Masthead
The Rocket News · U.S. Edition · English
Editor
Paco Baca
Editor, publisher, and cartoonist. The cartoon on Page One is his, and it runs when he files the plate — not before.
Desks
- PoliticsPower in Washington, and the argument that follows it.
- StatesTexas. California. New York. Washington. The fifty, not only Miami.
- WorldForeign affairs that are not the shooting: diplomacy, elections, the other shore.
- World WarThe shooting. The strait. The other fronts. Kinetic notes live here.
- EconomyMarkets, labor, and the price of policy.
- ScienceWhat governments would rather keep in a drawer.
- TechnologyThe labs, the models, and the race they will not pause.
- MexicoThe foreign desk covering the other shore of the same river.
- SportsThe games the country actually watches.
- OpinionThe signed well. Editorial and cartoon, filed by the editor.
- The CartoonDrawn by the editor. Today’s plate is Diesel Aid.
The Rocket News is an American daily. It is printed in English for a U.S. Edition. Top Stories leads the paper. World War is the combat desk. Mexico is a foreign desk, not a sister title. Opinion is signed. The Cartoon is held for the editor’s hand.
Desk monitor
Clocks and failure signature for this paper only. Not a news report. Enlace Diario is another estate.
| NY | Job | Alert |
|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | F1 Morning close | email + app |
| 08:10 | F11 OG banner | email + app |
| 08:15 | F9 Watchdog | ALERT_F5 |
| 09:00 | F12 Search Console 08:00 CDMX | email + app |
| 12:00 | F9 JSON Schema + SQL | ALERT_SCHEMA / ALERT_SQL |
| On plate | F10 Desk OCR | user-initiated |
| 20:00 | F2 Evening close | email + app |
| 20:10 | F11 OG banner | email + app |
| 20:15 | F9 Watchdog | ALERT_F5 |
| Mon 09:30 | F9 Weekly log audit | ALERT_WEEK / ALERT_MIX |
Fail signature: title NO_MOUNT / Mount failed, or run under 60 seconds. Platform SUCCESS is not a close. Weekly audit: Monday 09:30 New York. Clocks: America/New_York. The clock fires F1 and F2. Every close then runs F11 (OG, every section) and F12 (sitemaps for Search Console). F10 runs on a text plate during that close, or at /desk/ocr.
Daily close — F1 to F12
Named contracts. Registered 6 September 2026. F10 locked 8 September 2026. F11 (OG banner: design + output, every new edition, every section) locked 18 September 2026. F12 (Search Console, 08:00 CDMX) locked 18 September 2026. Close order: F10 → F3 → F4 → F4b → F3c → F11 → F12 → F7 → F13. Enlace Diario is not in this table.
| Id | Name | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | Morning recambio | 08:00 NY job, or F5 |
| F2 | Evening recambio | 20:00 NY job, or F5 |
| F3 | Portada in color | The lead still, F1/F2 |
| F4 | News still | Each new stack note |
| F4b | Generate still | No real photograph found for a new note |
| F3c | Caption excerpt | Every news still, F1/F2/F5 |
| F5 | NO_MOUNT rescue | Job abort < 60s / title NO_MOUNT |
| F6 | Opinion / cartoon | Paco says insert (plate, URL, “inserta”) |
| F7 | Story video | Each new news note in F1/F2 |
| F8 | Publish | Editor clicks Publish |
| F9 | Failure alert | 08:15 / 20:15 NY watchdog |
| F10 | Desk OCR | Text plate this close, or /desk/ocr |
| F11 | OG banner | Every new edition. F1, F2, and F5. After stills. Locked 22 Sep 2026. |
| F12 | Search Console | Every edition writes sitemaps. Verify 08:00 CDMX daily. |
| F13 | Review runtime | After F7, before Publica. Every F1/F2/F5. |
F10 · Desk OCR
Part of the daily close. If a text plate is on the desk this slot (filing, clipping, screenshot, press copy), Grok transcribes it before that note is rewritten. Skip if there is no plate. Never OCR the cover still. The draft is not published until you click Publish.
United States wire
Locked 24 September 2026. Rocket News is built from United States news. The morning and the evening read the American papers first.
Rocket News is built from United States news. Every F1 and F2 reads the American papers first: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Reuters, Politico, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times. World, war, economy, science, sports, and Mexico are filed only as those papers carry them. A Mexican front page is not a source for this well.
Fail: Build the morning or the evening from Reforma, El Financiero, La Jornada, El País, El Universal, or any Mexican front; file a Mexico note the U.S. papers did not print.
World War desk
Locked 8 September 2026. Named 9 September 2026. A news desk, not a clock. Kinetic notes file here. World keeps diplomacy. Every F1 recambios World War — war news each morning, standing. The portada prefers Politics. War notes live in this section, not as the cover lead. /section/world-war.
Every F1 (standing 8 Sep 2026): recambio World War with overnight kinetic wires. At least one fresh World War note. Kinetic notes — armed conflict, strikes, blockades, ceasefire violations — file under World War, not World, not as the cover lead. World keeps diplomacy, elections abroad, non-combat foreign. United States first. F2 recambios World War if the shooting moved after 08:00. Empty World War on a shooting morning is a fail. Portada prefers Politics when a political note is filed this close (locked 9 Sep 2026, editor). War notes live at /section/world-war.
Fail: Skip World War on F1; bury a strike in World; invent a front; recambio World War as Opinion; reprint last night’s World War as this morning; put a war note on the portada when Politics has a live note this close.
States desk
Locked 13 September 2026. The old U.S. desk, renamed States. Notes from the fifty — Texas, California, New York, Washington, not only Miami. Kicker is the state name. The fifty are listed on the section; live states link. Portada stays Politics. /section/us.
Every F1: the States desk files notes from across the fifty — Texas, California, New York, Washington, and the others that moved overnight. Kicker is the state name. Never Miami-only. Portada stays Politics. The notes live at /section/us. The fifty are listed there; live states link. F2 recambios States if a state moved after 08:00. A full 50-note well every morning is a wire service, not this paper: file the live states, rotate the rest.
Fail: Miami-only; skip the States desk on F1; invent a state; put a state note on the portada when Politics has a live note.
Held for F1 Wednesday morning
| Front | Held wire |
|---|---|
| Iran / Hormuz | IRGC claims a U.S. Dive-LD unmanned sub at the mouth of the strait. CENTCOM: malfunction, older model, no classified kit. Images promised, not shown by the New York close. F1 Wed 9 Sep — update if the photographs drop, or if tankers answer. |
| U.S.–Iran tankers | AP, 8 Sep evening: U.S. struck Iranian tankers near Jask and Kharg after missiles at a Navy ship. Related to the 6 Sep CENTCOM file already in the well. F1 Wed 9 Sep |
| Houthi–Saudi | 73 wounded, Aramco fires, Brent tested $100. Yemen offensive toll about 500. Riyadh vowed retaliation. F1 Wed 9 Sep |
| Ukraine | Russia struck Kyiv after the envoy pause: five dead, at least ten wounded, civilian sites on fire. Witkoff/Kushner is the 7 Sep evening file. F1 Wed 9 Sep |
Review and confirm
Locked 8 September 2026. Grok forms. The editor reviews, confirms, and Publishes. The constructor is not the domain. F13 runs the review runtime before Publica.
| Id | Step | Owner | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Form | Grok | Well diagrammed in this constructor. Does not publish. |
| R2 | Review | Paco | Reads the well in this chat and the preview. |
| R3 | Confirm | Paco | Confirms, sends a correction, or holds the slot. |
| R4 | Publish | Paco (F8) | Clicks Publish. Domain matches constructor. Grok never publishes. |
This close — Morning No. 280
Monday, October 19, 2026. LATEST HEADLINES. Texas opened early voting. The Senate seat can decide the chamber. Card /og-20261019-280.jpg.
| Id | Step | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Form | Grok | Done |
| R2 | Review | Paco | Pending |
| R3 | Confirm | Paco | Pending |
| R4 | Publish | Paco (F8) | Pending |
Company Profile & Competitors
A reference file. Not a news report. How third-party indexes print this newspaper, and the names they file beside it.
- Title
- The Rocket News. Some indexes: Rocket Media News.
- Website
- rocketmedia.news
- Edition
- U.S. Edition. English. Morning 08:00 / Evening 20:00, New York.
- Editor
- Paco Baca, publisher and cartoonist. AAEC.
- Tracxn
- Unfunded. Feb. 16, 2026: 2,158th of 2,216. Aug. 17, 2026: 5,680th of 6,304. Filed under Internet First News Publishers.
- AllSides
- Does not rate this newspaper. Yahoo News, named as a 2025 competitor on the Tracxn card, is rated Lean Left (−1.55).
U.S. competitors, by influence
The field this daily actually meets: national newspapers, wires, television, and news portals. Rank is influence in U.S. national news — this newspaper’s order, not Tracxn’s. Bias is AllSides (Chart v12, Aug. 25, 2026, and outlet pages, Sept. 2026). Those ratings are for online news, not TV audio.
| # | Outlet | Kind | AllSides | Meter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The New York Times | Daily | Lean Left | −2.20 |
| 2 | The Washington Post | Daily | Lean Left | — |
| 3 | The Wall Street Journal | Daily | Center | 0.33 |
| 4 | Associated Press | Wire | Lean Left | — |
| 5 | Fox News | Cable / digital | Right | 3.85 |
| 6 | CNN | Cable / digital | Lean Left | −1.30 |
| 7 | Reuters | Wire | Center | — |
| 8 | NBC News | Broadcast / digital | Lean Left | −1.80 |
| 9 | ABC News | Broadcast / digital | Lean Left | −1.42 |
| 10 | CBS News | Broadcast / digital | Lean Left | −1.52 |
| 11 | NPR | Public / digital | Lean Left | −1.88 |
| 12 | MS NOW | Cable (ex-MSNBC) | Left | −5.08 |
| 13 | USA Today | Daily | Lean Left | — |
| 14 | Bloomberg | Digital / terminal | Center | — |
| 15 | Politico | Digital | Lean Left | −1.20 |
| 16 | Axios | Digital | Lean Left | — |
| 17 | The Hill | Digital | Lean Left | −1.15 |
| 18 | Yahoo News | Portal | Lean Left | −1.55 |
| 19 | NewsNation | Cable | Center | — |
| 20 | HuffPost | Digital | Left | — |
| 21 | New York Post | Daily | Right | — |
| 22 | Newsmax | Cable / digital | Right | — |
| — | The Rocket News | Daily · this paper | Not rated | — |
Aggregators (Google News, Apple News, MSN) are not newsrooms; they sit above this list as distribution. Source: AllSides.
Plates for consultation
