Editorial Policy

or: who is responsible for the contents of at.IMC?

german version / deutsche Version: AustriaEditorialPolicyDE^?

Open posting

Open posting is one of the most important principles of indymedia. It means that everyone can publish articles on the basis of the open-posting form. The articles immediately appear on the "newswire" which is the right column on the start page.

Therefore at.IMC is not able to guarantee that the contents in the particular articles are correct in any way. Good articles distinguish themselves through the listing of sources. The users of at.IMC are thereby able to research the contents.

Beyond it, users have the option to point at further informations via comments below the article that disprove or back the informations in the text. Thus normally gives a good idea of the author's credibility.

How do you publish your article?

You click the "publish news" button on the starting page. By this you get to a form, in which you can enter your text. If you copy the text out of a word processor, watch the special signs. Quote signs and similar elements don't get recognized necessarily. You can also use HTML-tags in your text. You have to select the HTML recognition in the appropriate array. Posting fotos, videos and audiocontributions is as easy. Just read the short explanations of our principles in the form. Short time after sending your article, it appears on the newswire.

Censorship

All articles that appear by open posting are cross-read by daily changing moderators. The articles get censored if they are contrary to the self-conception of at.IMC or to the network's principles of unity. We can't inhibit that these articles are published on the page. Discriminatory articles can only be removed from the newswire afterwards. For reasons of decision traceability such articles are subdued to a so called "vitreous censorship". This means that they can be viewed further on via our administrationsite for the purpose of documentation and transparency. Beyond it there should be given a short statement or at least a catchword below the censored article to explain why the article has been removed from the newswire.

The centre column

In the news column there are "news"contributions which have been chosen from the newswire by the moderators on the basis of certain formal criteria on the one hand and "feature" articles on the other. These feature articles are compiled by an open editorial staff that can be joined by everyone.

A.) "news"

The approach of at.IMC is to be platform for independent reporting by it's users. Therefore articles from the newswire only get into the center column if they embrace this quality criteria.

1. Only articles that were created by the particular author or collective are put into the centre column. Articles that already have been published in other -primarily commercial- media are disregarded.

2. The claim of at.IMC is to primarily give informations and cognitions public access that are marginalized. Groupstatements, press releases, green papers, mass e-mails an the like that already have been released in numerous other publications are not put on the starting page. The decision about the valuation in respect thereof is measured within the collaborative discussions of the moderation collective of at.IMC.

3. at.IMC not only tries to activly abolish hierarchies within it's own structures, but also supports articles and contributions from collectives that organize in that sense. From there you won't find any texts from political parties in the centre column. The evaluation in respect thereof is made within the collaborative discussions of the moderation collective of at.IMC.

4. at.IMC is a platform for political informations and cognitions. Articles, whose political information content is not recognized in a collaborative discussion by the moderation staff or if they are appraised as disinformation will not be considered in the centre column. This holds good for articles that are limited to an expression of an opinion, simple comments, abusive articles and the like.

5. Newsflashes will normally not appear in the centre column.

6. Ordinary proclamations of dates that don't go beyond the aspect of simple mobilisation for the event without containing any outwritten further informations about it's background and content are generally not put into the centre column.For these matters at.IMC provides an open calendar of events.

If you feel confident that your article doesn't comply to any of these criteria and nevertheless does not appear in the centre column then please send us an a request vie e-mail. Maybe we just overlooked something.

-- BertaBeitrag - 10 Nov 2002

B.) "features"

Right next to the newswire you will find the features in the middle of the page. features are coordinated and created on an own public mailinglist. In opposite to the news the features are made through putting together more articles from the newswire and linking or shortening articles from other pages to provide interesting information on one topic.

Usually you will find inside each category, like on the middle part of the main page, features which will be on the top. "news" articles will always be rowed chronologically beyond the current feature (on the main page as well as on the category pages).

The categorys

Categories are organised after the criterias of the middle part of the page (see above) but concentrate on certain topics (antifascism, anit-EU,etc....).

The moderators

The daily work of the moderators - who are changing every day - is assembled not only by censorship of contributions and commentaries or the chosing of the "news" but also by answering the emails and questions that arrive.

The moderation is organised in an own list. This list is accessable for everyone who takes part in the meetings (local or whole at.).

This doesnt mean, that the moderaters can do or let what they want. In a collective process of discussion the open principles of indymedia are being organised.

The editorial staff

Besides the moderators there is an open editorial staff who work in an open access mailinglist. The editorials are working on the "features" in the middle part of the page. They organise in an own mailinglist, where everyone can subscribe if they want to start editorial work.

The features are coordinated and made on this list. Cooperation in general is possible and wanted as long as you can identify with the principles of at.imc.

Content

Indymedia is always that what the user make out of it. This does not mean that topics which are rarely or not present on indymedia are not interesting for at.imc. If a topic is not on indyedia it is, because none posted it so far.

Get involved!

If you do not want to publish your articles just on the newswire but also would like to work on the page and also on the project indymedia then you can get involved in various ways.

On the one hand you can subscribe in one of the multiple mailiniglist of the global indymedia network wherever your interests are. On the other hand you can also join the local at.imc lists. If you agree with the principles just send a mail and you are in.

If you want to moderate the site we want to get you personally known so it would be necessary to visit the meetings.

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