Users, Outlets, Groups

Plucky Wire is built around three core concepts: users, outlets, and groups. Understanding how these relate to each other will help you understand how the platform works.

Users¶

A user is an individual person with an account on Plucky Wire. Users are typically journalists, editors, or other newsroom staff members.

Users don't exist in isolation. They can belong to one or more Outlets (their news organization) and through those Outlets, participate in one or more Groups. They could also belong directly to a Group. This reflects how most local journalism actually works: reporters don't publish independently; they work for publications that are part of larger professional communities.

Info

A user's permissions depend on their role: Owner, Moderator, or Member. See the Roles section below for details.

Roles¶

Every user has a role that determines what they can do. Plucky Wire uses three roles arranged in a hierarchy:

Members are the most common role. Members can:

Upload stories on behalf of their outlet
Download stories shared by other outlets
View analytics for their outlet's stories

Moderators have additional administrative capabilities. Moderators can do everything Members can, plus:

Edit outlet or group settings
Invite new users
Manage existing Members
Change a Member's role to Moderator

Owners have full control. Owners can do everything Moderators can, plus:

Manage Moderators (change their roles or remove them)
Remove other Owners
Delete the outlet or remove it from a group

Having Multiple Roles¶

Note

This section only applies to Users who belong to multiple Outlets or who are helping to run a Group.

Each Role you have is independent. For example, you might be:

An Owner of your outlet, able to manage all your outlet's settings and users
A Member of a regional news Group, able to help upload and download stories on behalf of partner Outlets, but unable to change the Group's settings.

This separation lets any User help do the crucial work of helping to run a Group. This is especially important if you are trying to start a news collaborative and need someone to help upload and curate stories.

Managing Roles¶

Users can only manage others with an equal or lower role. This means:

Owners can change anyone's role
Moderators can change Members' roles but not Owners'
Members cannot change anyone's role

This hierarchy lets newsrooms safely invite multiple members of the newsroom to use Plucky Wire at the same time, without worrying that an enthusiastic newbie will accidentally screw things up.

Outlets¶

An outlet represents a news organization. This could be a daily newspaper, a weekly publication, an online news site, or a broadcast station. The outlet is the entity that publishes stories and holds the rights to that content.

When a story is shared on Plucky Wire, it's shared by an outlet, not by an individual user. This distinction matters because:

Ownership is clear: The outlet owns the story and controls how it can be used
Continuity is maintained: If a reporter changes jobs, their stories remain accessible through the original outlet
Accountability is institutional: Other outlets know who they're receiving content from

Outlets can belong to multiple groups simultaneously. A regional newspaper might participate in a statewide news collaborative while also being part of a national investigative journalism network. Each group operates independently, with its own content pool, membership, and licensing rules.

Groups¶

A group is a set of outlets that have agreed to share content with each other. Groups are the organizational layer that makes Plucky Wire useful.

Groups can vary widely in their purpose and rules, but in the most basic setup, Member outlets contribute stories to a shared pool, and in return, they can use stories from other members. The group establishes the terms of this arrangement through a content license that all members agree to.

Here are some other common setups:

Newswire: A single large newsroom creates a group through which they share their content for other outlets. These other outlets can join the group, but only the original outlet can upload. This setup is typical for outlets publishing under Creative Commons.
Distributing Student Journalism: A college newspaper sets up a group that is open for all the surrounding newsrooms to join and pull stories from. This setup is typical for collaboratives organized by colleges or universities.

Groups vary widely in their scope and purpose:

Geographic groups unite outlets covering a specific region, like a state press association
Topical groups focus on particular subjects, like environmental reporting or education coverage
Investigative groups coordinate long-term projects across multiple newsrooms

Each group has its own administrators who manage membership, set policies, and ensure the collaborative runs smoothly. When an outlet joins a group, it agrees to that group's content license, which specifies how stories can be used.

How the Pieces Fit Together¶

The relationship between users, outlets, and groups creates a layered system:

Group
├── Outlet A
│   ├── User 1
│   └── User 2
├── Outlet B
│   └── User 3
└── Outlet C
    ├── User 4
    └── User 5

When User 1 uploads a story, it's attributed to Outlet A and becomes available to all outlets in the group. User 3 at Outlet B can then download that story for republication, following the terms set by the group's content license.

This structure means that:

Users interact with the platform day-to-day, uploading and downloading stories
Outlets own and share content, maintaining editorial responsibility
Groups establish the rules and create the community where sharing happens

Why This Structure Matters¶

Story uploads, search, analytics, and settings all operate within this framework of users, outlets, and groups.

When you upload a story, you're contributing on behalf of your outlet to your group. When you search for content, you're browsing what other outlets in your group have shared. When you adjust settings, you might be managing your personal preferences (user level), your newsroom's profile (outlet level), or collaborative policies (group level).

Keeping things organized in this ways helps newsrooms avoid issues that often emerge when they try to collaborate. Plucky Wire makes it easy.

Trust and verification: Groups can vet outlets before admitting them, ensuring that members are legitimate news organizations. Individual users are then trusted because their outlet has been verified.
Content licensing: Legal agreements happen at the outlet level, not the individual level. When Outlet A shares a story, Outlet B has clear rights to use it because both have agreed to the group's terms.
Multiple Sharing Agreements: A user might work for multiple outlets (a freelancer, for example), and outlets can participate in multiple groups. The system accommodates these real-world complexities.
Sustainability: Plucky Wire automates many aspects of content sharing that are tedious, time-consuming, and tend to make even the most even-keeled editor want to punch a wall. Plucky Wire handles these tasks so you can focus on the reporting.

Keep Reading¶

Ready to get started? Head over to our sign-up guides to learn how to create an account and join a group.