nujadm.org.uk/2009

This blog is a news website aimed at keeping union members up-to-date with what’s happening at the ADM November 2009.

It is produced by NUJ student members and their helpers at ADM. Two recently graduated students who are both now full members of the union, Kat Lay and Elinor Zuke, are editors.

Overall co-ordination is down to the NUJ’s Professional Training Committee chair, Chris Wheal, who  is also a delegate at ADM.

In the interests of transparency, editorial policies are listed below.

Content

The ADM Blog should cover news from all the ADM speeches, debates, motions and elections using words, pictures, images, video and audio.

That means reporters covering key speeches and debates and reporting each vote. It also means reporting reactions to them and getting quotes from after the debates.

We should also cover the fringe meetings and other events at ADM.

Colour too

We should also look for colour pieces on characters, arguments, political whipping and factions, electioneering and tales from the bars.

Key figures should be interviewed regularly for their views on specific issues or just on how the conference is going.

Branches and other bodies should have their profiles prepared in advance (with links to their sites) and be encouraged to update them and comment throughout ADM.

Tweet anyone?

Each story should be twittered with a link directly to it (maximum of 140 characters in total). Keynote speeches should be twittered “live” with quotes out as soon as possible.

We should have a running list of motions and how they have faired.

Upload content

All our pictures should be loaded on Flickr and we will have a Flickr slideshow on the blog (if we get enough pics we can have pics from that day, or even pics from the last session).

All our videos should be uploaded to You Tube and embedded in the blog.

The website (www.nujadm.org.uk)

The Website will include:

• About (including the writers and editors)
• Who’s who (NUJ bodies and main speakers etc)
• How ADM works,
• Features, Profiles, news (the blog)
• Hot Gossip (for title tattle and rumours),
• Comment.

If we can, we will set up a live webcast.

All entries posted in the other sections after the start of ADM will have a short, one line entry in the news (blog) and a link, and will be twittered.

Writing rules

• News should be written for search engine optimisation and easy scanning. That means plenty of proper nouns and key words in the first par. First par maximum length 30 words.
• Minimum two lines, maximum four lines to a paragraph.
• Use bullet points to keep things short
• Most stories to be written in three pars (one line for the quick, unopposed motions)
• Try to put a sub head in after three pars – four absolute max.
• Sub-heads to be five words maximum, preferably fewer
• Big debates with lots of speaker to have internal navigation on the page (anchors and links to them) for each sub-head when more than three sub-heads (anchor coding will be demonstrated and made available)
• Try to put at least three hyperlinks with each story (the speakers may have their own websites or the organisations they work for, for example).
• Hyperlinks to external sites to open new windows (and to state that that they do).

Editing procedures

Students and other contributors will write and process stories but not be able to publish. Editors will check and make necessary changes or throw the story back at the reporter to be re-written (or edited in the case of video/audio), added to or amended. Editors will publish.

When an editor feels a story needs to be checked further for any of the following reasons (and any others that spring to mind) they will approach Chris for his views. The editors and Chris will work to agree a solution, but where agreement cannot be reached, Chris’s word will be final (and he’ll take the blame).

Issues within copy, video, audio or relating to hyperlinks that will prompt discussion with Chris:

• Causes serious offence
• Causes serious embarrassment
• Defamatory/libellous
• Brings NUJ into disrepute
• Breaks NUJ code of conduct

We will encourage comments unedited but where we receive serious complaints we will also offer the right of reply of approximately an equal length to the offending article.

Overall aims

We do want to:

• Provide timely, impartial, accurate coverage
• Show and explain the workings of ADM
• Demonstrate the wide range of voices at ADM
• Show the human side of NUJ activists
• Be independent and not kow-tow to any group or faction
• Abide by the NUJ code of conduct

We do not want to:

• Make the NUJ a laughing stock or bring it into disrepute
• Unnecessarily hurt anyone’s feeling or expose them to ridicule
• Take sides in arguments