Communication Policies & Guidelines

LCRA Communications Sub-committee

The following outlines the approved Guidelines and Policies (proposed) for all material being published by the Legacy Community Ratepayers' Association.

These policies are applicable to all communication forms, whether printed or electronic.

Editorial Content Policies & Guidelines

• 1. All submissions are subject to the following content policies:

     1. Must pertain to the general community interest of Legacy.

     2. Where an opinion or viewpoint is being expressed within a news or feature article, at least two sources should be consulted to verify the accuracy of the information. Where possible the individuals involved should be quoted within the article.

     3. Submissions cannot contain slang, profanity, innuendos, inferred suggestions or slanderous material.

     4. All material being submitted for publication, including news and feature articles, editorials, letters to the editor, and advertising are subject to review by the Publication Board

     5. Opinions belong in an editorial or letter to the Editor and should include the author's name, address, and phone number.

  2. All submissions should adhere to the following content guidelines:

• • 1. Grammatically correct.

    2. Factually correct

    3. Clearly communicate the message without fuzzy or incomplete thoughts

    4. Main focus of article should be contained in the title and first couple of sentences.

    5. Submissions should be given in an electronic format compatible with the committee's publishing software, Acceptable electronic formats are MS Word, Quark, EPS, PDF, or via any standard email format. Handwritten submissions may be accepted as long as they are in a legible manner.

• 3. An editorial disclaimer be included on all LCRA written or electronic documents where public opinions, views or information is published:

• • 1. All submissions are subject to editorial review and approval and may be printed in whole, in part, or not at all. Opinions expressed are those of the author and may not represent the views and opinions of The LCRA, or it's Executive members.

General Communications Policies

• 1. All LCRA events and activities that require promotion or public communication use as their first point of communication, the LCRA newsletter. Events should be scheduled so that their promotional requirements meet newsletter release dates.

  2. If additional promotional materials such as flyers are required, they must have Executive approval and be forwarded to the Communications Sub-committee who will create the approved advertising. A minimum of 3 weeks prior to the event date must be given to the Communications committee to produce promotional material (allows time for design and distribution).

  3. All general communication to the community as a whole should be channeled through the communications committee unless otherwise approved by the LCRA Executive committee.

  4. That all LCRA individual communications, both printed or electronic, be presented using LCRA approved formats such as letterhead and should exclude all references to any member's place of business or other organization not directly related to the LCRA.

Advertising Policies

• 1. Selected communication media will be available to accept paid advertising from local businesses with a direct benefit to members of the Legacy community as approved by the LCRA Executive.

  2. That the LCRA newsletter, "The Legacy Voice" be approved to accept paid advertising commencing with the winter 2003 issue.

  3. That all advertising be subject to the approval of the Publication Board and adhere to the applicable Editorial Policies as listed above, and generally accepted community standards.

  4. That all a print publications have a maximum paid advertising space limit of 25% of the total available space. That is to say that an 8-page newsletter would have up to 2 pages of paid advertising.

  5. That all advertising be prepaid by copy deadline.

  6. All advertising rates are for final electronic artwork. Any costs incurred to create or modify the ad copy will be the sole responsibility of the advertiser.

  7. Accuracy of all advertising copy is the sole responsibility of the advertiser. Up to two sets of proofs are available if we prepare the ad on the advertiser's behalf. There are no make goods due to advertising errors.