We are preparing the basics to accredit agencies, such as Occupy Oregon Media Groupa nd a few Bureaus and national media working groups. This will enable them to issue valid press credentials to citizen/community journalists. At the end of this commentary on guidelines, I include lists of standards of ethics.

Dean Edwards OORMG, USMWG, ICMA

Accreditation and Credentials for Citizen or Community Journalists

Community Journalism: The Third Wave, an Alternative-Alternative Journalism.

We have entered a new era for news reporting. What began with printing shops publishing local newspapers and journals in the eighteenth century, expanding to include broadcast and wire service news,, and then re-invented alternative journalism in the late twentieth century, now ushers in the third wave. Frustrations about the inability of alternative journalists to adequately cover the tremendous amounts of actions and needs has generated considerable discontent among peoples within many countries. So, an alternative to even alternative journalsm, an alternative-alternative journalism has begun to arise to fill this need. We may call this Alternative Squared or Alternative raised to the power of two. Our new International Collaborative Media Alliance Web site is altmedia2.org for this reason.

Local people in neighborhoods, towns, and cities today have the technology and skills to begin to report about events and comment on the conditions, needs, and happenings they observe or become familiar with. The need for free and open dialogue should be tempered by reasonable standards and guidelines. Each nation should develop these canons of journalism in ways appropriate to local culture and conditions. The United States Media Working Group will promote and support the standard for responsible journalism of the Society of Professional Journalism. See: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Affiliates, Movements, and Community Journalists

The International Collaborative Media Alliance will affiliate with National Media Working Groups in countries around the world. Through these national affiliates the ICMA provides accreditation and affiliation to various state, provincial, or equivalent movement media working-groups  or media groups supporting democracy  through community journalism. The national working groups may also decide to open their own regional or local bureaus to organize their correspondents within each nation or country.

For example, The United States Media Working Group may decide to develop its own Wyoming Media Working Group or Bureau instead or in addition to accrediting a democratic-movement’s group of community and other journalists, production, and support volunteers. They may decide to credential an ICMA bureau for Wyoming and also an Occupy Wyoming Media Group or a Wyoming Movement to Amend Media Committee.

In Spain, for example a Spanish National Media Working Group might credential a media committee of Los Indignatos or 15 M.

Each national media working group will be responsible for developing, maintaining, and promoting standards of responsible journalism acceptable by international wire services such as Reuters, the Associated Press, or Interpress, as well as those of professional organizations including the Society of Professional Journalists,see http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Every effort will be made to provide workshops and training for volunteer journalists, also known as community journalists or citizen journalists so their work as reporters, photographers, videographers, artists,, editors, production or technical support workers will effectively bring authentic voices and presence of people in communities to the content they create and provide to the news cycle. ###

United States Media Working Group

Our new US Media Working Group meets courtesy of the Occupy Coordination server using Mumble For information see occupycoordination.org and soon our new altmedia2.org site. This is a new initiate affiliated with the new International Collaborative Media Alliance in cooperation with but not affiliated with The Media Consortium. Meetings every Tuesday, 6 p.m. Pacific Time on the occupycoordination.com mumble server. ###

Society of Professional Journalism Code of Ethics English: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Arabic: http://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode-arabic.pdf Chinese: http://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode-chinese.pdf Croatian: http://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode-croatian.pdf French: http://www.spj.org/ethicscodeFR.asp German: http://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode-german.pdf Greek: http://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode-greek.pdf Persian: http://ijnet.org/fa/node/33365 Portuguese: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode-port.asp Spanish: http://www.spj.org/ethicscodeSP.asp

National Press Photographers Association http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/ethics.html

Hong Kong Journalists Association. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/j6075/edit/ethiccodes/HONGKO_1.html