I am all for the auto-generated stuff, but I reckon it should consist of BOTH.

I reckon, for events and the like (random events as well), sure Auto-Generate them. But to make it a news paperish, why not add like a comedy section (at the back), some made up sports or real events, some fan fiction with people reporting on something made up that has no relavence at all.

Kinda like the pub, but in News Paper form.

And for the reccord, I am not into mammory glads, just what they make

The news feed as you suggest would be too precise and would give away too much information; it has to be 1) delayed and 2) a lot more imprecise; see my example in the comment above, or this one: “Continued skirmish has been taking place in layer 72 as the locals are fighting over access to the supergate”. Better than giving away player X and Y’s respective locations and activities.

Major updates to the game -> yes, that would fit in there.

Regarding having it displayed when you log on, maybe not, as it shouldn’t be mandatory to read it and besides, it’s never as precise as your own overview. You could however get a dialog box, something like this:

A new issue of the Intergalactic Newspaper is available! Do you want to read it?
(Yes) (No)
(Remind me later)
(Do not annoy me with that INS thing again!)

Also, I wouldnt mind being a reporter

The INS should be a bit like a news paper… It should have a place for humour where people can submit jokes (not too many) or a small comic. It should have a few interviews with some important players and with those who just think they are . As well as the sorta news feed ‘Planet X was taken from Player A by the forces of Player B etc.’

And, why not have some fanfiction for those who are bored? (and desperate losers )

Oh, and put in some major updates to the system.

And not have it as the sort of ‘Overview’ page, so that when you log on, you can see it.

@rimtosser,
Regarding reports about wars, I think it would be best to leave the “action reports” (who killed who) to the automatic generation system, possibly with a bit of delay in order to prevent too much information from being leaked. As I said, the reports would be inaccurate anyways, so it would read like (random short example) “Yesterday, the war between Alliance A and Alliance B took an interesting turn after Alliance A managed to destroy most of Alliance B’s superior forces through ruthless tactics”. This doesn’t give away too much information, and can’t really be biased.

I don’t know if Ju said it (haven’t re-read the post) but yes, there will be a graphical timeline as well – it makes it easier to find the information you’re looking for.

Last thing, I love your idea of “journalist” accounts, but there is still the problem of bias in it. It would require a lot of oversight.

Regarding wars, there is obviously the issue of bias but there is a fairly good chance that there is someone who isn’t invested in either side who can write a story, if not an admin/user could take it upon themselves to write an unbiased story. If anyone disagrees then they can file a complaint on the story and it can be discussed.
Relating to delicate information, that can be decided by those who that intell actually belongs to and in any case, the story could be written after the war or after that information is valid/applicable.

And just another idea, could there be a group of special users called journalists. These users work for the INS to write stories and could interview presidents, other users and admins as well as just write stories and perhaps editorials (from their own opinions?).

One last thing, the INS could be accompanied by a graphical timeline that highlights the important issues.

Cheers,
Timmy