at is a free-sheeter?

A simple description of a free-sheeter is a periodical
(daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly) that is made
available to its readers at no financial consideration
whatsoever in terms of price, subscription, membership
or donation. (I will attempt no further definition and
I do not know is a proper definition exists for a free-sheeter.)

The lowest frequency expected of a free-sheeter is an
issue a month. Frequencies less than that tend to
render a free-sheeter irrelevant and it cannot sustain
its readership. It is the readership that justifies the
existence of a free sheeter and helps to draw funds to
finance its publication. The existence of the
readership is the raison d'etre of a free-sheeter.

News Content: People do not lose interest in issues
just because the mainstream newspapers and tabloids do
not carry them on their front-pages. There is always an
interest in the 'positive' things happening around us.
There is as much interest in the fisherman who saved
six persons from drowning as there is in the one person
that drowned while swimming at a beach side resort. The
drowning hogs the headlines in the mainstream
newspapers and tabloids. There is 'space' in the
free-sheeter to portray the hero of the event, the
humble fisherman who saved six lives. People want to
read about him even if he saved them simply because of
an impulse, or just because he could not bear to see
them die! Bravery and courage do not need to be
pre-qualified or rationalized. Brave deeds have a
readership in the land of Rana Pratap, Rani of Jhansi
and Shivaji, just as in the land of Napoleon Bonaparte
or George Washington or Nelson Mandela or Winston Churchill.

Local news is another 'blind spot' in mainstream
newspapers. This is often the result of the need to
make the newspaper meaningful to a wider readership.
You cannot focus on details when using a wide-angle
lens in your camera. The same holds good for a
newspaper. The free-sheeter, on the other hand, can be
like the 'camera lucida' and put local issues under the
microscope and draw out all the minute details.

While the newspaper only sees a fine air-conditioned
restaurant with a fantastic menu, the free-sheeter can
note that the cook uses the same broom to sweep the
floor and also to dispense oil on the king-sized hot
plate for making your favorite 'dosa'. A good
free-sheeter can give you the details that most
newspapers have no access to. In the loc