Chapter 10: News of the world (1 of 3) -- Clarinet

     Distributed in  Usenet  form, Clarinet stories and columns are
organized into more than 100  newsgroups  (in this case, a truly
appropriate name), some of them with an extremely narrow focus, for
example, clari.news.gov.taxes.  The general news and sports come from
United Press International; the computer news from the NewsBytes service;
the features from several syndicates.
     Because Clarinet charges for its service, not all host systems carry
its dispatches.  Those that do carry them as Usenet groups starting with
"clari."  As with other Usenet hierarchies, these are named starting with
broad area and ending with more specific categories.  Some of these
include business news (clari.biz); general national and foreign news,
politics and the like (clari.news), sports (clari.sports); columns by
Mike Royko, Miss Manners, Dave Barry and others (clari.feature); and
NewsBytes computer and telecommunications reports (clari.nb).  Because
Clarinet started in Canada, there is a separate set of clari.canada
newsgroups.
     The clari.nb newsgroups are divided into specific computer types
(clari.nb.apple, for example).
     Clari news groups feature stories updated around the clock.  There
are even a couple of "bulletin" newsgroups for breaking stories:
clari.news.bulletin and clari.news.urgent.  Clarinet also sets up new
newsgroups for breaking stories that become ongoing ones (such as major
natural disasters, coups in large countries and the like).
     Occasionally, you will see stories in clari newsgroups that just
don't seem to belong there.  Stories about former Washington, D.C. mayor
Marion Barry, for example, often wind interspersed among columns by Dave
Barry.
     This happens because of the way wire services work.  UPI uses
three-letter codes to route its stories to the newspapers and radio
stations that make up most of its clientele, and harried editors on
deadline sometimes punch in the wrong code.