[IMC-US] re-proposal

[max]

it's kind of ugly and it's not organized that well.  
but I incorporated the suggestions so far, and it includes an open
publishing newswire.

max

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"featurewire" policy:
	-fully automated, syndicated wire of all features from US IMCs

center column policy:
-the center column is the place to feature:
	1) articles promoted from the featurewire
		-these articles will be either:
		a) bumped to the center column with no changes from the feature wire
		b) bumped to the center column with spelling and grammar corrections if
needed
		c) bumped to the center column with added links and content with the
exclusive 
			purpose of adding context for a US-wide audience
	2) articles written by an editorial team specifically for US-IMC
		a) these articles will be written collaboratively over an email list, in a
very similar 
		fashion to global

criteria for center column:  
	1) center column features should be articles produced by local IMCs with
content relevant to 
		the US-IMC readers
	2) center column features should be original features compiled by the
US-IMC editorial team 
	3) there will be an emphasis on featuring articles produced by local IMCs
rather than by the 
		US editorial group
	4) respect "standard" imc op guidelines
	5) be of interest to the entire us
	6) should not be reposts of articles published elsewhere
 	7) should be drawn primarily from independent media sources rather
   		than the mainstream press, and should be written (in html) with  
   		links to these sources
	8) should be primarily news-reports, that is, reports on events which are
   		taking place or will take place, rather than commentary.  indymedia
   		is a mechanism for the distribution of information, not a political
soapbox.


process: 
	1) there will be a US-IMC editorial group that will communicate over an
email list.
	2) this group will work out a more detailed policy regarding the promotion
of features to the 
		center column from the featurewire as needed (see above section "criteria
for center 		column").
	3) all feature articles (promoted articles from the featurewire and
original content) will follow a 		similar process to global 
		(proposal --> 6hrs without blocking --> publish - this can be articulated
in greater detail 
		if people want)
	4) the email list and the internal message boards in Mir will be used for
inter-group 
		communication
	5) the editorial group is open to anyone who is already working on a local
IMC in the US

open newswire:
	1) there will be an open publishing newswire, moderated by the US-IMC
editorial group
	2) the newswire will not display on the front page, but there will be a
"publish" link located on 		the front page
	3) additionally, there will be an easily accessible page listing all of the
US IMCs and i		nformation about open publishing (maybe links to their
publish pages?)