[Imc-web] Workers Defend Their Rights in Wisconsin & Ohio

[Mike Lehman]

Chris,
As I've noted several times before, I'd be glad to set down with folks 
and lay out where things have been, where they are, and what needs to be 
done to update the old written editorial policy. Still waiting to hear 
from those interested, though.

Effectively, everyone else left the bag with me in about 2005. The old 
policy is buried  in the inaccessible archived site (at least it was 
inaccessible the last several times that the question has been asked.)

I know it's the fashion at certain IMCs to not worry too much about 
editorial policy, essentially, anything goes. However, that has never 
been the case with UC IMC in the 10+ years the website has been in 
existence. That can change to whatever people want it to be, but in the 
meantime I only have precedent to go on.

In the absence of interest by others in taking on this responsibility, 
I've been handling it, based on what the policy was and the flexibility 
that was always built into the policy to adapt to the persistent 
problems that accompany running a website that defends otherwise 
marginalized interest and opinions.

I have no intention of asking any particular thing about a rewritten 
policy, other than that it continue to observe the broad parameters 
generally required of  Indymedia network editorial policy and that it 
actually be a functioning working group, rather than a few people who 
take different roles as we currently have.

On the other hand, it would be irresponsible to simply walk away from 
it, which is what pretty much left me in this position in the first 
place. Until a Web group is actively interested in managing the website, 
I'm willing to continue. However, the very worst policy is one 
established by the parameters of what people want to occasionally 
complain about from time to time. That is what happened the last time an 
attempt was made to deal with this in 2007.

In this particular case, however, the policy is pretty clear and 
succinct, so I'll write it out here again in rough form.

Stories promoted to Feature status should be those that are relevantly 
local to UC IMC. This may mean the story is a local one or that the 
author seems to be local (in order to account for those anonymous 
stories that we cannot necessarily confirm are local), but who may be 
writing on a theme or topic that may not necessarily be local. This does 
not mean that all stories posted on the Local Newswire qualify. Many 
may, but clearly not all will.

There are also rare cases where a non-local story is relevant enough we 
decide to feature it here. That was the case with the killing of Brad 
Will in Oaxaca a few years ago, where we reposted the detailed NYC IMC 
story on this with a brief introduction I wrote.

The fact that stories we Feature here are automatically syndicated to US 
and global IMC sites should also be taken into consideration. For 
instance, sometimes we feature stories that are strictly UC IMC 
relevant, but really have no relevance to those it would be syndicated 
to. There are ways to do those so they don't syndicate, but this is 
usually not done, I suppose because people aren't aware of how to do that.

It's also the case that anyone who has editorial access MUST be on the 
Web list. If they're not, then those who granted that access need to 
follow-up with them and get them signed up. Seems obvious to me, but the 
lack of a written policy to refer to is a problem, I agree.

Again, I'm just waiting to throw this in someone else's lap, but that 
will happen when it's clear that people want to take the ball and run 
with it. Call the meeting and I'll be there to explain where things 
stand and to then pass the baton.
Mike Lehman

On 3/8/2011 8:42 AM, Chris Ritzo wrote:
>
> Maybe you should post the editorial policy online. What is it?
>
>> On Mar 8, 2011 8:40 AM, "Brian Dolinar" <briandolinar at gmail.com 
>> <mailto:briandolinar at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Should all the people who can feature posts be on the imc-web list at 
>> a minimum?
>> I suspect Kristina may have featured the piece, but not for sure.
>> I can tell her about the editorial policy and get her signed up.
>>
>> BD
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 5:54 PM, Mike Lehman <rebelmike at earthlink.net 
>> <mailto:rebelmike at earthlink.net>> wrote:
>> >
>> > I have no idea.
>> >...
>>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/imc-web/attachments/20110308/d926e9c5/attachment.html>