Aduke.1230
net.news
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!mhtsa!harpo!chico!duke!trt
Sun Oct 11 01:34:55 1981
Re: ihps3.133: Must mode of news files be 666?
The mode of news files need not be 666 in "version A news" (Duke's).
The file param.h has a #define N_UMASK which is by default 022
but could be made 077, for example, without problem.
In fact, /usr/spool/news itself could be mode 700.
This is not too useful, though, since read/write/control access
was never implemented.

Perhaps you are using version B of news,
which creates news files mode 666(?) as a convenicence?