Universal News Network

The Universal News Network, also rendered Universe News Network and known by the initials UNN, was a major media organization of the terrans in the Koprulu sector. Its broadcasts shaped public opinion across the sector through the Terran Confederacy, the rise of the Sons of Korhal, and the rule of the Terran Dominion.

Organization#

In addition to its headquarters on Korhal, the UNN was based in the UNN Building in Tarsonis City on Tarsonis, a tower that ranked among the tallest and most recognizable landmarks in the city. The editor-in-chief Handy Anderson worked from the top floor, though the real work took place on the lower floors, and Anderson was rumored to keep a large collection of compromising material on important Confederate political figures in the building's basement. The network maintained an undisclosed relationship with the Confederacy; at times it seemed the government's puppet, while at other times its reporters antagonized the regime. Its press corps frequently ran stories on the Old Families, ranging from society fluff to serious allegations of officials enriching themselves through government contracts and tax breaks. UNN broadcast in the streets through a network of advertising artificial intelligences, overseen by a Remote Feed Department.

The Guild Wars and rebellion#

During the Guild Wars, the UNN reported independently of the Confederate government and drew numerous investigations for doing so. In 2488 it was pressured into halting an investigation into illegal drafting into the Confederate armed forces, and its documentary series on the price of war was pulled by censors. The embedded reporter Handy Anderson blew the whistle on colleagues who had aired uncensored war footage, resulting in treason charges, and he later rose to become editor-in-chief by the time the Great War began. In an effort to address criticism of war censorship, the Confederacy embedded reporter Max Speer with military units including the 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion on Turaxis II; when Speer complained of censorship, only Michael Liberty supported him, and Speer eventually left to work freelance.

Liberty and the Dominion era#

The UNN reported on many of the defining events of the age, including the Sons of Korhal attacks on Tarsonis. Roughly three months before the Great War, the network dispatched investigative reporter Michael Liberty aboard the Confederate command ship Norad II to keep him safe after he had stirred up too much political trouble on Tarsonis. The Norad II was rushed to Chau Sara after the world was attacked, and Liberty saw the protoss handiwork on the now lifeless planet. His subsequent reports, critical of the Confederacy, were increasingly censored or lost. When the Confederacy fell and Arcturus Mengsk founded the Terran Dominion, the UNN continued under the new regime, where it was used as a propaganda organ for the emperor.