Das Lokalblatt

The Messenger is Nesselbach's last remaining newspaper. The publisher is granting it sixteen more issues—one per week, every Tuesday. After that, the final tally will be: Have the readers stayed? Does the town still believe you? Is there any money in the coffers?

As of today, you are the editor-in-chief.

THE WEEK
Each issue is a week in five parts. On Mondays, the stories are laid out: the bakery's hygiene inspection report, the closed maternity ward, the pothole in the roundabout. In the editorial meeting, you decide who researches what and how thoroughly—a phone call is cheap, a dossier takes days. On Wednesdays, someone shows up wanting something from you. On Thursdays, you build the front page. And on Tuesdays, you check at the newsstand to see if anyone is buying it.

TWO WAYS TO SAVE A PAPER

You can grow: more circulation, more ads, a bigger building. Or you can stay small and incorruptible—no outside money on the front page, but a town that believes this paper like no other. Both count. Both are difficult.

WHAT IT COSTS
The biggest advertiser is listed in the audit report. Print, and the ad is gone. Don't print, and the city will know anyway—and the competitor across the street is just waiting for it. Every player in this game can take something from you.

THREE CAMPAIGNS
Whoever holds the messenger gets called away: to the district town of Talburg, where a media conglomerate is buying up one regional newspaper after another. And then to the top of a national newspaper whose opponent is no longer a publisher, but speed itself. Three papers, forty-eight issues, four to six hours.

Campaign 1 is complete and free—with its own finale. Campaigns 2 and 3 will be unlocked together once.

READING MATERIAL
Over one hundred stories, more than one hundred full articles. How in-depth a text is depends on how thoroughly you commission research: Those who only make phone calls get the summary. Those who send someone get the paragraph written on-site. Those who pay for a dossier get the informant.

No time pressure, no advertising, no energy bars. They're making a newspaper.