Principles of Autonomous News

 

1- Revolutionary News

Local Autonomous News chapters are dedicated to facilitating and platforming social autonomy. The goal for all published and shared stories is to produce a critical and engaging narrative for a wide local audience which raises awareness of local current events, social organizing, important services, and global-historical contexts; ultimately to activate people for the benefit of their community. Under no circumstances should an Autonomous News chapter assert endorsement for a political candidate or corporate business as 'news'. As “Revolutionary” journalists, it is a responsibility to maintain a frame of reference with critical analysis of oppressive historical social constructs such as classism, racism, sexism, cis/heteronormativity, nationalism, statism, fascism, classism, capitalism, and more.   

 

2- Each chapter is Autonomous

Each chapter of Autonomous News is autonomous and uses a process of consensus to make decisions. Every participant in each chapter is encouraged to take part in the decision-making. No one volunteer is to tell the rest of the group how it is to operate. The process of consensus is not voting or the use of majority rule. In consensus, decisions are not made until the proposal is one that everyone participating supports and can feel good giving their consent. There are a number of resources to help your chapter learn to use consensus on the web, and you can also request support from volunteers who have been active in other non-hierarchical groups such as Food Not Bombs. 

 

3- Research sourcing and openness

Autonomous News chapters try to practice responsible journalism, verifying resources when possible, and seeking to avoid propagating false narratives or national agendas. An Autonomous News chapter should also do it’s best to provide public access to traceable sources used in research and reporting, and to provide redactions when relevant. Finally, while you only need one person to start a chapter, the chapter should strive to have as open involvement as possible with respect to the other principles.

 

4- Security

It is fundamentally important to protect the desired anonymity of all sources across all mediums and platforms. Never pressure anonymous sources to give their real names. 

 

5- Funding

All funding for Autonomous News chapters must be on a donation basis with the exception of sponsorships from locally owned and operated businesses. NOTE: letting sponsors review or alter content goes against Principles 2 and 3. SECOND NOTE: This Principle no longer applies after the Revolution.