History : For their journalistic needs, most of Midnight Bay depends on the San Francisco Chronicle. Though most have it delivered, there are still some who buy at newsstands. However, for local news they buy The Midnight Sun.

Midnight Sun was founded in 1974, shortly after the founder, Janice Venkmann, was forced to leave the San Francisco Chronicle after a falling out in office politics (she pushed for too much emphasis and investigation of some stupid break-in of the Democrat campaign headquarters in Washington). Returning to her hometown of Midnight Bay, she decided to put her experience to use and start up a local paper.

Business was bad until 1978, when two events occurred. The first was the striking of a deal with Midnight Bay University to have (unpaid) journalism majors take over the tasks of printing, typesetting, minor interviews and other grunt work in exchange for course credit. This cut expenses drastically. The second was the photo on page 2 (and 3) which broke the still-talked-about Moose Scandal which led to the resignation of the mayor. The Midnight News had arrived.

The Paper: Midnight News is a weekly, 48 page paper. The back two pages are obituaries, and the one before is editorials. Like most of Midnight Bay's economy it's focused on the tourist trade, so extra attention is given to covering local events and locations (nightclubs, festivals, etc.). Like most papers it generates the majority of its revenue through ads, which are plentiful. The paper covers most local events, including marriages, police activities, fires arrests, local trials and politics. Regular features include letters to the editor, the notorious Jumbo Puzzle, an oddly accurate horoscope, and one week's worth of Brenda Starr and Dilbert.

The paper has some critics, who complain it is too lurid and sensationalistic. To be honest, they're somewhat right. There is a focus on the more, ah, extreme events. But this is Midnight Bay.

They don't have to exaggerate *that* much.

The Staff: Midnight News has thirty people on it. Most of them work part time, doing grunt work. There are also five field reporters, who cover the more important local events (press conferences, crimes, etc.). These reporters have something of a reputation in the more esoteric areas of Midnight Bay society. They always seem to be in just the right place at just the right time to catch stories, be it a murder or a politician's tryst. They are all licensed to carry concealed weapons, something of a necessity doing their jobs in Midnight Bay.

The Secret: What no one, not even the people on the paper, know is that the head editor, Janice Venkmann, has something of an advantage. She has studied the arts of feng shui and astrology intensely, and has found connections between them. Her studies reveal when and where newsworthy events are likely to take place, so she sends her reporters to be there to cover them. However, she isn't always clear on exactly what the event will be, and she has a error range of about an hour and several blocks. Needless to say, this lets writers put reporters of The Midnight News in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time for your stories.

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