[Boston-editorial] New website editorial policy-Read ASAP- will be discussed at GM

[Pete Stidman]

This new editorial policy was built u pat the last
meeting of the website group and dressed up with a few
explanatory notes by me (pete).  As a matter of
expediency the group hopes to be able to reach
consesnus on it at the General Meeting tomorrow.  

To the editorial collective members:  I have only
added a note about the calendar that was discussed in
a different context last time, and two reasons we
delete posts that is already part of the editorial
policy we just forgot about.  

Please email me any concerns that you feel would
improve the editorial policy along with solid
proposals for how they could be improved.  Please keep
in mind that the website group consensed on almost all
of these items in the website meeting, so if you are
wondering about the reasons behind things please ask
why before proposing their removal and causing an
uproar.  It'll just make the process easier that way,
I think.  

Here it is:

Open Publishing is essential to the principles the
original Indymedia was founded upon in 1999. 
Indymedia websites around the world are dedicated to
providing media access and creating a vital space for
reporting that truly reflects the communities we live
in, as opposed to having the news pass through a
corporate media filter before the public gets to see
it.  

Unfortunately, open publishing has also become a way
for neo-nazis, homophobes, sexists, and others to
disrupt our site and harass our readers.  

Discovering a way to edit out the bad and promote the
good without impinging on our open policy has not been
an easy task, and every site in the global network has
learned to deal with it in different ways.  The
following are the solutions members of the Boston
Indymedia collective have unanimously agreed to so
far.  Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome at
imc-boston-office at indymedia.org.  

The following are the types of posts the Boston IMC
would like to encourage on the newswire:

-	Original, timely, well-researched articles.
-	Eyewitness accounts of news events.
-	Coverage of issues that affect Bostonians and the
Greater Boston area.
-	Investigative reports
-	Media created by or about groups that are
underrepresented in the mainstream media
-	Positive stories about people or projects that are
working towards social and economic justice
-	We would love to see more original stories about or
from:
•	The home countries of Boston’s immigrants (i.e.
Brazil, Haiti, Cape Verde, etc.)
•	Rank and file members of Labor Unions 
•	Any group underrepresented in the media (i.e.
stories about race, gender, gay rights, and more)

The more diversity we can embody in our news coverage,
the more potential Indymedia has to bring disparate
sections of Boston’s active communities together.  We
would like to become a forum for the news and for
mutual understanding for all Greater Boston’s
residents.

We also reserve the right to hide any post that the
Boston Indymedia collective deems counter to the BIMC
mission of providing media access and a constructive
forum for the residents of Greater Boston.  

We have consensed on hiding the following types of
posts:

1. Hate posts; posts that explicitly express sexism,
racism, or other forms of prejudice.
2. Threats of Violence.
3. Slanderous or libelous material.
4. Personal attacks (without substantive content)
5. Personal insults.
6. Pictures or footage of potentially incriminating or
illegal activities.
7. Advertising.
8. Pornography.
9. Duplicates or extremely similar posts.
10. Disruptive or provocative material to impede
constructive activity on the site.
11. Misinformation.  

We have consensed on deleting these kinds of posts:

1. Any hate posting that also carries media such as
photos, audio or video clips.  (to prevent the use of
indymedia to host files for other websites)
2. Any post by an individual known by indymedia and
consensed upon as a sabateur.

A note about events:
  
We are trying to improve the placement and usability
of our web calendar.  We strongly encourage posting on
our web calendar and not on the newswire, and may
begin hiding event postings on the newswire at some
time in the future.  Ample and highly visible notice
will be given of this new policy when and if it takes
place.  



		
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