Constitutional protection is an important concession I'm hoping will be afforded to TRT, Rejected Radio and future media pursuits. I know that there is at least some support for this.Constitutional Amendment wrote:Article 9: Media
A: The Rejected Realms Media Corporation and its holdings, The Rejected Times and Rejected Radio, shall exist and continue to exist without dissolution.
B: The goal of the Rejected Realms Media Corporation is to provide news for both The Rejected Realms and abroad.
C: The creative and editorial independence of The Rejected Realms Media Corporation and its media holdings must be respected at all times.
One of the foremost concerns has been accountability and this seems like the best place to codify it. I made sure that it conforms to the date format of the act itself, though I don't care for this European format.Amendment of the Government Accountability Act wrote:3. The Editor-in-Chief must report to the Assembly on the goals, achievements and plans for the Rejected Times Media Corporation on the first day of odd-numbered months (1 January, 1 March, 1 May, 1 July, 1 September, 1 November).
4. The Delegate or Editor-in-Chief may authorize an Officer to deliver the report in their absence.
Now here's the part I'm most nervous about. This is the bulk of what I'd initially drafted for TRT's bylaws. I've made fundamental changes to put to rest concerns that TRT wouldn't be accountable to the citizens. And I'm trusting that these major concessions on my part are acceptable to everyone because this means that TRT's functions and structure are codified into law entirely. It's equally vulnerable like every other piece of legislation that isn't the constitution and I really don't like that, but I'm hoping that I won't regret it in the future.The Rejected Times Bylaws Act wrote:Bylaws of The Rejected Realms Media Corporation
The Rejected Realms Media Corporation, composed of its holdings The Rejected Times, Rejected Radio and all future holdings created under the umbrella of The Rejected Realms Media Corporation hereby set forth the following bylaws in order to outline its management.
Article 1 - The Rejected Realms Media Corporation
1.) The management of The Rejected Realms Media Corporation shall be the responsibility of:
•The Media Officer when elected to the government
•The Editor-in-Chief
•The Deputy Media Officer insofar as the Media Officer allows.
2.) When the executive government does not have a Media Officer the management of The Rejected Realms Media Corporation falls to the Editor-in-Chief. In such an event the Editor-in-Chief becomes the head of The Rejected Realms Media Corporation until the executive government has a Media Officer.
3.) Staff members may not be "fired" in any sense of the word. For all intents and purposes inactive staff members are retired until they reapply for membership within The Rejected Realms Media Corporation.
Article 2 - Editor-in-Chief
1.) Only senior staff members are eligible to serve as Editor-in-Chief.
2.) A vacancy in the office of the Editor-in-Chief must be filled immediately by the process outlined from Article 2.3 to Article 2.7.
3.) A candidate for the Editor-in-Chief shall be selected via a vote by simple majority among active staff members of the Rejected Realms Media Corporation. Elections are to be held on April 1st and September 1st every year. Voting and nominations are opened and closed by the Speaker of the Assembly. The nomination period lasts for three days and voting lasts for four days. The position of Editor-in-Chief shall be subject to a term limit of two consecutive terms.
4.) The vote in Article 2.2 shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the Elections Act unless otherwise specified.
5.) The Assembly of the Rejected Realms shall hold a vote by simple majority to confirm the appointment of the Editor-in-Chief.
6.) If the Assembly does not confirm the appointment of an Editor-in-Chief, the process outlined from Article 2.3 to Article 2.5 is to be repeated, except for the nomination and voting periods which are to be shortened to 2 days for both.
7.) If after three consecutive attempts, the Assembly has not confirmed the appointment of an Editor-in-Chief, the delegate must appoint a senior staff member as Editor-in-Chief.
8.) The Assembly may review the activity of the Editor-in-Chief half way through their term and re-confirm or remove them from their position as Editor-in-Chief via the same manner outlined in The Elections Act.
9.) For the purposes of enabling this statute, the office of the Editor-in-Chief shall be vacated immediately upon the initial passage of this legislation.
Article 3 - Rejected Radio
1.) The host of Rejected Radio is chosen at the discretion of the Media Officer. If there is no Media Officer then the host of Rejected Radio is chosen at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
Article 4 - Definitions
1.) "Active staff members" of the Rejected Realms Media Corporation are defined as any TRR Citizen who has (1) submitted a membership application for The Rejected Realms Media Corporation which was approved by the appropriate official, and (2) has written or submitted an article:
a.) within the last two issues of The Rejected Times if The Rejected Times has published monthly issues or anything more frequent.
b.) within the last three issues of The Rejected Times if the time between issues released by The Rejected Times reaches or exceeds three months.
2.) With regards to determining active status, special releases by The Rejected Times shall be counted as if an issue had been released.
3.) “Senior staff members” of the Rejected Realms Media Corporation are defined as any TRR Citizen holding the rank of Senior Journalist (having 50 points) or higher in accordance with Article 5.
Article 5 - Ranking System
1.) The ranking system is a meritocratic system meant to incentivize participation in The Rejected Times and to promote activity. Certain levels of participation are inexplicably tied to the democratic functions of The Rejected Times including running for Editor-in-Chief.
a) The ranks are as follows:
•Intern: Entry-level Rank.
•Editorial Assistant: 10 Points.
•Journalist: 25 Points.
•Senior Journalist: 50 Points.
•Reporter: 75 Points.
•Senior Reporter: 100 Points.
•Correspondent: 150 Points.
•Senior Correspondent: 250 Points.
•Network Correspondent: 500 Points.
•Maestro: 1000 Points.
b.) Point values for work on issues or special releases for The Rejected Times are as follows:
•1 Point for a Story Tip (told to the Media Officer, Deputy Media Officer or Editor-in-Chief)
•2 Points for Editing an Article
•3 Points for Submitting an Article Late (instead of 5 points, authors may only earn 3 points)
•5 Points for Writing an Article
•25 Points for an Award
2.) The Media Officer, Deputy Media Officer and Editor-in-Chief may not tell themselves a Story Tip. However they may tell each other a Story Tip.
3.) Only the Media Officer or Editor-in-Chief may give awards. Neither the Media Officer nor the Editor-in-Chief may give awards to themselves, each other or the Deputy Media Officer, with the exception of the Pen & Paper Award which is decided by the citizens of The Rejected Realms. These three positions are ineligible for awards, intending to be taken up for the benefit of The Rejected Times and The Rejected Realms as a whole rather than for personal gain. They are however eligible for the Pen & Paper award.
4.) Neither awards nor points may be removed from those to whom they were given.
TRT's active staff nominates one of its own senior members for confirmation by the Assembly in the same manner as the Elections Act outlines. What constitutes "senior members" is clearly defined and in my opinion is done so with reasonable parameters. It also takes into consideration fluctuations in activity so as to ensure that there will always be active staff members. 50 points is adequate enough to be reached in a reasonable amount of time to exhibit a commitment to TRT without being unreasonably out of reach. Of course the ranking system is crucial to the whole thing. It holds this legislation together and it has been a part of TRT for a while, withstanding the test of time.
I've added some redundancies for the voting and nomination process of the Editor-in-Chief to enable a couple mulligans and an ultimatum should we reach three strikes in successfully electing one. That ultimatum is delegate appointment, though I'm adamant about such an appointment being made from a pool of active staff members.
Additionally, I've written this so as to try and keep the points system clean of leadership figures trying to inflate their points and dishonestly increasing their own rank. Sure even written in this fashion all three positions could still work together to do so but it's still better than one person giving themselves as many points as they want.
Finally I've added one small part to put this into effect immediately upon passage since the next scheduled election is six months away.
So, thoughts?