2013/08/23

ZRT sorts out manifesto and platform for next election

FIOVA -- Democracy in action! With the ZRT convention opened by Miestrâ Schivâ, all members of the party will have a say on what the party will fight for in the election for the next Cosâ!

The opening took place with far less fanfare than the previous convention, most probably because the previous convention decided fundamental documents such as the party's constitution.

Proposals have already been made to amend the Platform, Constitution, and Manifesto for the upcoming election.

Expected are various speeches, including by the party leader, Carlüs Xheraltescu, as well as various reports and guest speakers.


2013/08/11

[EDITORIAL] Some plugs for our media friends, and why Talossan media needs a higher profile

How many citizens of Talossa regularly read our newspapers, or even know of them? Among the current crop of papers (be they gazettes of record, satirical publications, or otherwise), are the excellent Talossan Observer, the Notiçieir, the PengöTimes, the St. Brendan Sentinel, as well as yours truly here at the Mormoglhen offices.

The Observer has produced in recent days a string of high-quality interviews. Davinescu diligently compiles government announcements in the Notiçieir. The humorous PengöTimes is truly an asset to our printed culture. D. N. Vercáriâ's Sentinel provided an insightful "other-side" viewpoint during the events of Reunision.

While not classed as journalism, Éoväd Andrinescu has been publishing a gripping work of fiction, Talossa 2031, on a blog.

All of these publications are hosted away from the Wittenberg message boards.

Often, citizens will hear about these publications in promotional posts on Witt, and maybe look at the articles. They will not subscribe to RSS feeds, or remember to look again at these publications. For them, Wittenberg is the only hub of Talossan activity, their only Talossan news source.

And what a shame! The strength of off-Witt Talossan media is its capacity to sustain insightful analysis, commentary and satire without the efforts seeming like "just another post on Wittenberg". We are much closer to other democratic nation-states when we can have a vibrant press providing a counterpoint to the  events on our message boards.

Mormoglhen believes that it would be excellent if ProBoards provided a feature for a module or widget on Wittenberg in which RSS feeds can be displayed, rather like the blogroll (Bobina dals Blogs) here on the Mormoglhen site. While this may not be possible, it provides an idea of what we would like to see: some form of automatic promotion for online Talossan publications. It would act as an incentive for us to continue publishing.

Here's to a bright future for the Talossan press!