Daily Planet: Help Wanted!

[Bat-Mantis]

I’d REALLY like to keep this low-key right now because the site is nowhere near finished, but I’ve decided to open up a little and see if anyone would like to help out.
Last month I opened my own version of the Daily Planet Online.
I bought the domain almost exactly 1 month ago, so the site is pretty rough and very incomplete at this time.
This is my FIRST WEBSITE EVER, so please be kind. And since it’s less than a month old and I have a full time job, and since I did everything from top to bottom on my very own… yeah, spelling errors and bad links are to be expected.
Here’s the url:
http://www.daily-planet-online.com/

I’m looking for some people who’d be willing to type up and submit a few things to go on the site.
Things like:
letters to the editor
personal ads
news articles (sports, finance, local and so on)
I’d even be willing to post short stories or things similar, as long as they are adapted to a format befitting a newspaper (like me… I’m personally writing a story that involves Travis Clevenger, the character from the “Bloodhound” series that came out last year. It’s from the POV of a Daily Planet writer who follows Bloodhound and a small team around the US as they hunt the metahumans who escaped during the big prison break in IC).

Right now I’d just like to accumulate content, so articles on past events are welcome (but please limit them to post-Infinite Crisis events. Also, the site focuses on the events of 52, not OYL).
I really, really want this to be as accurate as possible in terms of continuity, and I really want to keep the “real newspaper” vibe.
I’ll try to act as EIC for the site and review any submissions.
All writers will be fully credited for their work!


A few things about the site:
-I’ve incorporated real news and headlines into the page (from the NY Times), as well as real weather (just a little thing from the Weather Channel). I want to create a blend of real life and fake life… I want a realistic online news site.
-I’m keeping elements of a real newspaper’s layout on the main page… mainly because I think it’s a neat idea. Metropolis is this really unique mix of the 1930’s-40’s architecture and traditions (like they still have newsboys and phone booths) and modern technology, so I wanted to keep the traditional newspaper layout for the main headline on the main page.
-Features will include: Local, National, “Universal” (news from around the DCU), Financial, Sports and Entertainment news. Also editorials, letters to the editor, personal/want/classified ads, obituaries and comics (political and “Charlie Brown” style comics).
-News updated in real-time. If there’s a newsworthy event in 52 on Day 1, I try to update the page with news of that event on Wednesday evening. And so on.
-News as if these events were real. Imagine a gigantic battle between dozens (if not hundreds!) of heroes and villains goes down in your hometown. City blocks are leveled, homes and businesses destroyed… how would a person react to this? “It’s a war YOU brought here!” “My house, my life is destroyed just because Gorilla Grodd wanted to fight freakin’ AQUAMAN!” The news on this site is largely not “in on it” like the DC Daily Planet site (which is very ‘wink wink nudge nudge’) and not entirely favorable or propagandistic towards “heroes” like you might expect.

Again, this is my first website and I’ve been working on it for about 3 weeks, so please be kind. I’m updating constantly. Feedback is welcome!
Any help is appreciated!

 

[Bat-Mantis]

Well, I'm a little saddened no one's decided to comment yet...
We're working on a rotating, full color Daily Planet globe now as well as updating weather (that will hopefully change with the time of day. Ex: night and day, cooling temps and so on) for most major cities. Also live real stocks as well as changine, adjustable DCU stocks and markets. There'll be more subtle graphics on the page as it goes along to give it a cleaner, smoother look and I'm also thinking about entirely doing away with the frames... but that's easier said than done.
Here's tonights real-time update (for late Friday night) *WARNING '52' SPOILERS AHEAD!!*
BOOSTER: BUSTED!
By Lois Lane-Kent
Daily Planet
Senior Staff Writer
Metropolis-
In a shocking turn of events, “America’s Favorite Hero” Booster Gold was exposed as a fraud outside LexCorp Tower in Metropolis’ East End late Friday evening.
Booster Gold, “hero” from the future, conveniently arrived to the scene as a propane-filled tanker truck jackknifed and exploded at the corner of Luthor Lane and Kennedy Street in front of LexCorp Tower. As the tanker exploded, Booster crashed through the city street and opened a water main, showering the flames, as well as the nearby crowd, with water, extinguishing the inferno before anyone was seriously injured.
Moments later Booster mingled with the nearby crowd, which had gathered outside LexCorp towers in hopes of being chosen to participate in Project Everyman, Luthor’s “Supergene” testing program, when a trench coat-clad man approached him. The man’s name was Robert Castell, also known as Manthrax, the “villain” who supposedly attempted to blow up Midtown Station last week. Castell, a local actor, accused Booster of paying him a substantial sum to stage the terrorist attack just so Booster could defeat him and gain publicity and corporate endorsements.
“Last week, Booster Gold hired me to stage a fake attack on a commuter rail, and then his check bounced over the bank building in a single bound!” Castell proclaimed in front of the gathering media.
Booster quickly renounced Mr. Castell and denied all accusations.
“Don’t listen to a word that man says! He’s a proven threat!” Booster shouted in his own defense. “This isn’t like it seems!”
But Castell wasn’t the only accuser in the crowd. Ralph Dibny, formerly the hero known as Elongated Man and teammate of Booster’s in the Justice League, quickly gained the attention of all as he pulled a microphone from a nearby reporter.
“How many other of these last six weeks’ ‘death-defying rescues’ have you staged to improve your marketability” Mr. Dibny asked accusingly, drawing a shocked response from Gold.
When asked if he, a former confidant, friend and teammate thought Booster Gold was capable of such fraud, Dibny said, “As far as I’m concerned, absolutely.”
As Booster tried his best to stifle his former colleague, Dibny continued. “You cannot depend on this man,” Dibny proclaimed over national television. “Whatever Gold does, he doesn’t do it for you! He is a vain opportunist who poses as a hero to earn lucrative corporate contracts!”
As Booster’s robot sidekick Skeets buzzed the crowd calling for calm, it seemed for the first time no one was paying him any attention. Booster, visibly shaken by the allegations of Mr. Dibny, begged Dibny to stop, but he did not. “Has anyone seen Blue Beetle in the last few months? No. Why? Because this man didn’t even care enough to save him from death. Booster Gold is a living, flying con game. And if you’re within the sound of my voice, you’re just another one of his marks.”
As the crowd grew silent, betrayed and saddened by Booster’s deception, shocked by the crassness of the person they knew as the loving Elongated Man, the water main geyser sprayed Metropolis’ tears into the dark night sky. America’s favorite hero, the man who’d replace Superman was a sham.
“You call yourself a hero?” Dibny said to Booster as he turned to walk away. “…you’ve let the whole city of Metropolis down. You’re pathetic.”
As the throng of reporters threw question after question at Ralph Dibny, he said nothing and continued to walk away.
When the crowd’s attention returned to Booster Gold, he and Skeets were nowhere to be found.
Robert Castell, aka Manthrax, turned himself in to Metropolis Police on the scene, and no charges have been officially leveled against Booster at this time.