“The Re:News” —Break-Downs and Analysis of the Official Monthly SCP Foundation News

NEWS/ANALYSIS —The intro for a new series.

In August 2021, hust after their 13th birthday, SCP revamped their Site News page. The effort was heralded by WhiteGuard, who did a lot of good things for the site that month and the one prior, including the interviews with past icons. Delivered as promised, the new site layout looks great. I love how the backing header image meshes more smoothly with the theme, the icon is as clever as ever, and the CSS theme is ultra aesthetic and professional. Someone has done a great job capturing the feel of a journalistic effort. Based on this and the effort that has to go into the news, the individual publications are, if SCP’s reliance on upvote count is any measure (and we know it is almighty at SCP), criminally unappreciated.

I do wish the actual journalism here had kept up with the editorial and visual efforts.

Introduction

We are starting several months behind these Site News reports, and for good reason. They tend to take a long time to be released and the longer wait gives more time for connections and analysis. For example, it is 11/10/2021 at writing and the September 2021 News has not yet been released.

Delays seem to be a perpetual issue, as seen in a message on the June 2021 publication, which was written in August:

It is true that there was a change in management at this time that was troublesome. The delay coincided with the exit of a generally well-liked Staffer and short-term Admin who, via the history tab of the Site News hub, had been very active and helpful with its maintenance and operation. This individual was promoted to Administrator in May 2021. In the opinion of most, this was a long time coming, as this individual was perceived as a workhorse who generally kept the head down and just did good work. That is probably why the Administrator position didn’t gel well with this person. Four days later, they had returned from a week-long sabbatical where apparently some deep reflection was done. In the notice of their return, this Staffer indicated their intention to leave the site and community permanently in 6 month’s time. An update in early August made this official, and they gracefully exited the stage of SCP on 8/20/2021. But the story of TSATPWTCOTTTADC is one for another time.

By the 30th, WhiteGuard, previously a reporter for the Site News, had effectively taken the helm as Editor and revamped the hub with the new CSS theme, a section dedicated to the “reporters” (a term we will investigate more closely), and Editor’s notes. The gap left by TSAT is seemingly still felt though, as the months of June, July, and August 2021 haven’t been added to the Site News hub’s archive. Nonetheless, the Site News was indeed new and improved as promised, and just a Herculean effort all around; niche topics are covered, a comprehensive list of all published activity to the Wiki, microscope data accumulation and presentation; just all around excellent effort. The product is so good, the quality well excuses the perpetual delays, which still exist despite the now resolved change in management.

It seems most of the skill and talent here lie in WhiteGuard’s visionary applications to the News, and EstrellaYoshte’s CSS virtuoso contributions, and to a much lesser and varied extent, the writing of the participants. The point of this new series is to deconstruct and scrutinize this publication, which is in direct competition with Confic Magazine for narratives in the confic space. Not that I mind competition, or even that SCP’s take on things is necessarily wrong (it isn’t), but being the dominant voice in the space, SCP at times reports things with relatively poor critical thinking that comes dangerously close to straight up propaganda with no actual journalism. There are moments in these Site News publications that are hideously in need of correction, their flaws pointed out clearly.

At its best, the SCP Foundation News publication is a candy shop of information delivery that takes a staggering amount of coordination and effort. At worst, it is the bully pulpit of a severely malinformed political regime that would replace information with state propaganda . The line between these can be hard to trace.

This series will aim to show what is what, with citations and justifications at all turns of the line.

© Lack of Lepers