[New-imc] NH IMC - Updated Mission Statement and Editorial Policy

[Art Haeussler]

The NH-IMC collective reached consensus on the following:

Mission Statement (Revised 9/28/03)
Editorial Policy on 9/22/03.

------------------------
IMC-NH Mission Statement
------------------------
	Real democracy depends on the free flow of information between free people.
Control of modern media means control of the futures of so many around the
world.
  We live in an era when our media is controlled by a handful of
corporations whose goal, rather than an informed public, is profit. With a
single-minded zeal, mainstream media pursues consumption over participation,
wealth over truth, commodity over community. Popular media has failed to
question the motives and efficacy of our global institutions. Our confidence
in the custodians of public opinion has been shaken.
  Independent media provides an unprecedented opportunity to reach not just
our neighbors, but the world. The mission of the New Hampshire Indymedia
collective is to provide a truly democratic forum for the individuals and
organizations working in the granite state. We aim to provide the medium, be
it online, video, radio, or print, for the free expression of everyone in
New Hampshire.
	We encourage the members of our community to become the media.  This way we
have the information we need to understand the world around us and make
informed choices about the policies that affect our lives.  We are here to
expose stories of corruption and injustice and document the struggles
against it.  We are here, too, to provide a censorship-free forum for
discussing political issues and collectively visualizing alternative social
structures.



------------------------
IMC-NH Editorial Policy
------------------------
Open Publishing:

The New Hampshire Indymedia newswire works on the principle of Open
Publishing, an essential element of the global Indymedia project that allows
anyone to self-publish their work on a globally accessible web site. People
are encouraged to "become the media."

We are committed to freedom from censorship. Some of us may not like the
content of certain posts or the ideology of the poster, but we nonetheless
recognize their right to post their views. This includes a wide range of
controversial views: conspiracy theories, racism, anti-abortion, property
destruction, etc. Ultimately, the comments allow people to respond to views
they take issue with.


Editorial Decisions

The Features page is reserved for posts that have been approved through
consensus by the editorial collective. These posts can come from either the
newswire or from the NH IMC collective.

The newswire is broken down into three sections: Local Intrest, Elsewhere,
and Otherpress sections. The editorial collective will move articles to the
appropriate section if they have been posted to the incorrect area.

The newswire plays a critical role in Open Publishing. Certain posts require
attention, therefore they will be handled using the following criteria.

*Hidden:
-Posts uploaded with technical problems
-Test posts

*Deleted
-Explicitly illegal pornographic images
-Product advertisements
-Duplicate posts or comments

*Posts requiring discussion brought to the editorial collective:
-They are to be dealt with on a case by case basis. If consensus is not
achieved with in the editorial collective to hide the post, then the post
remains unhidden.

*Moved to Otherpress:
-All reposted corporate media articles

Upon hiding/deleting a post, the member of the editorial collective who did
so will also add a comment explaining the basis upon which the decision to
hide/delete it was made.

In addition, all hidden posts and comments will continue to remain the
publicly accessible. The link to view all hidden posts is located at the
bottom of the Elsewhere newswire.