Anonymous News Publishing on the Dark Web: Starting a .onion News Outlet

Ghost CMS and WordPress are the primary content management systems for news publications. Ghost provides: clean typography optimized for reading, built-in newsletter/subscription system (configurable to use .onion-based email), good performance on the server resources typical for .onion deployments, and a modern editorial interface. Deploy Ghost on a .onion server: install Ghost on Ubuntu following Ghost Foundation docs, configure the URL to your .onion address (ghost config url http://youronion.onion), set up Nginx reverse proxy listening on 127.0.0.1:80, expose via Tor HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:80. WordPress has a larger plugin ecosystem and more editors are familiar with it. For .onion news: use the Classic Editor plugin (lighter JavaScript than block editor), disable all analytics plugins, and audit all plugins for clearnet resource calls. Static site generators (Hugo, Jekyll) are simplest for security but require more technical content workflow.

Source protection is the most critical operational requirement for any investigative news operation. Multiple layers: (1) Secure drop for document submission: deploy a SecureDrop or simplified .onion submission system as the primary inbound source channel. Instruct sources to use Tor Browser with a fresh Tails session. (2) Communication with known sources: Signal with sealed sender for ongoing source relationships, or Briar for Android-to-Android Tor-routed communication. (3) Information compartmentation: the editor who manages the secure drop system does not necessarily know the full investigator working on the story, and the investigator does not know the source's real identity beyond what the source chooses to reveal. (4) Metadata scrubbing: all received documents have metadata stripped before sharing with investigators. Published content does not include document metadata. (5) Internal communication: use .onion-accessible Matrix or XMPP for staff collaboration, not clearnet Slack or email.

An anonymous news operation's editorial workflow must maintain source protection while meeting publication standards. Draft workflow: (1) Reporter researches and drafts story using Tor Browser for all source research, .onion-based note-taking. (2) Initial editor review via encrypted .onion Matrix or email. (3) Legal review for sensitive stories via a trusted legal contact over encrypted communication - never via clearnet email with a law firm's standard email system. (4) Fact-checking involves contacting subjects for comment via Tor-routed email with a publication-linked pseudonymous address. (5) Copy editing via the .onion CMS draft system. (6) Publication directly to the .onion site. For stories with clearnet publication potential: maintain a clearnet mirror site that syndicates .onion content via rsync, while the .onion remains the primary publication location.

Readers in censored environments cannot discover .onion news publications through standard search engines. Distribution strategies: (1) Dark.fail listing: submitting to dark.fail directory for inclusion. (2) Ahmia indexing: submit the .onion URL to Ahmia (the .onion-accessible search engine). (3) .onion link directories maintained by privacy communities. (4) Social media mention: publicize the .onion address through clearnet social media accounts (Twitter/X, Mastodon) for readers who can install Tor Browser. (5) RSS feed via .onion: publish an RSS feed at /rss.xml accessible via Tor Browser for readers who prefer feed readers with Tor support. (6) Email newsletter through an .onion-accessible email provider: readers subscribe via .onion and receive newsletters via .onion email accounts. (7) Community sharing: news in censored communities spreads via trusted networks - a single reader sharing an .onion URL in a secure chat group can reach dozens of readers in the target community.

Revenue for anonymous news publications must not create financial trails linking the publication to a real-world identity. Monero (XMR) is the appropriate cryptocurrency for anonymous donations: no KYC, no transaction traceability (ring signatures), wallets generated offline. Publish a Monero donation address prominently. For subscription access: implement a token-based subscription model where subscribers purchase Monero-priced subscription tokens that unlock content, with no personal information required. The Monero amount corresponds to a period of access; the token is validated by the .onion server without linking to any identity. For organizational funding: some press freedom foundations (Freedom of the Press Foundation, reporters committees) provide grants to independent news organizations - applications would require some operator identity disclosure to the foundation, which is a judgment call based on risk tolerance.