West Country IMC Editorial Guidelines

West Country IMC is an open-publishing platform for reporting on grassroots, social justice, environmental and political issues. It is maintained by a network of media activists and groups will remain at all times non-corporate and non-commercial. West Country IMC is part of the UK-wide network of local indymedias. IMC stands for Independent media center.

Westcountry IMC operates under the ethos of open publishing. This page explains how content on the site is generated and how you can contribute.

Volunteers administer the site and collaborate in the production of the features that occupy the central column. These feature should always refer to articles within the newswire itself which are generated by anyone who wants to contribute.


Posts published directly to the newswire (reports) should be of a news or events led nature. Contributions about a newswire article (coment) can be more analytical or more opinion based. The open posting guidelines below have been created to ensure the integrity of the site.


Occasionally we are forced to remove from the newswire any contributions that fall outside of the open posting guidelines. Because of the 'real time' nature of the newswire, it is not possible to monitor its contents 24 hours a day. There is no censorship as such, nothing is ever deleted and all posts, can be seen in the View all posts page.

Newswire Open Posting Guidelines:


Non-news : reports which are clearly purely comment, opinion or rants unrelated to a recent event or action etc.

Repeated : content that is reposted or text that was originally a comment posted as a report.

Discrimination : posts using language, imagery, or other forms of communication promoting racism, fascism, xenophobia, sexism or any other form of discrimination.

Inaccurate : posts that are demonstratably inaccurate or misleading.

Advertising : posts with personal or product promotions of a commercial or partical political basis.

Hierarchy : The newswire is designed to generate a news resource, not a notice-board for political parties or any other hierarchically structured organization.

Disruptive : Contributions by individuals who habitually publish above mentioned discouraged content.


Sections on West Country IMC


Newswire (right-hand column): West Country IMC adheres to the open publishing ethos. Everybody is free to post reports on the newswire or add comments to newswire articles. However, West Country IMC volunteers take the liberty to remove from the newswire posts which offend the open posting guidelines. Hidden postings and comments are visible in the View all posts section.
Comments: Everybody can add their own comments at the end of each article. Comments are also subject to some of the open posting guidelines. Comments can be used to:

State an opinion about any given posting.
Add information.
Correct inaccurate or malicious information.
Rectify misinformation.


Corrections and rectifications can be given prominent status by contacting the Westcountry IMC mailing list with the qualified accurate information.

Calendar: Please list all announcements and upcoming events on the Calendar. Just click the calendar link on the right hand column, on top of the newswire.

Features: The features on the middle column of the website reflect postings to the newswire. Features are highlighting specific issues to make them more accessible. They are put together by volunteers communicating on the West Country IMC mailing list.

Any individual can join the mailingg list and propose a new feature for the middle column. A proposal can take the form of an idea or a completed feature. Completed features are usually between 50 and 80 words and include at least one link to the newswire, preferably also links to background information. If no one objects to the feature proposal within 24-hours, and if it is completed, it will be uploaded to the middle column. The 24-hour 'rule' is intended to ensure that everybody can contribute to the middle column and allow time for collaborative improvements and considerations, however in exception circumstances of a time critcal nature, the 'rule' may be ignored.


Legal disclaimer

West Country IMC is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of those hosting or administering the site. Although West Country IMC volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility, legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

WCIMC, 27.06.2003 11:48