FILED
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2026READER-FUNDED · NO ADVERTISERS

THE DISPATCH DESK · ALL 77 COUNTIES

Film your county. Sign your work.

The Colony publishes video dispatches from the people who actually live where the news happens. An editor reviews every filing, your byline goes on every published dispatch, and your county's desk carries your work. You keep every right to your footage.

N°01

The Terms, In Plain English

NO FINE PRINT · NO RIGHTS GRAB · NO ADS ON YOUR BACK
The questionBig-broadcast “creator” programsThe Dispatch Desk
Who owns your footage?You do — but they take distribution rights to run it across their networks and ad inventory.You do, full stop. We take a non-exclusive license to display it here, and you can pull any dispatch whenever you want.
Who reviews your work?A screening process at a conglomerate headquartered out of state.A named Oklahoma editor, within 48 hours. You can argue with a person who has a name.
What does your work sit next to?Programmatic ads. Your footage is their inventory.Reader-funded journalism. There are no ad networks here to sell your work to.
What do you get?$2.50 per 1,000 views, counted by their dashboard, in 30-day cycles.A permanent byline on your county's desk, a masthead profile, and first position when the creator revenue share opens — recurring, not per-view pennies.
Whose name grows?The station's.Yours. Every dispatch links your profile; your county desk is your record.
N°02

How It Works

APPLY · FILM · REVIEW · PUBLISH
  1. Apply with three pieces of video. Phone footage counts — what matters is that it shows a real story from a real place. An editor answers within 48 hours.
  2. Get your desk. Accepted creators get a contributor profile, a filing desk, and their county.
  3. File dispatches. Every filing goes through editorial review — the same standards our reporting answers to. Flagged or clean, a human decides.
  4. Published under your name. Approved dispatches carry your byline and stand on the record with everything else The Colony publishes.

How one filing travels

  1. 01

    Phone

    Film it where you stand. Phone footage counts.

  2. 02

    Upload

    Send the file straight to our storage from your desk.

  3. 03

    Review

    AI pre-review is advisory — a named editor decides.

  4. 04

    Publish

    Your byline on the permalink and your county desk.

Apply to the Dispatch Desk

Your name, your county, and three pieces of video you've shot — a phone clip that tells a real story counts. An editor looks at every application.

NOT A FILMMAKER?

There are other doors.

Report in writing on Oklahoma Voices, join the writing masthead at the contributor desk, or send what you know to the confidential tip line.