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I CRITERIA AND PROCEDURE FOR BECOMING A RROMMEDIA.NET MEMBER
Article 1: Membership Criteria A media outlet shall be deemed eligible to become a member of the Rrommedia.net if the following criteria are met: The media outlet is a station, a desk, a production house (TV and/or Radio) or a News Agency run under Roma ownership and/or in its output specifically servicing the Roma community; The media is - where legally possible – registered with domestic authorities and/or recognized as a key stakeholder in Roma communities; The media is funded on private or non-governmental initiative and based on non-profit registration; The media is in its ownership structure not affiliated to any specific political or economical interests; The media is editorially independent from private, political and commercial interests and of a sufficient professional standard; The media is operating transparently, with democratic and clear leadership structures; The member is committed to actively participate in and contribute to the development of the Rrommedia.net; The media signs the Mission Statement and the Code of Conduct of the Rrommedia.net and respects these two documents in its daily operations.
Article 2: Membership Type There are two types of membership – 1. Affiliate membership and 2. Full membership. Current Rrommedia.net members have the status of full members. Media which want to join Rrommedia.net will have the status of the affiliate member, before becoming the full member. The affiliate membership lasts one year. If needed, it can be extended to one year more. The affiliate members cannot participate in the decision-making processes and cannot be elected in the Rrommedia.net bodies. The affiliate members have right to submit proposals and initiatives as well as to participate in the realization of the Rrommedia.net activities and projects.
Article 3: Procedure for Getting Membership Media which are interested to become Rrommedia.net members should fill in the application form and submit it to the Program Coordination Committee (PCC) not later than 30 days before the next session of the General Assembly. Full members of the Rrommedia.net have a right to propose a media outlet for the Rrommedia.net membership. A written proposal should be submitted to the Program Coordination Committee (PCC). The PCC shall contact a possible new applicant and send the application form. The applicant shall fill in the application and submit it. Applications will be reviewed twice a year. The PCC prepares written evaluations and proposals in regard to the affiliate membership for each applicant separately. The General Assembly decides on the affiliate membership by a simple majority.
II RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE MEMBERS
Article 4: Rights of the Member Each media outlet as a member of Rrommedia.net has the list of rights as follows: To use information/footages and productions on free of charge basis; To propose activities, project and initiatives within the Rrommedia.net; To elect members of the Rrommedia.net bodies; To be elected for the Rrommedia.net bodies; To select the partner on certain project within the Rrommedia.net; To use services provided by the Rrommedia.net (e.g. legal aid, fundraising consultations; etc.); To participate on meetings of the Rrommedia.net; To submit written statement about violation of core documents from behalf of other member/s (Mission Statement, Code of Conduct and Rules of Cooperation) to body in charge for persecution; The affiliate members have equal rights as full members except the right to vote and to be elected (Article 4: points 3, 4).
Article 5: Obligations of the Member Each media outlet as a member of Rrommedia.net has the list of obligations needed to be fulfilled in regular and non-privileged manner: To implement measures defined in the three core documents (Mission Statement, Code of Conduct and Rules of Cooperation); To offer information/footages/production within Rrommedia.net free of charge; To implement decisions made by Rrommedia.net.
Article 6: Penalty System There are three types of penalty: letter of warning, temporary suspension, permanent termination Letter of warning will be the first penalty measure that will be conducted toward persecuted media outlet/s. The letter will indicate and elaborate violation as well as recommendations that need to be implemented by the media outlet/s. Temporary suspension will be undertaken against member that violated measures from Rules of Cooperation. Temporary suspension duration could be on three, six and twelve month period decided in regard to circumstances of the particular case. During the temporary suspension the persecuted media outlet has an observer status with no rights from the above mentioned list. Temporary suspended member could re-activate the membership after the suspension period by request indicating implementation of recommendations or removal of causes for exclusion. Permanent termination will be undertaken against members that violated measures from Mission Statement and Code of Conduct.
Article 7: Decision-making Procedure The body in charge for complains on violation of the Mission Statement, the Code of Conduct, and the Roles of Cooperation is the Program Coordination Committee (PCC). Any member could apply by written statement with arguments and figures. The PCC undertakes the following: consider the statement, discuss with the media outlet accused, define and deliver the first opinion statement to Rrommedia.net members within 30 days from the application. After a feedback from Rrommedia.net, the PCC will provide a second opinion and deliver it for voting to all Rrommedia.net members. Decision will be made by 2/3 voting system. Decision statement content: definition of penalty, elaboration of the decision, deadlines for implementation, body in charge for implementation. Persecuted member could submit complaints within 15 days after the final decision. The PCC has to response within 15 days after the complaint.
III BODIES AND DECISION-MAKING
Article 8: The General Assembly (Definition) The General Assembly (GA) of the Rrommedia.net is the network’s highest decision-making authority. The General Assembly shall consist of all member organizations each represented by 1 official representative. Each member organization shall appoint its representative before each session of the General Assembly and communicate this appointment to the Program Coordination Committee (PCC). The General Assembly shall take place once a year.
Article 9: Competencies of the General Assembly The General Assembly of Rrommedia.net shall exert the following powers: To elect members of the Program Coordination Committee (PCC); To formulate Rrommedia.net’s long term policies and strategies; To decide on procedures for implementation of common network projects; To evaluate the work of the elected bodies (Program Coordination Committee, Executive Board) of the Rrommedia.net by reviewing activity reports; To approve activity and financial reports submitted by the PCC; To decide on the accession of new members and make the expulsion of members; To mandate external organizations for specific duties in support of the Rrommedia.net (donors etc.); To decide on amendments of the Mission Statement, the Code of Conduct and these Rules of Cooperation. To elect the Executive board (ExB) on the basis of the proposal of the PCC. To approve the costs of the meetings of the General Assembly.
Article 10: Meetings of the General Assembly Each meeting of the General Assembly shall be convened based on preparations by the Executive Board (including topics and agenda, technical aspects, etc.) and provided to the Rromedia.net's members as follows: The announcement of the meeting of the General Assembly shall be issued by the PCC one month ahead of the date of the meeting; The announcement of the meeting of the General Assembly shall include a draft agenda set by the PCC; Any member can submit proposals for issues to be included in the agenda. Proposals have to be submitted to the PCC; The General Assembly might decide to take up issues that are not included in the agenda if a simple majority agrees to do so; The meetings of the General Assembly shall be deemed valid if they have been called in accordance with Article 10, points 1, 2, 3 and if at least 2/3 of the members participate; The General Assembly shall make its decisions by assembly acclamation (simple rising of hands) + Per Roll (by e-mail, sms, fax); The General Assembly takes its decisions by the simple majority (5O+1 per cent vote) of members present in the meeting; A 2/3 majority shall make decisions concerning amendments of this Rules of Cooperation.
Article 11: Program Coordination Committee (Definition) The Program Coordination Committee (PCC) consists of 3 members; one representative from each media type. The members of the PCC shall come from different countries or regions. The PCC: Is responsible for the implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly; Is responsible to create program development of members and advocacy; Is responsible for the implementation of the Code of Conduct; Is responsible for public relations and fundraising; The General Assembly shall elect a PCC every 3 years. Members shall be elected by receiving the highest number of votes in a simple majority; The members of the PCC shall serve for 3 years. If the General Assembly agrees, that person may serve for three years more; If a member organization withdraws or is expelled or in any other way is not able to carry out the task as member of the PCC, a new PCC member is to be elected at the next meeting of the General Assembly.
Article 12: Competencies of the Program Coordination Committee The Program Coordination Committee (PCC) of Rrommedia.net shall exert the following powers: To formulate short and middle term strategies of the Rrommedia.net; To design action plans; To decide on priorities which are necessary to achieve the adopted policies and strategies; To decide on general questions related to fundraising, PR and marketing; To propose the members of the Executive Board to the General Assembly; To submit activity and financial reports to the general assembly on the basis of a request from the General Assembly; To assure that all its activity are carried out in compliance with the defence of human rights and interests of the Rrommedia.net's members; To monitor the adherence to the Code of Conduct and the Mission Statement and to decide on sanctions for violation. The PCC can delegate tasks to the members of the Rrommedia.net (individual persons, program groups or media outlets) in order to implement the goals defined in the adopted documents. The PCC shall convene twice a year. The meetings of the PCC shall make its decisions by acclamation (simple rising of hands) + Per Roll (by e-mail, SMS, fax).
Article 13: Executive Board (Definition) The Executive Board (ExB) consists of 3 members. Members of the Executive Board are elected by the General Assembly upon the proposal of the PCC for 3 years.
Article 14: The Competencies of the Executive Board (ExB) The Executive Board (ExB) of Rrommedia.net shall exert the following powers: To prepare the meetings of the General Assembly; To prepare minutes for every meeting of the PCC and GA. Minutes shall be kept for every meeting of the PCC and GA. The minutes shall indicate the decisions adopted by the meeting, the members that participated in the meeting as well as the date and the venue of the meeting. The PCC appoints a member of the Executive Board to take the minutes; To submit the text of the minutes not later than one month after the meeting to the respective body. Feedback on factual mistakes is taken immediately by mail. The minutes are approved on the following meeting of each respective body
IV RULES AND REGULATION OF THE PROFESIONAL EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION AND PRODUCTION WITHIN THE NETWORK
Article 15 Rrommedia.net members have agreed to exchange information and programming free of charge, as long as those are produced by the members.
Article 16 Rrommedia.net members have agreed that information and programming exchanged should be dedicated exclusively to Roma issues on local, regional, national or international level. Special importance shall be given to topic on human rights, discrimination, as well as to the four pillars of the Decade of Roma Inclusion. Information and programming on culture, arts, tradition and similar will be exchanged as well.
Article 17 Rrommedia.net members are obliged to send all information in Romanes and English.
Article 18 Rrommedia.net members have obligation to provide for conditions for a proper use of Romanes and English (by organizing language training or by engaging translators).
Article 19 Apart of text-based information, Rrommedia.net members have obligation to exchange audio and video reports as well, depending on needs of the media involved in the exchange.
Article 20 Rrommedia.net members have obligation to work on dissemination of information to the mainstream media. In that context, meetings with representatives of the mainstream media will be occasionally organized, when representation of the information related to Roma in the mainstream media will be discussed.
Article 21 Rrommedia.net members have agreed to consider possibilities to have meetings of the Rrommedia.net members with the international media associations as soon as possible in order to discuss possibilities for a membership in those associations. Rrommedia.net members will work on the promotion of the Rrommedia.net in a broader public.
Article 22 Rrommedia.net members have agreed that eventual bilateral cooperation should be separately defined by bilateral contracts between the cooperating media.
Article 23 Rrommedia.net members are obliged to perform the information and program exchange in compliance with the Code of Conduct.
Article 24 Each Rromemdia.net member is allowed to package received information within its products. When providing the information received through the exchange, each Rrommedia.net member is obliged to indicate the source.
Article 25 Rrommedia.net members can exchange information and programs on Roma issues produced by other media or production houses. In this case, Rrommedia.net member / sender is obliged to provide the information on program distributed together with the information on the copyrights. Each media / user of this information or production is obliged to individually fulfil all copyrights obligations according to the provided instruction.
V PUBLIC RELATIONS AND FUNDRAISING
Article 26: Public Relations Although Rrommedia.net understands that a precise public relations role can only be developed gradually, the following guidelines outline its desired role. The PCC shall, in close collaboration and with the approval of the General Assembly, decide about public relations activities: To promote the Mission Statement and goals of Rrommedia.net on international and national levels, and conduct outreach and build coalitions with partner organizations in accordance with strategy, activity plans, etc. of Rrommedia.net; To be in charge of Rrommedia.net PR-activities such as public statements and related documents, campaigns, promotional tools and products, including website.
Article 27: Fundraising Fundraising activities of Rrommedia.net are required to provide for the sustainability of network activities and financing for activities described above. The PCC shall, in close collaboration and with the approval of the General Assembly, decide about fundraising activities: To seek sponsorship from donors, corporations, governments, etc. to cover direct costs of the Rrommedia.net activities, including regular network meetings, travel, emergency, special funds; To provide for financing of campaigns, events, promotional tools and products, including website, etc.
Kotor, April 30, 2005
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