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

[Pete Stidman]

I will incorporate these concerns, I hope- by tonight.
 Not sure I will be able to do the civility part, but
I can add that on later.  We'll make a special
comments or general section.  Maybe we can then link
that from the beginning of where folks make comments. 


-Pete

--- Matthew Williams <mw21 at mindspring.com> wrote:

> On the whole it looks good to me.
> 
> One big issue I have is that we discussed having a
> section on how we 
> would edit comments--to encourage dialogue instead
> of people trying to 
> beat each other up intellectually and to encourage
> civility. I think 
> there was something else in there from our last
> web-editorial meeting 
> as well--I don't remember exactly what, but you
> should have the notes 
> Pete.
> 
> The other big thing is that we should include this
> language from the 
> disclaimer in the editorial policy somewhere:
> "Boston IMC neither 
> endorses nor takes responsibility for newswire
> posts. Articles in the 
> center column, but not comments posted to them, have
> been screened by 
> Boston IMC editors."
> 
> A few additional minor suggestions:
> 
> In the section of what we will hide, add to, "1.
> Hate posts; posts that 
> explicitly express sexism, racism, or other forms of
> prejudice," add 
> homophobia and anti-Semitism. Because we get so much
> of those, it's 
> good to be explicit about it.
> 
> I agree with Jon P. that it makes sense to collapse
> personal attacks 
> and insults (numbers 4 and 5 under what we will
> hide) into one thing, 
> instead of listing them separately. I too remember
> us agreeing to 
> remove the "without substantive content" part. For
> those on the General 
> Discussion list who haven't been following this
> discussion on the 
> Editorial list, the idea behind this is that many of
> us have grown 
> rather disturbed with the rather nasty tone many of
> the exchanges on 
> the website have taken and we intend to use these
> guidelines to 
> encourage civility. We're also agreed that we'll
> enforce these rules 
> with a light hand--and when we do hide something
> because it was 
> insulting, we will encourage people to repost the
> same ideas, without 
> the personal attacks.
> 
> For number 6 under what we will hide, I suggest
> changing the phrasing 
> from, "Pictures or footage of potentially
> incriminating or illegal 
> activities," to, "Stories, pictures, video footage
> or other material 
> that could potentially incriminate or otherwise
> endanger activists". By 
> including the term "endanger" we can cover things
> like people 
> potentially loosing their jobs.
> 
> Also this should go under what we will delete, not
> just hide--if we 
> hide it, people still have access to it; only be
> deleting it are people 
> safe.
> 
> bread and roses,
> Matt
> 
> On Jun 4, 2005, at 9:17 PM, Pete Stidman wrote:
> 
> > 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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> >
>
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> >
> 
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