[New-imc] network membership application for TN IMC

[Ryan Smith]

Below are the responses for the Tennessee IMC to the indymedia 
membership criteria points.

Ryan Smith
http://www.tnimc.org/


a. Agree in spirit to the NIMC Mission Statement and
Principles of Unity,

TNIMC: We have reviewed the NIMC Mission Statement and
Principles of Unity and are committed to the spirit of
this document.

b. Have a committed membership substantial enough to
sustain a functional IMC,

TNIMC: We started the imc process by having a series
of meetings.  In these meetings we began the process
of establishing an identity as a group. Right now our
membership is made up of mostly lefty types who are
interested in doing progressive media.  We have a good
balance of male and female although we could use more
women's voices in our group.  The core group is made
up of about ten people who are enthusiastic about the
imc and committed to seeing it happen in tennessee.
Then we have the people who show up at meetings and
offer to help out in various specific ways to making
the imc happen and this group is probably about twenty
people.  Finally we have the supporters such as people
who have come to the fundraisers or given us their
support in spirit and use the website for posting etc.
  This is the largest group and is probably about fifty
or sixty people. We have set up an editorial group,
media, tech and community outreach. Each of th ese
groups have made commitments to do imc related work.

c. Have open and public meetings (no one group can
have exclusionary "ownership" of an IMC),

TNIMC: Our meetings have been open and announced over
the listserv.  So far we have had seven public
meetings and our teach in which was a media
training workshop and we also had our fundraiser.
Generally meetings are announced over the listserv
when one of the members of the group feels there is a
need for something to meet about such as the
budget, features, education, community outreach or
other issue.  No group has claimed exclusionary
ownership of the imc and it has been treated as a
community resource by all the members of the group
thus
far.

d. Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or
Statement of  Purpose. Network Mission Statement may
be adopted or used on an interim basis,

TNIMC: Our Mission Statement is:
Believing that the flow of free information cannot
function if only the wealthy have access to the media,
the Tennessee Independent Media Center intends to be a
community forum for the voices and viewpoints
generally ignored or misrepresented by the corporate
media.  We also want to facilite organizing through
the coverage of events and activities going on
locally.  We also intend to spark open debates and
inform people in a thorough fashion. By encouraging
everyone to participate, we hope to give and receive a
full picture of the issues and how they are
interelated.

  e. Establish and publish an editorial policy which is
developed and functions through democratic process,
and with full transparency,

TNIMC: Our Editorial Policy is:
The Tennessee IMC is committed to the free and open
publication of news, information, announcements and
stories which are in the spirit of the Independent
Media Center Movement.  We reserve the
right to edit material for accuracy and to restrict
material which is viewed by the editorial collective
as hate speech.  Hate speech may include but is not
limited to stories which demean an individual
on the basis of their sexual orientation, race,
gender, religious belief, physical ability, mental
health, occupation or country of origin.  If an
article is submitted to the newswire which is deemed
to be hate speech the editorial collective reserves
the right to hold such story from publication until
the collective can meet and decided up publication.
All decisions made by the editorial collective will be
made on a consensus basis and where consensus failson
a 3/4 majority vote.  Any person is encouraged to
publis h on the IMC and members of the editorial
collective will attempt to reach out to members of the
community for content.  The IMC is especially
interested in the voices of the disenfranchised and
excluded voices whose ideas and stories are not heard
in the mainstream media.

f. Agree to the use of Open Publishing as described in
the NIMC Editorial Policy

TNIMC:We currently allow and encourage open publishing
in the newswire section of our IMC website:
http://tnimc.org/

g. Adopt a decision-making policy that is in alignment
with consensus principles which include open,
transparent and egalitarian processes,
Regarding consensus, we have adopted the principles of
the peace coalition.  In all efforts we strive for
consensus as the modus operandi of the TN IMC.  When
consensus is not possible we will make decisions by
3/4 majority vote.

h. Have a spokesperson(s) willing and capable of
participating in the global decision-making process
and meetings as a rotating liaison/representative,
with a clear understanding of the responsibilities
that come with this role,

TNIMC: We will be certain to maintain a list of
members who are willing to function as spokespersons
for the global IMC and be certain that these persons
have a clear understanding of the responsibilities
that come with this role.

i. Participate in the key IMC Network Communication
Methods that pertain to the health and vitality of the
Network and that contribute to the work of the IMC.
Assure that at least one person from your local IMC
participates at any given time on the
IMC-Communications list,

TNIMC: We will be certain to participate in key IMC
Network Communication Methods that contribute to the
health and vitality of the Network and will be certain
that at least one person participates at any given
time on the IMC Communications list.

j. (NOT FINALIZED): Have no official affiliation with
any political  party, state or candidate for office
(comments: but individual producers
have freedom to do whatever they like and local IMCs
can "feature" stories  about various political parties
and initiatives),

TNIMC: As a collective, we have no affiliations with
any political party, state, or candidate for office.

k. IMCs shall in no way engage in commercial
for-profit enterprises.

TNIMC: The Tennessee IMC is committed to operating
outside of commercial media, and as such, will never
engage in commercial for-profit enterprises.

l. Display a "local version" of the IMC "i" logo on
your website and literature.

TNIMC: We currently display the official IMC "i" logo
on our website and are in the process of designing a
local version.

m. Include the IMC Network current ³Cities List² on
your site,  preferably on the front page.

TNIMC: We currently include the IMC cities list on the
main page of our website: http://tnimc.org/