Voice of the People

[Myroria]

Presently our Taijitu periodical, the Voice of the People, is a small publication present only on the NationStates forum and edited entirely by our good friend and Vanguard of the Revolution, Pauline Bonaparte. I'm interested in turning it into a proper newspaper in the vein of The Rejected Times or The Northern Lights, publishing roughly every month with articles about both home and foreign affairs.

I'm currently Managing Editor of the Northern Lights over in TNP, and I think my experience with that could be useful here. I would like to have a small team of reporters, with some assigned to foreign affairs, others to opinion pieces, and others to home affairs. Of course the Editor should be elected by the Ecclesia if we decide to make this a real institution, but I think they should have the ability to appoint reporters and correspondents themselves based on their discretion.

What does the Ecclesia think about this?

[Gulliver]

I had always thought of the VotP as our publication anyway, so I'd be behind this.

[Khem]

I would certainly back such an endeavor!

[Dyr Nasad]

The Voice of the People has lived up to its name; people in Taijitu and abroad view its writings as "official" statements. If Pauline is willing to give this publication to the Ecclesia for Even Greater Officialness, I would support the action.

[Myroria]

One question would be whether or not we should define its neutrality (or lack thereof) by law.

[Allama]

Let's leave "neutrality" out of the law. That way we can say whatever we want.

[Gulliver]

I wasn't expecting the publication would be neutral. Not only am I unsure of how we could even enforce that, but I'd hope the publication would advance our interests.

[Myroria]

Voice of the People Act

1. Taijitu shall establish the Voice of the People as its official regional newspaper.
2. The Ecclesia shall elect an Editor to manage the newspaper and its employees.
2a. The Editor election shall occur every three months concurrently with the Citizen-Initiator election.
2b. The Editor shall have the power to hire and dismiss employees at will, and will determine the content, style, and length of the newspaper.
2c. The Editor shall be subject to recall by the Ecclesia at any time.

Thoughts?

[Cormac]

Looks good to me.

[Khem]

I'm torn on believing there should be note of duty to release at least once a month and the logical conclusion that if the editor fails in such they would most likely be recalled anyhow.

[Gulliver]

I don't think the subsections are necessary. I also think that the clause about elections is self conflicting, since Citizen-Initiator elections are not guaranteed to happen on a regular, 3-month basis if someone resigns or is recalled. It would be better to say an election will be held whenever a Citizen-Initiator election is held.

[Wast]

I agree with Gulliver that at least the second clause of 2b (the relevant power is implicit in 2) and 2c (doesn't the Ecclesia have this power anyway?) are unnecessary.

[Khem]

Hmm perhaps we should also give control of the news banner on the main page to the Editor.

[Musitant]

This sounds like a great idea! I agree with everyone's notes, and like al 'Khem's proposal. I'd love to be a part of the newspaper when it gets running.

[Khem]

I will also note that I believe an Editor would be a perfect bridge between the worlds of military, foreign relations and my own position as Liaison with such things as the potential Garden Party and potentially further such services ranks via advertisement like dispatches on aspects of our region from activities to proposed legislation.