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The National Free Press Standards and Policies
Foreword
The National Free Press has been developed to serve the people of all Nations as a Public Entity. It is funded through Subscriptions and Private Donations.
The National Free Press is privately owned and operated. The Philosophies of the Media Industry are incorporated, including Journalistic and Publishing Ethics, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Criminal Code of Canada regarding Hate Propaganda Literature.
The following is a set of standards and policies to ensure that contributed written, photographic, artistic and electronic work delivered to the National Free Press meet all of the required criteria in the NFP Standards and Policies thus providing the public with a diverse variety of articles, news reporting and editorials that they themselves have rendered.
Table of Contents
1. Charter of Rights
2. Freedom of the Press
3. Responsibilities of the National Free Press
4. The National Free Press Philosophy
5. Contributor’s Guidelines
6. Third Party Website Links
7. Publishing Laws
8. Security and Privacy
9. Advertising Policies
10. NFP Logo and Links
11. Publisher's Notes
12. Amendments
1. Charter of Rights
Simply put, without the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada would not be experiencing the level of freedom that its citizens enjoy today. The Charter is the foundation for this country's existence and is paramount in our place in the world.
The Charter’s foundation is supported by the Freedom of Speech, it is the centre-stone to the entire structure and it is the one true right that allows the others to exist and co-exist. These Rights grant all Canadians the liberty to exchange our ideas and is the centre point of our Canadian democracy.
This project is based on supporting Free Speech and Free Press issues around the World, the Publisher is fortunate to live in Canada where the production and publishing of many different mediums such as the National Free Press is not only allowed - but encouraged. It is out of courtesy that the Canadian Charter of Rights are displayed here.
Here is the excerpt from The Constitution Act...
The Constitution Act, 1982
SCHEDULE B
PART I
CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Whereas Canada is founded upon the principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:
Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
Fundamental Freedoms
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other means of communication.
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
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2. Freedom of the Press
With the Freedom of Speech as the centre point of our Canadian democracy, the Freedom of the Press is clearly the gateway to transmitting the messages of the many, out to the public and therefore providing the arenas for the Freedom of Expression. These combined forces create the building blocks for any nation to create a democracy.
Fortunately Canada is one such nation. We are a part of the world community as a model of democracy because the people who live here are determined as a collective group to have a free flowing exchange of ideas, opinions and information as it is the crux to democracy and vital to the soul of human liberty.
The Publisher believes that it is a privilege to participate in the production and distribution of a medium for the open exchange of information. The National Free Press joins the many others who defend the Right of Free Speech for all People and the right to fair unbiased reporting while captivating the diversity of the many world experiences thus providing the public with a variety of issues of interest and debate.
The National Free Press shares the freedom of the press with the public and duly recognizes the important level of the social obligations that come with the duties.
The National Free Press is the essence of free press, free expression and free speech.
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3. Responsibilities of the National Free Press
With the Freedom of Speech and Expression comes the responsibility of maintaining the balance between these freedoms and the Freedom of the Press. It is the Publisher’s duty to find the balance between unbiased reporting and popular opinion, and the solitude to make the right decision when presenting the public’s material.
As the modern age continues to grow and expand, keeping up with what is real and what isn’t, is a constant idiom. We treat our responsibilities as a testament to our belief structure. We must give the people our promise of correcting what may be deemed wrong and unjust, in order to enjoy the trust the public has given the National Free Press.
The reporting must be fair and unbiased. The articles true and honest unless properly marked as satire or fiction. The National Free Press will do whatever it can to ensure that all material published is accurate and just, to the best of our knowledge.
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4. The National Free Press Philosophy
The National Free Press believes that all People have a right to be heard, not just through the voices of others but through their own voices and have set the following as its foundation.
(a.) The National Free Press Publication and Website belongs to the people.
(b.) The Publisher will not allow the Publication and/or Website to be under the control of any private or known individuals, political groups, corporations, government body, or any other form of association, either indirectly or directly for any reason, as it is crucial for the integrity of the Organization and for the trust of all People.
(c.) The free exchange of opinion and thought is the right of all People.
(d.) The Publisher maintains and exercises editorial authority, control and consideration for the content of the Publication and/or Website.
(e.) The National Free Press is accountable to the People, subscribers, donators, and contributors.
(f.) The National Free Press belongs to the people of the World, a multi-cultural planet whose very diverseness makes it be what it is. That diversity will be able to shine through any adversity in the pages of the publication. The articles and reporting will be written by the public, using their diverse values, viewpoints and experiences.
(h.) The Right to Privacy is an issue that is directly affected by the media’s mantra of the ‘public has a right know’. Whereas situations regarding elected officials, institutions they run and connected allies are deemed as ‘the right to know’, the National Free Press’ belief is that people have the right to privacy and fairness with due course. The Publisher strongly believes there is a noticeable difference between the ‘right to know’ and the ‘right to privacy’.
(i.) The National Free Press will defend the rights of expression and of the press as we serve the public's interest, the public themselves, and to support the global cause for the basic of all human rights - free speech and the medium to put it in - a free press.
The National Free Press stands for all the nations of the world as the neutral ground for free speech.
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5. Contributor’s Guidelines
The National Free Press is open for all People to participate with, whatever their age, lifestyle, religious or ethnic background may be.
The National Free Press believes that every person has the right to be heard and has built the publication and/or website with them in mind. The Contributors are an important ingredient to the publication as they will provide the honest reality of their country expressed within their written views and opinions
Contributors are defined as follows:
(a.) anyone submitting written material, photographs or editorial drawings.
(b.) anyone submitting "Open Letters' and 'Letters to the Editor'.
(c.) any submitted material through the 'Comments' link.
Use of Material
- All authors, photographers and artists who submit material and send the supplied online Contributors Form to the publication hereby acknowledge the right of the National Free Press to use said material within the period of one year from the date of the submission.
- All authors, photographers and artists may receive an online and/or printed acknowledgement of their work. In some cases an appropriate bio may be included, providing that the bio has no commercial merit.
- All authors, photographers and artists are completely and wholly responsible for their work including any copyright infringements that may occur with any submitted material.
- Any work that is alleged to be plagiarized, stolen or copied in any way, shape or form, or is found to be plagiarized, stolen or copied in any way, shape or form will be subjected to whatever means necessary to halt the production and distribution of said material, either online and/or in print; and to notify the author. The Publisher will cooperate with any legal authority regarding such matters and after careful consideration, may respond to any allegations of wrong doing by any of the authors in a statement within the National Free Press.
- The National Free Press, the Publisher, nor any of its Associates will be held liable by any author, photographer or artist for any omissions, mistakes or errors either on their part, or on the part of the National Free Press, that may occur during any of the processing and production of said material. If the National Free Press does make an error during processing, editing and/or production, the Publisher, upon careful consideration may or may not issue an online and/or printed statement.
- All Contributors are asked to Register as a Member to send material and to take advantage of the Membership.
- By submitting material, all authors, photographers and artists acknowledge that the submitted material to be true and the created work to be wholly theirs, unless outlined in the work with acknowledgements of any other authors or co-Contributors.
- By submitting material, all authors, photographers and artists acknowledge that they have read the Publishing Standards and Policies and understand its contents.
Amended Issue
Payments for any submitted work are not available for any Contributors under any means. The work that is sent to the NFP is submitted freely, and voluntarily. The National Free Press does not own any submitted work but essentially 'borrows' the contributed material for a period of one year of date of submission. This allows the Editorial process to view any sent material and use it in the best situations possible, a year is given for this to take place. The authors of submitted material fully own their work and are clearly free to do what they want with it outside of the NFP.
Other material used in the publication as well as online are sent via news releases from various news and government sources and are used accordingly.
Other
- The Publisher holds the right to refuse any Contribution for whatever reason necessary.
- Should there be a conflict regarding any Contributor and the Publisher, the Publisher has the right to inform the Public in the National Free Press of any issues arising from said conflict, providing that the conflict is relative to the Public and the Publisher believes that said conflict is important to the public and not detrimental to either the Contributor, the Public, The National Free Press or the Publisher and all of the NFP Associates of every level. This would be pursuant of the Public's Right to Know.
Submitting Material
- Contributors are asked to sign-up and Register online.
- All written material must be sent to the Contributions email address. Material for submissions sent to other email addresses may not be accepted nor returned. Printed material, electronic attachments, or other media storage units delivered in any way will not be accepted.
- Submitted material missing the required contact information will not be published, and if possible, be returned to the sender for clarification and re-submission.
Submitting Images
- For sending Photographs and Editorial Drawings, please send the image files to our Contributions email address.
- All images must be saved at no more than 150dpi, in your choice of the following file types:
(a.) .gif
(b.) .jpeg
(c.) .tiff
(d.) .bmp
- Any other file formats will not be accepted. All electronic images and graphic drawings will not be returned, please do not send original work via the post mail.
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6. Third Party Website Links
- Please note that all Third Party Links will open in a new window.
- All logos and/or news services provided by Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, WorldPress, GreenPeace, WWF, Earth Talk et al, have not been purchased, nor traded for, and are owned by the respective entities. All logos and/or news services provided by Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, WorldPress, GreenPeace, WWF, Earth Talk et al, are free of charge and are free of outside advertising as constituted in the NFP Standards and Policies Section (#9 Advertising Policies) and does not constitute any affiliation and/or collaboration by any of the participating parties with The National Free Press.
- The National Free Press website contains links to outside websites. These links are not an endorsement by the NFP, nor are the contents of such websites. The NFP is not responsible for the content of any listed website. The NFP does its best to ensure that all of our Links are of reasonable standards.
- The National Free Press does not allow any obscene, hate motivated, pornographic, racist, or any other form of discriminatory type website link(s) on the NFP website.
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7. Publishing Laws
The Freedom of the Press carries a major responsibility to the public, it must weigh the difference between public opinion and the freedom of expression. The Publisher must recognize the messages in articles and conclude whether or not the story should be published.
The Publisher will be happy to push the freedom of speech boundaries in an attempt to continue our evolution to a clearer understanding of the freedoms that we experience, but rest assured that the Publisher will also halt any work that goes past the acceptable point of what the public needs to know.
- The National Free Press will not publish work that may be a motivating factor in inciting the public to act inappropriately.
- The Publisher will not allow any form of discrimination that refers to a person's race, colour or religion to be published, unless it is pertinent to the story.
- The Publisher will avoid articles with irrational and careless stereotypes of race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status. Hate Propaganda Literature will not be tolerated and is against the law as stated in the Criminal Code of Canada.
The Publisher wishes to inform all Contributors of every level that this section of the Criminal Code is taken very seriously. Should an individual submit an article that has the potential to incite the public, and is clearly Hate Related and Provoking, the Publisher will consult the proper authorities of the author's intent or intentions.
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8. Security and Privacy
The National Free Press guarantees that all Contributors', Subscribers' and Journalists' personal and business information is stored without the possibility of any security breaches. The Publisher insures that everyone's material is safe, secure and private, as this a factor in our accountability to the public.
No information is sold, traded or sent to any other third party entities at any time.
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9. Advertising Policies
The most important aspect of the National Free Press is the absence of display advertising in the publication and commercial advertising on the website. It is an essential part of our mandate to provide an alternative international publication and website without the influence of outside parties.
This is not to suggest that the National Free Press is prejudice against the advertising industry, it is the Publisher's decision to exclude advertising and the reasons for these decisions are many and all professionally based.
Corporations who need advertising mediums to display their products have many venues at their disposal. It is part of that reason alone that the National Free Press does not authorize the use of its space for any commercial activity.
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10. NFP Logo and Slogans
Use of the NFP Logos and Slogans is permitted provided the Logo/Slogan is not placed on an inappropriate website that does not meet the Standards of the NFP.
- The Logo/Slogan can be used on personal websites and/or blogs freely and can be setup to be used as a Link to the NFP. This is completely voluntary by anyone choosing to display the Logo or Slogan on their website.
- The Logo/Slogan can not be used on any commercial site without permission from the Publisher.
- The Logo/Slogan can not be recoloured, distorted, reworked or altered in any way. Infraction of this can result in legal action if necessary.
- The Logo/Slogan can not be displayed with any other Logo as to suggest a partnership of any kind, or used to assume to be associated with the NFP. Infraction of this can result in legal action if necessary.
- Use of the NFP Logo or Slogan on a personal or ommercial website does not consitute an endorsement of that website.
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11. Publisher's Notes
The Publisher wishes to acknowledge that the NFP Standards and Policies are a compilation of almost 20 years in the print media industry. It represents the Publisher’s beliefs in the publishing business and has been extended to include an independent view of publishing and the accountability that the Publisher extends to the Public.
These Standards are not written in stone and have been designed to be flexible enough to be improved and amended. They are here to be discussed and debated should anyone feel they have a valid point. New or changed items will be marked as such.
Private Donations
Because the National Free Press is subscriber and volunteer driven, the decision to welcome Private Donations is fundamental to this project. The National Free Press is not a registered organization and can not offer tax receipts for donations.
The Publisher has incorporated a business structure that is parallel to a registered not-for-profit organization and is open for inquiry and accountability. Over time, the Publisher's Blog section will present news, updates and general business accountability.
The Publisher believes that the public will consider the work the publication and the website are accomplishing and are welcome to inquire about Private Donations at the Support the NFP section on the website.
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12. Amendments
First Draft - February 21st, 2006
Amendments
1st Amendment - June 22nd, 2006: See #5 - The Contributor's Guidelines
2nd Amendment - November 28th, 2006: Complete review and changes made to reflect the move from a Canadian viewpoint to a full global entity.
3rd Amendment – September 1st, 2007: Revised for new NFP.ORG site
Copyright © 2006 - 2008 The National Free Press All rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in the National Free Press are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.
Please see About The Publisher for more info.
Trevor Hill
Publisher
The National Free Press
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NFP Standards and Policies 
