Paris Hilton's blackberry got hacked years upon years ago, from then on it was out of control.

I have thoughts on this but have a 9am deadline. Will be back later!

Here's a few fun links to give you guys some ideas if you want to use some ONTD type antics.

This one is quite good where they hacked Lindsay Lohan's Myspace (That tells you how old it is)

Here's a link to another site's Paris Hilton stuff and ONTD's followup article. The original (It was hacked by an ONTDer) got deleted because of legalities. I didn't have anything to do with the hack but I was on when this all happened and called dozens of these phone numbers personally. They were 1000% legit. Seriously one of the most interesting mornings of my life.

And I just like the snark line at the end of this article. Pretty much sums up the attitude around there.

So yeah, you want some ideas? There's a bit of food for thought.

I think that celebrities (and the people behind them) will have learned how to use this constant recording at their advantage. Some of them will even do it themselves, allowing fans to live their lives through simsense (for a subscription fee), other will live in a world of their own, making it very difficult for external people to get close to them.

Absolutely. In fact several books make reference to community based schools, and underground broadcasters. I think there will be a few on both sides of the fence. Some legitimately trying to make a difference, others serving various agendas.



I think we need to be careful here. On the one hand I agree with you. Shadowrun has absolutely split from the standard timeline we all know. However unless we fall pray to what so many science fiction and other movies fall victim to: not being relevant. I dislike the idea of the game trying to keep apace of modern technology-but if the game fails to stay relevant it will end up as dated, and dead as a bad scifi flick.




I think this is something that fits in with the above-absolutely it should be addressed, but it shouldn't bog the game down with detail. Find something that fits the Dystopian world of Shadowrun and call it.




And honestly if Nigel Findley were to have written the Shadowbeat today I think ideas like these would fit in just nicely.




It's funny how much I agree with this and still hate the LA section in Corporate Enclaves.

Oh, and for the record, I *love* pirate media in Shadowrun. You get wonderful flashes of it from Johnny Mnemonic, for instance, as well as the Eyes Wide Open broadcasts from Dark Angel. These things flash to the old Neo-Anarchist roots of Shadowrun and should never go away.

(On a strangely related note, I was just re-reading Corporate Download for some Cross stuff, ganced at the MCT section, and was reminded that they're the #1 media producer, ahead of the Azies and Ares. I'd somehow forgotten this, and need to use that in the future.)

And Max Headroom, yo! Pirate media is definitely integral to cyberpunk.

"This is Pi-Ratt Radio, on your Matrix Dial at 3.14, bringing you only the music that the Megas don't want you to hear: The stuff they don't own! Next up is 'Chav and his Droogs' out of London, England... You guys stay safe in Prison, and don't drop the soap when Bubba The Love Troll is in the shower with ya!"

And suddenly I'm graced with an idea.

A rogue AI investigative reporter.

He sniffs around data, then randomly pops up in Matrix channels, blabbing his fool head off to the consernation of the Megas, who can't track him.

I shall call him "Mickie Wiki", and he'll be my Headroom of record.

Does he live in a world made up of constantly changing glowing lines, wear a suit made of fiberglass, and stutter, a lot?

Maaaaaaybe.

It it it's a small Matrix, aft-t-t-t-t-er all.

http://cinematicjackass.files.wordpress.co...boat-willie.jpg

Heh, reminds me of Matthew Lillard at the end of Hackers.

"Check it out - I'm on tv!"

Or this, from Chicago in '87 - warning, kinda creepy. And weird.

"Kinda creepy"? That was some whacked out drek Raven! I would almost like to say that those guys were VERY high on bad drugs.

Or should be heavily medicated if they were sober.

And see, I just laughed out loud. "Fricking art school kids..."

Its just Lady Gaga of the 80's. Nothing to see there...

We were still getting used to Madonna and Alice Cooper in the '80s. We weren't ready for Lady Gaga yet.

When looked at with those eyes, yeah, it's whacked. Totally!

Devo was weirder than this any day

I miss Devo. And my Interstate '82 disc.

Okay back to that thought I had yesterday I never got back to.

Print media. I really feel that there's going to be some physical print media still available. I just can't see it disappearing completely. Sure, we shouldn't take our world and try to push it ahead 60 years but we can take from what we know to make a logical and informed SR world that is equal parts believable and fantasy.

That said, there's a demand for print, and I think there always will be. We have witnessed in our lifetimes the demise of major print media but its still hanging on in a big way. There's a demand and I think there still is demand in the sixth world.

And yeah, pirated stations are amazing. Now I'm getting all kinds of neat ideas. I can only imagine its the kind of thing that would happen fairly often, and with very fun effects...

The problem with Print is that there's a growing level of illiteracy as Iconoliteracy takes hold (Knowing standardized Matrix Icons and Text-to-Speech options on Data Terminals before Crash 2.0, and CommLinks afterwards.). Print might still exist, but not as paper, but as e-newspapers.

That said, I typically put it that Shadowrunners have a high percentage of literacy compared to wageslaves (The majority of people) due their jobs and the lack of other options far too often. Old books and such are probably very valuable after Crash 1.0 and all the damage to libraries and such during those riots.

Funny enough, I see Horizon trying to preach a return of literacy in order to better be able to mine information. But Speech-to-Text might work better for them with that, so maybe not. Still, I can see them printing books again for a niche audience.

What about magazines? Fashion, Art, Music, things like that? Smaller audience than the New York Times for sure, but smaller scale could be easier to work on as well. You don't need to read to be able to look at all the pretty photos.

That I could see. Especially in doctor's offices where you're not supposed to have Wireless Devices on.

Of course, they date from the 2040s.

I found a few paragraphs in Attitude regarding journalism, namely that there is a thriving community of freelance journalists but not much beyond that.

It's better than nothing?

KSAF uses a destreamed source of independent journalists after their HQ got firebombed. Keeps their assets from being attacked as easily, while still allowing them to remain a legitimate news source. The offices work purely out of the Matrix, using a system similar to ShadowLand and ShadowSEA for journalists accessing it, but broadcasts on Matrix Channel $Number.

Privateer News Station, maybe?

Of course, they had ties to Dunk before he died, and there're rumors that they're tied in with the Dunklezhan Institute of Magic as well. Still, they have a loose collection of stringers that are ordinary people with commmlinks on 'record', so, they might be the Privateers that we'd like to see.

Horizon is a huge player in the field, obviously, since they absored Turner, Are and the Azzies both had monstrously strong PR and entertainment areas ... oddly enough, MCT is the biggest media producer, which would explain the "Japanization" of the UCAS culture beyond Seattle.

Declining literacy will likely increase demand for physical print, as an immediately recognizable way of showing one's status. "Hey, I'm reading an actual book - I'm more important, better educated, and much richer than you!"

Paper is likely lab-created in most cases, though I'm guessing natural paper still exist in some regard.

Also, remember that there's a 'printer' accessory to commlinks even in the basic rulebook -- a fairly cheap one, at that. That's a clear indication that print media is still widely used. (There's also numerous SR art-pieces showing newspapers, but that's not quite an indication of canon fluff, I know...)

A lot of the print media is probably AR-enhanced, though, carrying virtual links to pop-up AR videos, changing pictures, and other sensory information.

OK, can't argue the first.

But paper is likely to be Hemp Paper. Hemp grows like weeds, can be used for multiple purposes, and is cheap as dirt to turn into high quality paper without many harsh chemicals and is a great PR way of showing a "Green" manufacturing process.

The reason we don't use it IRL at the moment is because of some really stupid laws that were pushed through by companies that made cotton and wool. Oh, and Marijuana is "The Devil's Weed" for some reason, too.

We should make newspapers out of marijuana instead. When you're done, just roll 'em and light 'em

Amongst other things, the THC makes for lousy paper and other industrial products. That's why there's a difference between Hemp and Marijuana, despite their being very damn near the same plant.