Discussion of IMCjp editorial Policy

Aim of Editorial Policies

Current

http://japan.indymedia.org/mod/info/display/msep/index.php "The indymedia website aims to provide a facility for the publication of a wide range of news and critical opinion as digital text, audio and video. We want to encourage free debate and discussion, limited only by the freedom of all."

Draft New

G finds useful Perth (adapted from Melbourne) http://perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=wiki&page=ed%20policy

* To provide an open-publishing newswire in accordance with established Indymedia (add: Japan) policies and philosophy.

* To maintain the newswire and website as a space that welcomes members of disempowered or marginalised groups. (Paul thinks 6/27/2005 this is good (disempowered groups).

* To acknowledge that words have the power to cause injury, but that instances of injurious speech or writing should also be seen as opportunities for a critical or insurrectionary response. (G says: I wonder about this one) (Paul thinks 6/27/2005 he also wonders about this...too vague and not sure what they were talking about.) (Paul thinks 6/27/2005 that he may have misunderstood that G wrote some of the things above he disagrees with whereas G was possibly only commenting on them.) * To preserve the quality of the website as a useful media resource. also (G adaption from IMC Austria): * the goal is to create a space for discussion and dialogue.

Newswire　Editorial Policy

Current Policy

　(based on Adeleide IMC 2001) http://japan.indymedia.org/mod/info/display/msep/index.php

• "We reserve the right to remove any and all material which is racist, sexist or promoting hatred and intolerance."- also "defamatory postings."

Draft intro to Ed policies

"IMCj editorial volunteers may hide/delete certain postings (newswires and comments) and actively encourage others. This is done minimally and transparently, and in order to create a communication space as described in our mission. Note: 'Postings' includes newswire, comments (?and features)."

Encouraged Postings

Draft Encouraged Postings List

reference points for consideration

• we currently don't seem to have an affirmative policy
• take into account Mission Draft ImcJapan#Mission_2005_Draft
• note that active encouragement, facilitation, solitication, outreach by IMC editorial team members is needed to actually get such posts)

Paul thinks 6/27/2005 that we DO need outreach, that users and posters and readers should ideally be the same, that all feel free to post but also that existing groups and individua efforts in the direction of a democratic, progressive society/media should be encouraged as much as possible to post here. This MAY conflist with CROSS POST policies, so we might want to at least do this as editors--> make any posts we find by some people as OTHERPRESS and highlight them EVEN IN features. this represents a kind of one sided collaboration. We could, for example, have a feature on homelessness that links to articles on our own site, and on other sites, which we also show in our OTHERPRESS section. This requires the editors to have a sense of that a good feature builds solidarity and links to others doing similarwork. It is one think that will encourage those people to come to IMC themselves if, after we post we send a note to the original writer saying that we have linked to their article and hope they will encourage people in their network to visit and post/use IMC. -- GggGgg - 30 Jun 2005 agrees with Paul 6/27/2005. Please put this into the to do list, outreach: ImcJapan#outreach And let's tune down the 'crossposting'.

• See Rogue Valley Policy for supporting users with no writing experience. http://rogueimc.org/static/mission.shtml

"The editorial collective encourages individual initiative among it's members in assisting authors without journalistic experience. We respect the diversity of authors and will help on an individual basis with grammar, technique and style." I would add- technology use!

Draft Banned Postings

"The following postings will be deleted."

Discouraged postings (can be hidden by editors, with reason for hiding)

• Note: Our current policy does NOT justify editors hiding newswire postings that are: 'off-topic,' 'irrelevant,' commercial, cross-posted, unintelligible, repetitive, repressively political, missionary religious, privacy-invading, third-language (non-English/Japanese), intentionally false and misleading, copyrighted, against IMC principles of unity, etc.

Paul thinks 6/27/2005 if something is copyrighted it should usually be allowed under FAIR USE ImcNantesPrinciples, but not sure if it is up to us or the poster to note this..... * G says: as far as I know 'fair use' is a specifically US legal provision. I'm pretty certain Japanese law does NOT have a fair use clause.

Paul thinks 6/27/2005 that we should be able to specify the things G mentions....... though some are possibly hard to be sure in all cases. For example, a post that comes from a religious person may or may not be relevant...if someone from a radical progressive religious group condemned the death penalty in Japan would we take it down? On the other hand, if a mainstream Christian group said that sometimes it is ok to send the JIETAI to help support the US, we may feel less willing to keep it. likewise with political parties... a post may be genertal enough that it appeals to people who sre not inetersted in joining the party. I sometimes post Japan Press Service news on my own website because, though I am not in full agreement with all policies of the JCP, I think there news often presents things not found in the mainstream..so we have to leave some leeway here.

hide/delete points to consider

• Nantes (France) take out: propaganda, racist/homophobic/antisemitic, sexist, commercial, copyrighted, absolutely unrelated to IMC, spam, unintelligible, publicity, spam, non-French (!), defamatory (unfounded and non-argumented) & insulting.
• basic list (from US):

What NOT to Post US-IMC editorial team volunteers reserve the right to hide posts that: - advocate criminal activity indicating a specific time, place and/or manner - are duplicate posts (the most recent remaining on the newswire) - are obviously libelous or slanderous - interfere with the technical functionality of the website - are intended to disrupt the site - are empty posts (no content or gibberish) - are commercial advertisements - promote racism, homophobia, sexism, or other discrimination - are obviously incorrect or misleading, including attempts to spread dis-information - contain threats and/or intimidation - flooding and spamming

• G suggestions:

- PR (missionary, religious, personal, commercial, party-political, by nationalist/right-wing groups etc.) - mass-posting on multiple un-related IMCs - no reposts of info available elsewhere on the net - some countries have language rules- we could make a bilingual or japanese-only rule to put the breaks on excessive posters. But that would require us to stock up on Japanese translations....

• (G suggests) consider also allowing to hide:

- posts in neither E nor J (if E dominance continues, we should split newswire top/bottom, English only posts on the bottom) Paul thinks 6/27/2005 the thing about splitting posts...i am not sure as present DADA has only one newswire......we may not be able to physically do this....not sure - commercial - unintelligible - repetitive - clearly against IMC principles of unity - i.e. spam, trolls, floods and flames.

Paul thinks 6/27/2005 this is partially mentioned above....anyway, we have to be careful about being too strict.....

Procedure for Hiding and Deleting (by editorial group)

look at EditorialPolicy13

Features　Editorial Policy

Purpose of Features

Draft Procedure for Posting a Feature (by editorial group members)

options in use by other IMCs, see ImcJapan#Selection_creation_procedure

Draft Selection Criteria for Features

suggested policies for picking/writing features: (mostly promoting from newswire)

high priority for :

• J/E bilingual posts, J posts
• are by, for and/or about women and other genders
• relation to Japan and/or Asia
• transnational dialogue esp. with/from Korea, Taiwan, Philipines, China based people and movements
• citizen (not consumer or 'national citizen'), social movement, non-mainstream contents/viewpoints
• long=lasting or in-depth information, debate
• including visuals
• clear and concise text
• critical and creative ideas

basically not featuring:

• no connection to Asia, Japan and/or social movements

Paul thinks 6/27/2005 about dialoguie with Asia...be careful since oppressive governments will take positions with which progressives in Japan may agree regarding Yasukuni for example, but we want to be sure to identify voices of social consience. Conversely, many anti-communits will support on the surface people's movements. This is a kind of cooptation. One example is how the Bushites may suport democracy movements in China, or how some environmental groups that condemn whaling fall into the trap of culture criticism or worse allow themselves to be used by countries like the US which have a token anti-whaling position that is easyto maintain because it makes the US look pro-environmental. Such issues are a contatnt challange in determining if a given post is fair, progressive-minded, accurate, or does not hide a second agenda behind a seeminly progressive facade. -- GggGgg - 30 Jun 2005 says: I aggree that this is delicate. Anyway, features don't go up without being discussed or at least put to the consensus test. And please suggest a better formulation for this point.

Mission

Mission 2001 Draft (E)

G notes: This is really generic. We should add our local situation, challenges and purpose.

Paul thinks 6/27/2005 We had no time at meeting to read through but personally I think some things should get priority and others left alone because we do not have time or energy to do all things. I think priority should be on articles/features/hiding/editing since these affect how we work and how others use IMC.

From http://japan.indymedia.org/mod/info/display/mission/index.php [2005.6]

Drafted 7/25/01 The Independent Media Center is a global network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth. We are motivated by a love and inspiration for people who work for a better world despite corporate media's distortions and unwillingness to cover efforts to develop an egalitarian and sustainable society.

The japan Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice in the japan Area. We are dedicated to addressing issues that the mainstream media neglects and we do not conceal our politics behind a false objectivity. We will empower people to "become the media" by providing democratic access to available technologies and information.

Mission 2001 Draft (J) (pls add)

Mission 2005 Draft

誰のため　for whom

(Draft by G 22 Jun 2005) we especially want to involve (as readers, writers and volunteer staff) people who are

• willing to think critically and creatively
• who have something to say, show and/or discuss or show and have so far not gotten much attention
• in Japan or otherwise connected with/concerned about Japan
• concerned about/critical of economic liberalism
• connected with social movements (except right-wing) (-->- encourage and facilitate use by NGOs and citizens groups, even those with low net access/literacy)
• 'alternative media' producers: people who have NGO newsletters, alternative 'free papers', blogs, independent video, who are independent journalists

what we want to do

(suggestions by G 25 Jun 2005) * encourage awareness-raising, information exchange, dialogue and reflection on problems (immediate or long-term) affecting people in Japan * (can we?) try to develop dialogue with regular people and social movements in Korea, Taiwan, etc. Especially support movements against right-wing nationalism!

Paul thinks 6/27/2005 of course I want to fight nationalism, as it exists in Japan and probably Korea as far as getting all excisted about idlands/rocks, but the term nationalism is loaded since it also implies liberation movements, which CAN sometimes be positive. I would say try to develop a dialogue with other media activists in Asia in order to show solidarity with progressive social movements in the region. The reason why is that there are some issues being promoted by governments agianst Japanese nationalism which we may sympathize with, but at the same time, the people in those countries have their own fights against those very same governments, so we need to be aware of what is progressive in each respective country. Anyway, the basic idea of cross-border solidarity is the same for both G and me. -- GggGgg - 30 Jun 2005: Paul, I added the word "right-wing" to 'nationalism'- does that address your concern? (if yes, you can delete this comment)

• enlarge the voice of existing alternative media in Japan
• connect Japan-based social movements with each other, connect movements translocally/internationally (especially Asia&Oceania)
• promote perspectives not found in the mainstream media in Japan; and and in overseas media about Japan
• develop organization models for a better (news) media culture
• create space for a multiplicity of voices
• empower people to be critical and creative readers and writers
• empower marginalized and stereotyped people and groups to represent themselves

Editorial Group Constitution and Process

Liability/Disclaimer

• Current Disclaimer
• New Draft Disclaimer

other IMCs' Policies and Procedures

Overview of Policies

• Originally, the top page consisted of open publishing only (right?). 'Editorial policies' and 'moderating filters' were introduced little by little in response to problems like spam, trolls, double posts, rants, flooding, irrelevant posts, too quick turnover of articles, etc.

• IMC Editorial Policies- Summary of International Overviews of Newswire and Feature Policies Review Prepared by IMC Japan Volunteer G , June 2005

(rtf file http://docs.indymedia.org/pub/Local/ImcJPEditorialPolicyDiscussion/IMCeditorialpoliciessummary.rtf)

Role of Editors

Many sites don't use the term 'editor' but 'editorial collective', 'moderators' etc. to stress difference from mainstream editorial process. I also would consider 'facilitator' or editorial volunteer.

Policies for OPEN PUBLISHING NEWSWIRE (right hand column)

The open publishing newswire is the heart and soul of IMCs. Anyone can post, minimal editorial interference (moderating).

* 'Editorial policy' in most IMCs filters out: sexist, racist, pornographic (except satire), fascist, commercial, purely personal attacks, death threats or information on how to make deadly weapons, etc. Such posts are deleted or hidden by editorial team members. The policy must be made public (transparency requirement). Some IMCs have more or less stringent policies.

• For pointing out false or disputed information, readers are supposed to use the comment function to point out problems and correct information. In a slow/underused IMC like ours, the editors should take care to do this.

• Newswire editorial policy usually also says what kinds of postings are encouraged. But this is apparently not enough to really encourage diverse voices. Pro-active measures are neccessary, e.g. networking, assisting and encouraging possible contributors, personal communication, outreach activities, posting and linking by editors. See Rouge Valley Policy for supporting users with no writing experience.

policies for FEATURES (center column/ headline section)

Features are created by hand by editorial team members. All IMCs have them, but the feature editorial policy not always spelled out.

Types of features

• Highlights/Headlines: simply taking articles from newswire and putting them in the center column, making　few if any changes. (this is what we have been doing mostly).
• In-depth reporting and analysis: Solicited articles & original writing (often by editorial members)
• Overviews: Summarizing, commenting and pulling together stories that were posted separately

Selection/creation procedure

Who suggests, who decides and how. Systems used:

• undefined "democratic/collective decisions"
• 24hr time limits for opposing a suggested feature (if nobody opposes it, it goes up)(G note- this is too short for a slow IMC like ours)
• voting whether or not to run a feature
• consensus must be reached in editorial team (one opposition can block it)
• support by 2 editorial team members required
• discussed in face-to-face editorial meeting
• interested editor contacting other members for approval
• job of editor in charge of hiding posts and posting features rotates daily or weekly, updating the list on what has been done, if there is opposition reverses

Feature Selection criteria:

What will be given priority. Most IMCs imitate unquestioningly two main mainstream "news values"- timeliness , geographic proximity. Different from mainstream in emphasizing underrepresented views, minority rights, social justice, issues ignored by mainstream media (e.g. Seattle, Thunder Bay etc.). Some say features will reflect editorial members ideological views.

Unforseen Problems

Most IMCs have a policy for dealing with other problematic newswire posts or features. See Aotarea 'unanticipated problems'

Complaint Procedure

Most IMCs have a transparent complaint procedure
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