Reporters are crucial to the direction and specialization of your newspaper. Each reporter has a number of attributes that can influence your paper, from the obvious numeric Skill and Level, to personality traits of all sorts. Some have kids, some don’t. Some are very political, others not so much. But how does all of this come together in the game? That’s what we will cover in this post.
Let’s start with the numbers. While Skill represents a Reporter’s basic talent, it doesn’t change much during the course of a game. Level, however, represents a year of experience and will go up by 1 point on that Reporter’s anniversary. Skill and Level contribute to the score of every story written. All of this won’t matter much, however, if your Reporter is in a foul mood.
The mood score is a percentage. If it drops too low, the Reporter May quit. But it also affects every story they write. When a story score is calculated, it is adjusted by the mood of its writer. In other words, if a story is worth 1000 points, but your Reporter’s mood score is 35%, the value of the story is reduced to 350 points. This is why, keeping your Reporters happy is so important.
The fastest way to increase someone’s mood is by giving them a Raise. However that is also very expensive, and you don’t want to price yourself out of a star Reporter. You can also “Buy Lunch” for the whole staff. This has only a small chance of improving the mood, although it does have a chance to affect all Reporters, not just one. However, the best way to keep them happy, is by assigning stories to them, that they enjoy writing. Keep an eye on their interests and assign them stories that match.
For this reason, Reporter interests are super important for your newspaper. There is no single best approach, as long as you are mindful of your strategy. Do you aim for broad coverage, or specialize in a few topics? You might hire a reporter who fits perfectly into your early game, but who will get replaced as more topics unlock. Experiment to find a combo that works for you, just remember that every time you fire one Reporter, there’s a chance the remaining ones will suffer a mood penalty.
Political opinion will also factor into the work Reporters deliver. If you aim to point your newspaper in a particular political direction, structuring the content accordingly is crucial. But if your Reporters aren't on the same wavelength, it will be an uphill battle. Reporters range from Liberal over Independent to Conservative, and though these labels aren't accompanied by a score, if you see the keyword "Very" in front of either of these, their opinion will have greater influence on the stories they produce.
You may also care if your Reporter has children. Parents are less likely to quit, even if miserable, simply because they are more responsible. More kids means less likely to leave. On the other hand, the more kids they have, the greater the chance that they need to take an occasional day off to deal with family matters.
Special events like that may trigger under other circumstances as well. Personality traits are all tied to one or more in-game event. Some of these are randomly triggered by anyone with that trait, while others trigger under specific circumstances. Personality traits leave much to discover for the player, and as such should not be ignored when hiring Reporters.
Speaking of hiring, the recommended approach is to fully staff your paper in the first couple of days. Fast enough that you start filling the front page with original content, but not so fast that you neglect paying attention to the things mentioned in this post.
Good luck, and happy hiring!