A planetary instrument panel for public consumption — what the planet is right now, according to verifiable instruments.
River News Network (RNN) is an environmental and science news network built on a single principle: show people the verified readings of the world's public scientific instruments, with precise attribution and without editorial spin. We are not an opinion outlet and we do not advocate. We present what reputable public agencies are measuring and reporting — weather warnings, river gauges, seismic activity, space weather, wildlife movement, public-health signals — and we tell you exactly where each figure comes from.
RNN aggregates and presents live, sourced data across a set of specialized desks: severe weather, river and water gauges, wildlife migration, public health, space weather, and volcanic and seismic monitoring. Each desk draws from named public agencies and scientific institutions — such as the U.S. National Weather Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, the European MeteoAlarm network, Brazil's INMET, and academic partners such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Every reading we publish is traced to a named public agency. We use each agency's own scale labels and terminology verbatim — we do not relabel a severity level, reinterpret a warning, or add characterization the source did not state. When a source is silent, we stay silent rather than padding the gap. When a data feed fails, we omit the item rather than fabricate a value. Hazard warnings always lead; nature and camera content is clearly identified as supplementary.
RNN was founded by Geoffrey Manifold, a four-time Mid-Atlantic Emmy-winning photographer with decades of experience in television news. The network is operated by River News Network RNN, LLC, a limited liability company organized in the State of Maryland.
RNN organizes its coverage into specialized desks, each dedicated to a domain of public scientific monitoring. The Severe Weather desk tracks warnings and advisories from national meteorological agencies worldwide. The Gauges desk aggregates live readings from river, water-quality, air-quality, and atmospheric monitoring networks. The Tagging Along desk follows wildlife and migration through live camera feeds and citizen-science data. The Health desk reports public-health signals from national and international health authorities. The Space desk presents space-weather readings and imagery from space agencies and observatories. The Volcano desk monitors seismic and volcanic activity. Each desk applies the same standard: named public sources, exact attribution, and no characterization beyond what the source stated.
Accuracy is central to RNN's purpose. Because we present instrument readings and agency warnings, an error in attribution or transcription is a serious matter, and we correct promptly. Readers who believe a published reading or attribution is incorrect are encouraged to contact us with the specific page and detail in question, and we will verify it against the original agency source.
RNN is built for readers who value careful, attribution-first journalism — people who want to see the underlying instrument readings for themselves, presented clearly and at a comfortable scale, without sensationalism. Accessibility and readability are core to our design.
RNN's editorial content is produced independently of any advertising relationship. Advertisements that appear on this site are clearly distinguished from our journalism. During active emergencies, RNN limits commercial interruption so that safety information remains the focus.
Questions, corrections, and press inquiries: geoffman11@rivernewsnetwork.com. See our Contact page for more.