Editorial Guidelines

As an open publishing network the Nottinghamshire Independent Media Centre (IMC) website operates two basic media structures: feature stories and the open newswire. This page explains how the different sections on the site work, and the guidelines for content and submission.

Feature stories

Are found in the centre column of the website. Anyone can propose a new feature for the middle column in the form of an idea or a completed feature. Features should reflect postings to the newswire and should link to at least one newswire item. Completed features should have a short abstract that is seen on the front page with a main story below. There is a 24-hour period before publication during which collaborative improvements and considerations can be suggested. Stories and issues of local interest are the focus of features, although regional and global stories are published as well. Everyone is welcome to get involved with the collective. Email your feature proposals to imc-notts-features[at]indymedia[dot]org.

Open Newswire

The open publishing newswire appears in the right-hand column of the website, and works as the basic means through which anyone can contribute news and without prior editorial approval provided it is within the editorial guidelines. Text, photo, audio, video, and several other types of files are publishable on the newswire. The online newswire is designed to empower individuals to become independent and civic journalists by providing a direct, unmoderated forum for presenting any media, to the public via the Internet.

The newswire is a democratic forum designed to make available important stories, news, and opinions with local relevance. The Nottinghamshire IMC Collective is dedicated to maintaining the newswire as a completely open forum. However, the editorial collective regularly watches the newswire, intervening on rare occasions to maintain its usefulness as a media resource and as a welcoming community space.

Comments

Everyone is free to post his or her own comments at the end of each article to state an opinion and add or correct information. Comments are subjected to the guidelines as the content posted on the newswire.

Events

If you want something published in the local events (left column), please publish an article and we will then add it to the diary.

The Guidelines

Published material that abuses the editorial policy is liable to be hidden. Published content may also be grouped together if their subject matter is related. Hidden content is not visible on the front newswire archives, and is not included in the website search function. The decision to hide is made by individual Nottinghamshire IMC Collective members who are empowered to implement the editorial policy.

We encourage people to publish:

• Well-researched, timely articles

• Investigative reports exposing injustice

• Coverage of issues related to Nottinghamshire

• Stories on events affecting underrepresented groups

• Media produced from within underrepresented groups

• Stories on issues ignored by the mainstream media

• Stories on people or projects working towards social and economic justice.

• Eyewitness accounts of progressive actions and demonstrations

• Media analysis

We reserve the right to hide newswire posts and/ or comments that:

1. Advertise commercial services or products

2. Are repetitive or duplicates

3. Contain or link to pornographic content

4. Publicize or advocate actions that actively endanger human or animal safety

5. Use language, imagery or other forms of communication that promote bigotry and/or hatred based upon gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion, class, age, physical or developmental ability, or national origin.

6. Contain content that has been published on multiple IMC newswires

7. Repostings of corporate media content that is available elsewhere on the internet, or excerpts of previously published material.

8. Appear in an unreadable format (e.g., posts posted as test) or are titled "test"

9. Are obviously false or misleading in terms of author, location, time, or actors. This includes attempts to spread disinformation or impersonate another individual.

10. Are unintelligible (e.g., containing numerous spelling or grammatical errors).

11. Are off-topic or are not news.

12. Are flame baits made with the intention of provoking argument and/or limiting constructive dialog.

13. Are otherwise inconsistent with the general mission of this website, which is to use media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice in the Nottinghamshire-area.

14. Advertise party related politics or push agenda's for hierarchically structured organisations. Nottinghamshire Indymedia is designed to be a news resource, not a notice board for political parties. The IMC Collective encourages to people and groups to organise horizontally and make decisions via consensus.

15. Consist of large amounts of copy and pasted text from elsewhere. It is good practice to quote a few lines, to illustrate meaning, but link to any 'main-body of text'. This so to aid with the readablity of material added.

16. Articles and/or comments that contain abusive language against other activists or site users. Please make your point without resorting to personal abuse.

Published content that is included in any of the above categories may be hidden at the discretion of the Nottinghamshire IMC Collective. The hiding of articles, however, does not indicate that unhidden articles are endorsed by the collective.

The newswire is a tool intended to facilitate grassroots media dissemination, and the Nottinghamshire IMC Collective will actively strive to work as a community-based participatory media network.