The Freedom Alternative News Feed on Telegram (https://t.me/freedomaltnews – henceforth the Feed) is a public group where we link news stories from allover the world pursuant to our values and interests. As the team grows and interests diversify, and as the relevance of the Feed grows, it is no longer “self-evident” what should or shouldn’t be there.
This page is both for the current and future members of the team that publishes on the Feed.
The following guidelines should be understood as guidelines rather than strict rules. We try to vet those we allow to post on the Feed but we also have no qualms in removing someone from the team if exaggerations continue.
No outright ban on a source
In theory, any source is okay as long as the story is true or, in the case of commentary, as long as that commentary is relevant and coming from someone relevant to either our interests or the general public.
So, for instance, a commentary by AOC is never relevant because the character is as far as one can possibly be from both our and general public’s interests.
When it comes to sources – some sources are better than others. So if a story is reported by Infowars, ZerhoHedge and the BBC – the latter should be preferred in order for the reporting to be then efficiently be used by our activists when arguing in other places.
If a story is true but not reported anywhere in the mainstream, the least toxic non-mainstream source should be posted and, when a more normie-friendly link emerges, a reply to that post should come with the new source.
Reporting from Youtubers/vloggers and citizen journalists (on Twitter and other places) is also permitted. If that story then gets picked up by a more normie-friendly media outlet, that link should be posted as well as a reply later on.
With all of that said, there is a list of strongly discouraged sources, listed alphabetically as follows (will be updated):
- Activenews (panic porn, crazy)
- Alternet (far-left propaganda)
- Gatewaypundit (routinely fake/misleading)
- Huffington Post (extremist content)
- Inforwars (panic porn, crazy)
- Mother Jones (crazy)
- The Nation (far-left)
- New Statesman (misleading)
- Raw Story (far-left)
- Russia Today (misleading)
- Salon (crazy)
- VICE (extremist content/crazy)
- Zerohedge (panic porn, crazy)
On duplicate stories
We only consider duplicate if the exact same story from the exact same outlet is posted twice. Which is why we strongly encourage the team to use Telegram’s feature to check whether a link has been published in the Feed before.
That’s not to say the exact same story copy/pasted on 4 news agencies is in order. But it is to say that the same story covered from different angles by 4 news agencies can be posted on the Feed to inform the readers about the narrative(s) at play.
Also, it is not considered duplicate if a story is published in more than one language. In fact we do encourage team members to find versions of the story in English and Romanian (in case the original story is not in one of these two) and post them, preferably as replies.
Working languages: Romanian and English
All stories not in English or Romanian by default must be accompanied by a short excerpt in which it is explained to the reader what the story is about.
Stories in any language are accepted in the Feed, provided that they meet the relevance criteria.
A story in Arabic about an Arab country is more than welcomed. A story in Russian about something in Uzbekistan is also relevant (especially given that Uzbek is a difficult language and the language of business in Uzbekistan is Russian). But a story in Russian about something happening in Mali (a French-speaking country) may not meet the relevance criteria prima faciae unless there’s an extra element – such as a dissident Russian journalist reporting on Wagner’s activities.
Sometimes a piece of news appears first in Romanian and later on in English (or viceversa). If possible, in such cases, reply to the original news with the link in the other working language.
Of course, that’s not to say that every link should be pursued to make sure an impeccable record exists. But it is to say that if you notice a story later on that you’ve already seen in the other working language, please take the time to hit the reply with the other version.
All in all, what we’re saying is that the team should observe common sense. The readers don’t need to see the same story in 10 languages – but a story from, let’s say Sweden, posted in Swedish, English and Romanian from three mainstream sources is the ideal scenario.
Stories originally in English or Romanian can be presented without comment or excerpt.
Relevance criteria
While we allow a very broad palette of topics and ideas to be disseminated via the Feed, generally speaking, the relevance criteria is as follows:
- Related to the local politics of Romania
- Related to the local politics of an Intermarium country
- Related to geopolitics (of anywhere in the world, but primarily Intermarium)
- Crazy policy measures (anywhere)
- Investigative pieces on relevant issues
- Protests against the State (anywhere in the world)
- Changes of government or other machinations (anywhere, but primarily in Europe)
Not exactly meeting the relevance criteria, but funny enough.
With that said, we also permit stories that are simply too funny not to share. This is particularly the case of stories that are dark funny, such as the story of an 82 year old woman attempting to commit suicide by jumping off her window and surviving after falling onto a Romanian worker minding her own business.
You are kindly asked not to abuse the funny criterion, though. The last thing we need is to fill in the feed with stories that are from tabloid section or clickbait format.
As a rule of thumb, err on the side of serious topics most of the time.
While a lot of it remains at the discretion of the team, there are kinds of stories you are strongly encouraged to avoid, such as:
- Internet drama. Sometimes an Internet drama becomes so juicy that even ostensibly “serious” and “mainstream” outlets weigh in. Unless there’s a significant political impact out of it – please refrain from covering it. With the exception of Elon Musk buying Twitter, all other Internet dramas came and went without any relevant impact so you are encouraged to keep that in mind.
- Personal details of private citizens. Politicians (and all employees of the State – any state) are fair game always. Private citizens, on the other hand, should not have their lives dragged through the court of public opinion. Sometimes that does happen, but you are encouraged not to post about it on the Feed unless there is a political/civilizational link to it.
- Celebrity gossip/tabloid stuff. Same thing as personal details of private citizens.
- Any pop culture lore. There are already far too many places on the Internet that discuss the latest Netflix movie, the latest videogame, the latest Marvel movie, the latest… whatever. The News Feed is absolutely NOT one of those places at all, under any circumstance. The target audience of the Feed is mature people with mature interests.
Last update: January 25, 2023