Platform Development
Fair Side News (formerly Balanced Right) is a fully custom PHP/MySQL news platform built
by ExecutiveKT, featuring an automated AI content pipeline, real-time breaking news,
and a multi-source RSS aggregation system.
Technology Stack
Infrastructure
Oracle Cloud · CyberPanel · LiteSpeed · PHP 8.3 · MySQL · fairsidenews.com + balancedright.net
AI Pipeline
Gemini 2.5 Flash · Claude Sonnet · Flux 1.1 Pro (BFL) · Imagen 4 (Vertex AI)
Content Sources
Google Breaking News · Reuters · AP · Fox News · Breitbart · The Federalist · Washington Examiner
Frontend
Custom CSS design system (fsnews.css v1.9) · Swiper carousel · reCAPTCHA v3 · Google Analytics · AdSense
Version 4.0 Roadmap
⚡ In Progress
- Full pipeline automation — articles live within 2 min of scrape
- Image approval queue — human review only for AI images
- Auto tweet + featured quote insertion
- AI prompts moved to database (prompt_templates)
- Cron daemon resolution for 24/7 operation
🗓 Upcoming
- Daily and weekly newsletter delivery
- Public RSS feed
- Author profile pages
- Dark mode and alternate site styles
- Third-party comment system
- Similar article detection
- White-label licensing for industry verticals
Development Changelog
Version 4.0 — April 2026 (Current)
▼
Full Site Redesign
- New fsnews.css design system (v1.9) — complete CSS overhaul
- New header with breaking news ticker, sticky nav, subscribe modal
- New footer with newsletter signup, category links, social
- New homepage with Swiper carousel, secondary/headline/standard grids
- Swiper carousel fixed and working on desktop and mobile
- breaking.php public page with live ticker and stub list
- Mobile hamburger menu with dropdown navigation
Domain Migration — fairsidenews.com
- fairsidenews.com added as domain alias, SSL issued
- 301 redirects from balancedright.net and www variants
- DB migration: SITE_URL, site_name, image paths updated
- Canonical tags updated to fairsidenews.com across all pages
- Google Search Console Change of Address tool submission
Legacy Page Redesign
- article.php — related articles with smart author/category/global priority
- category.php — card grid, outlined pill badges, category default images
- archives.php — filter system, SQL injection fixes, smart pagination
- search.php — card layout, image left, summary-only, highlighted terms
- corrections.php, about.php, privacy.php, changelog.php
- fsnews-legacy.css — compatibility stylesheet for transition period
Image Generation System
- Flux BFL endpoint corrected (api.bfl.ai/v1/flux-pro-1.1)
- Negative prompts appended inline — Flux ignores separate field
- Caption and alt text saved to DB immediately on generation
- Enhance button (Claude-powered) replaces Simplify button
- Banned elements list: gavel, sneakers, fluorescent lighting, etc.
- Category-specific default image fallback system
Breaking News Pipeline
- scrape-rss.php — multi-source RSS ingestion with deduplication
- generate-stub-article.php — Gemini stub generation
- expire-stubs.php — 48-hour auto-expiry lifecycle
- breaking-news.php — admin management with expiry timers
- classify-breaking.php — AI-based breaking news classifier
- Google feed trusted entirely; Reuters uses keyword+context detection
Version 3.x — 2025–2026
▼
Article Generation Pipeline
- Gemini 2.5 Flash integration for full article generation
- Delimiter-based parsing (###MARKER###) — eliminates JSON control character errors
- System instruction isolation per API call purpose
- ai_locked row locking to prevent duplicate generation
- Display type hierarchy: featured → secondary → headline → standard
- Gemini chooses display type; sanitized on save
Admin Enhancements
- Scraper dashboard with pipeline stats and batch controls
- Quick-activate modal with thumbnail and Activate — No Image option
- Article edit UI with search links (Wikimedia, Flickr, Unsplash)
- Generate Hero Image button with Flux/Imagen fallback
- Featured quote extraction with delimiter and length guard
- Tweet library for position-specific insertion
RSS Pipeline
- rss-ingest.php — fetches all enabled RSS sources
- Sources table with feed_url, feed_type, feed_check_interval
- cron-rtm-pipeline.php — loops until queue empty
- run_script.php — web-based cron runner with output streaming
- Daily scraper log files
Version 3.0
▼
Breaking News System
- Breaking column added to database with 48-hour window logic
- BREAKING: prefix in red on article titles
- Breaking news prioritized in featured sections and ticker
- Default breaking news images per category
Perspectives System
- Three-perspective display: conservative, progressive, common ground
- Perspectives display only when content exists
- Jump to Flipside link with purple badge styling
Corrections System
- Corrections database table, admin interface, public page
- Correction notices on affected articles with footer links
Content Editor
- HTML view/edit in Quill editor, Twitter embed support
- Tweet library with position-specific insertion
Version 2.0 — Oracle Cloud Migration
▼
Infrastructure
- Migrated entire platform to Oracle Cloud dedicated server
- CyberPanel, LiteSpeed, PHP 8.3, SSL certificates
- MX records configured for direct email
AI & Images
- Gemini, Flux 1.1 Pro, Imagen 4 integrations
- TinyJPG compression, category default images
- Batch generation with concurrency controls
Version 1.0 — Initial Launch
▼
- Custom PHP/MySQL CMS built from scratch — no third-party platform
- Article management with categories, authors, tags
- Admin dashboard with pipeline stats and article management
- Responsive public-facing design
- Google Analytics and AdSense integration
- Newsletter subscription system
- reCAPTCHA v3 on all forms
- Sitemap.php with stub and active article support
White-Label Licensing
The Fair Side News platform is available for white-label licensing to media organizations,
businesses, and industry vertical publishers. The platform can be customized with client
branding while retaining the full automated content pipeline — including AI article generation,
image creation, breaking news detection, and newsletter delivery.
Media Organizations
Independent news publishers wanting automated content pipelines at scale
Business Intelligence
Industry feeds from sources like McKinsey, consulting groups, financial publishers
Regional News
Local and regional operations wanting AI-assisted coverage without full dev teams
Enterprise Internal
Internal news and communications platforms for large organizations
To discuss licensing:
Contact us or email
mediasales@balancedright.net
