HIVOS and SANGONet, through the Citizen Journalism in Africa project ,  are committed to providing a portal aimed at showcasing  a variety of marginalised voices whilst ensuring accurate and quality content.   

Given the all - inclusive nature of citizen media, we would like to encourage ‘open' communication. To this end participants are exhorted to write prolifically and engage in dialogue with us. This can be through blog posts by participating in discussions, debating about issues, providing feedback, commenting on contributions from other participants, alerting us on events in your region etc. and of course submitting original content for publication as news articles. Thus there are many content types that can be submitted to the portal.  

However in order to ensure that there is a rich contribution of journalistically sound content we thought it prudent that we adopt some editorial guidelines. These guidelines are applicable in most cases to the news articles that are submitted. Blog posts will not be subjected to an editorial process- however participants are encouraged to post appropriate content in accordance with the programmes objectives.

The overarching principle applicable to all forms of content is that under no circumstances will any content considered to be libellous, abusive , defamatory, vulgar, offensive, obscene,  pornographic , harmful to minors  or constituting hate speech  be it in advocating sexist or  racist ideologies, allowed to be published on the portal.

Here are some guidelines, relevant to specific forms of content, which we thought will assist in ensuring that quality content, which is credible and accurate, is published on the portal.

News Articles
This applies to original content submitted for publication and will be made available for the world wide web to view.    

• News articles submitted must be the original work of the participating CBO's.
• Stories that have been appeared in other publications may be submitted for publication provided that the participating registered user of the CJ portal holds the rights to the story.
• All news article submitted will be subjected to an editorial process whereby spelling and grammar errors will be checked along with appropriateness of content.
• Participants are encouraged to submit news articles that have a developmental focus i.e. that are in accordance with the objectives of the Citizen Journalism project.
• The onus is on the participant to ensure the accuracy of information submitted. Where possible the editorial team will attempt to verify information through standard journalistic practice but we also encourage feedback from other participants in alerting us to any inaccuracies.
• Prior published posts may be updated to correct errors and/or add additional information provided that the strikethrough function is used when doing so and prefixing the amended information with the word ‘Update' along with the date. This is to ensure that readers know what content was amended and when this was done. we provide accurate content our readers
• Participants are expected to follow generally accepted codes of journalistic conduct, in particular in the realm of libel and the quotation of anonymous sources.
• Participants will ensure that attribution principles are adhered to i.e. the work of others are properly credited and, where possible, links are provided to the relevant work.

Blog  Posts

The origin of the word ‘blog', which is ‘web log' seems to be the only definition that bloggers, old and new concur. Its application, on the other hand, differs from site to site ranging from personal online journals to logs commenting on specific topics or activities.

For the purposes of our site we will limit the definition of blogging to personal musings or opinions from our participants on developmental issues. Remember, the aim of the blogging area is to encourage you the participant to write copiously and, in so doing, overcome any inhibitions you may have about the writing process . You are, however, urged to write specifically about issues pertinent to civil society and that are in accordance with the stated mission and core values of HIVOS .

 The blog posts, ideally should be tightly focussed and should be used as a platform to launch ideas. To this end we encourage you to post content that will generate a constructive dialogue which will give rise to a nuanced civil society discussion.

As a general rule for the portal, the blog posts are not for the wider public consumption and as such can only be viewed by registered portal users. However, the editorial team withholds the right to promote blogs to the front page, and thereby accessible for the general public, should it deem the content newsworthy and non-controversial. 

Here are some useful tips to guide you in making blog posts:

• Blog posts have generally a more informal tone than that of a news article and are not subjected to an editorial process. However participants are encouraged to limit their post to developmental issues in accordance with HIVOS's objectives.
• The editing of the content is left to the individual author. Proofreading your work for spelling errors etc, by first pressing on the preview button before submitting it for publication is vital. Remember everything that is published on the Internet can be found and archived. Always think carefully before posting.
• Blog posts should be short and more tightly focused than an article.
• As your original post receives comments and the discussion around your topic starts to deepen, a noteworthy topic or theme may then start to evolve from this discussion. The potential is then realised for the original blog post to be worked into a news article for the general public consumption.

Comments

As the name suggests, these are bits of content posted in response to a blog or article post.

Only registered users on the site will be permitted to make comments to blogs which are published publically. Comments on News Articles and Blogs promoted to the front page, will   however be accepted from the general public.

• Constructive comments focused on development issues are welcome and encouraged
• Comments may be also be used if the participant is of the opinion that the referring/original post is inaccurate. In the event of a post being perceived as sufficiently problematic to warrant its removal , then please send an email to the editor.
• Participants are requested to refrain from personal attacks, name-calling, profane language, or other uncivil behaviour when making comments. The editorial team will endeavour to remove as soon as possible any offensive material posted by third parties but cannot be held responsible for comments posted.

All posts represent the views of their authors, and are not necessarily representative of the views of the HIVOS or SANGONET.