Eyes on Absalom

Eyes on Absalom is a weekly newspaper based in Absalom focused on sensationalist crime and rumors of the city. What it lacks in integrity, it more than makes up for in profits and popularity.

History and Publishing

Eyes on Absalom was founded by Reginald Vancaskerkin after purchasing and retrofitting a run-down villa in the Wise Quarter to serve as his future publishing house. The Eyes, as it is commonly referred to, is printed on a series of revolutionary clockwork printing presses that greatly expedites the completion time of the printing process, making it easily the fastest produced periodical of any kind in Absalom and, likely, the entire Inner Sea Region, although it only sees distribution within the city proper itself.

Content

Eyes on Absalom is a relatively young illustrated broadsheet that focuses almost exclusively on the criminal, the lurid, and the sadistic—and which is growing in popularity with each new issue. It is edited by Editor-in-Chief Layton Bryne and, including to his resume as owner and founder, frequently contributed to as a writer and reporter by Reginald Vacaskerkin. It is lavishly illustrated by Runbur Babblehollow III, a talented artist capable of engaging the readers with hyperbolic caricatures of notable public figures, heroic adventurers, city guards, and criminals-at-large alike.

Readership

At the time of the opening of the Radiant Festival of 4720 AR, Eyes on Absalom had an average weekly sales of 9,200 copies, easily making The Eyes the highest-selling weekly "tabloid" newspaper in Absalom, although it is far from being regarded as "quality" by discerning readers of all stripes. ("Tabloid", in this regard, doesn't refer to the print size of the newspaper, but to disparagingly classify it with other smaller imitator periodicals that The Eyes has inadvertently spawned by other publishers.) It is nearly guaranteed that a weekly issue of The Eyes will completely sell out, furthering the popularity of both the paper and the man behind the rumor mill surrounding it. With the Radiant Festival under full swing and the conglomeration of so many new visitors and criminal elements in one place, the popularity of Eyes on Absalom is quickly taking off like a skydragon firework.

Political Alignment

None, remaining peculiarly detached from any political affiliations. A commonly cried attention-getter by streetcorner newsboys draws attention to the reality that no person within Absalom is free from scrutiny or publication, whether fictionalized or not.

"By may or by might, or how hard you try, no-one is spared the gaze of the Eye."

Censorship

The prudish scolds of Absalom’s cultured society demand that the Crier’s Table take action against Eyes on Absalom, but have so far remained unsuccessful, as they typically sell out before they can be seized or recalled. There remains a lot of fretting about the degradation of Scrivener’s Square, with uptight critics damning the entire print business for the sensational extravagances of relative newcomers.

Document Structure

Publication Status

Printed weekly and available for the low cost of 2 copper pennies.

Type

Text, Newspaper

Medium

Paper