Editorial guidelines

york indymedia

Purpose

York Indymedia is an open-publishing platform that brings to light stories of genuine local concern to the people of York and North Yorkshire. The nature of the content of the site will be determined by the participation of people within this geographical area, and the interests and skills that they bring to the York Indymedia project.

Open Publishing

The content of the Newswire (the right-hand column on the website) is generated by anyone who wants to contribute. The Open Publishing Guidelines below have been created to ensure the integrity of the site. These guidelines are under constant review, if you would like to have input into this process then attend one of the Monthly meetings which are advertised on the calandar.

Occasionally we must hide postings that do not adhere to the Open Publishing Guidelines (Note these hidden articles should be viewable by going to the hidden articles page. Very rarely volunteers may also decide to delete articles posted to York Indymedia. Because of the 'real time' nature of the Newswire it is not possible to monitor its contents 24 hours a day, but we aim to hide offensive material as soon as possible.

Participants are welcome to notify the volunteer collective of any articles they feel should be hidden through contacting us.

Newswire Open Publishing Guidelines

Please note that the following are guidelines, not rules set in stone, and volunteers make every effort to consider each posting on its own terms and in relation to the spirit of the guidelines overall. Inevitably no list of guidelines can cover every eventuality.

Posted articles or comments (referred to here as 'posts') will be hidden if they are considered one or more of the following:

Disruptive

Contributions by individuals who habitually publish content which the below guidelines discourage.

Repeat posting

content that is re-posted or text that was originally a comment posted as a 'new' article.

Elections

For our reporting position during elections, in relation to the hierarchy guideline above, we intend to have a discussion before the first election is held after our foundation

Non-York/North Yorkshire

posts which have no clear relation to these geographical areas. Whilst the York Indymedia collective acknowledges that national/world events have an impact upon the people of York and North Yorkshire, the purpose of York IMC is to share local news. We aim to raise awareness of the role of UK IMC as an open forum for national news, locally Leeds Bradford IMC Sheffield IMC and other IMCs, as relevant, as open fora for international news.
NB: This does not include articles which analyse the impact or potential impact that national/world events have upon York and North Yorkshire - postings which articulate such connections are welcome.
For example:

a posting about the situation in Iraq would be hidden
a posting from someone from Selby relating their experiences in Iraq would not be hidden
a posting discussing how the amount spent by the UK on bombing Iraq could have funded x amount of hospital care for people in York would not be hidden

The second and third examples make clear the link between local and global concerns.

Discrimination

posts using language, imagery, or other forms of communication promoting racism, fascism, xenophobia, sexism or any other form of discrimination.

Inaccurate

posts that are clearly inaccurate or misleading. Where it is uncertain that the intention of the posting was to mislead, the inaccuracy may be questioned or amended via a Comment, rather than the article being hidden.

Advertising

posts with personal or product promotions. Occasional posts for independent and/or not-for-profit events, benefits etc. may be permitted.

Hierarchy

the newswire is designed to generate an open news resource, and is not a notice-board for political parties or any other hierarchically-structured organisation. One purpose of this guideline is to prevent the website becoming dominated by any particular group. Occasional postings announcing a public meeting or local campaign may be permitted.

Respect

York indymedia is intended to represent the world we are striving to create, rather than the world we live in. A cornerstone of this principle is respect for others, therefore articles or comments that are abusive rather than relying on force of argument are not acceptable.

Indy Jargon - what parts of the site are called

Newswire (right-hand column)

York Indymedia adheres to the open publishing ethos. Everybody is free to post on the Newswire or to add Comments to Newswire articles. However, York IMC volunteers will hide postings which contravene the Open Publishing Guidelines above.

Comments

Everybody can add their own Comments at the end of each article. Comments are also subject to the above Open Publishing Guidelines. A Comment may be used to:

State an opinion about any given posting.

Add information/rectify misinformation.

Correct inaccurate or malicious information.

Promoted articles (middle column)

York Indymedia volunteers promote open posted newswire (right column) articles into the middle column if they are felt to be particularly meet the mailing list

Features (middle column)

York Indymedia volunteers administer the site and collaborate in the production of Features, which are presented in the middle column of the website. The Features on York Indymedia reflect postings to the newswire, and exist to highlight a specific issue. Features are discussed on the mailing list

Forum articles (forum section)

York IMC is experimenting with running a forum section for posts that are "non-news" but promote discussion that meet the mission statement. A discussion about posts to the forum will continue for now on the mailing list.

Other Jargon

The terms Indymedia and Independent Media Centre (IMC) tend to be used interchangeably by participants within the IMC network to describe both the international network of websites and the many collectives of volunteers that administer it. Unlike many of the IMCs, York Indymedia does not currently have a physical open-access space, but the website does serve as an open-access virtual media centre. The term participant is used to refer to anyone taking part in the Indymedia project, whether submitting material or browsing. Whilst anyone can become a volunteer and contribute to York Indymedia in this way, all participation in the website is considered an active and useful role.

Legal

York Indymedia is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing site are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of York Indymedia. Although York Indymedia volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the Newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Any mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

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