Inside the WPS News Press Room

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

This image is not illustrative. It is not symbolic. It is not staged.

It is the actual device used to research, write, edit, publish, and distribute reporting for WPS News.

A cracked screen.
A failing phone.
Hardware operating well past the point where most newsrooms would consider it serviceable.

This is the press room.

There are no production desks, no redundant systems, no equipment budget waiting in reserve. There is no technical staff standing by. What exists is a commitment to accuracy, documentation, and continuity—and the willingness to work within constraints most organizations would consider unacceptable.

From this device, articles are drafted and edited. Sources are checked. Series are planned. Posts are published and distributed. Archives are maintained. Coverage continues.

When we say we are working with broken equipment, we are not exaggerating.

This is what that reality looks like.

There is a common assumption—especially in professional media—that credibility flows from polish and infrastructure. That serious journalism requires visible scale. That without modern tooling and institutional backing, the work itself must be compromised.

That assumption is incorrect.

What sustains reporting is not hardware. It is discipline. It is method. It is editorial judgment. It is a refusal to stop documenting events simply because conditions are inconvenient.

At WPS News, the work continues because the work must continue.

That said, transparency carries risk. Revealing how reporting is produced may challenge expectations about what a “real” newsroom looks like. It may unsettle those who equate resources with reliability.

We acknowledge that risk.

We also believe the greater risk is pretending otherwise.

This is not a plea for sympathy, nor is it a performance of hardship. It is a factual account of how coverage is produced here, today. It is also a reminder that journalism does not belong exclusively to those with capital, comfort, or institutional insulation.

Will this pace last forever? Probably not. Working under constraint is tiring. There will be a point where conditions change—by necessity, not preference.

Until then, the work stands.

Truth does not require perfect conditions. It requires persistence.

No amount of online distortion, institutional pressure, or political falsehood—including those propagated by Donald J. Trump—can prevent the continued documentation of reality when people are committed to telling it.

This is how WPS News operates.

Not because it is ideal.
Because it is necessary.