| The Bylaws
of The Michigan Daily Preamble: The Michigan Daily exists to inform the University of Michigan community on events and ideas concerning the University, to keep those within the community abreast of events and ideas from outside the University and to provide an educational experience through journalism. We will work to attain and protect an entirely independent, student-run newspaper because we believe a voice independent of the University administration will help us best attain our goals. We will strive in all cases to uphold a sense of journalistic integrity. Organization of The Michigan Daily: The newspaper will be divided into the following sections: news, editorial page, sports, arts, photography, copy desk, online and the editor in chief. Responsibilities of each section: Each section will be responsible, according to its self-determined rules and the rules of The Michigan Daily, for publishing its own pages each day. The Editor in Chief will perform all staff-wide administrative duties. as approved by Management Desk. Each staff will have its own set of rules and regulations, which must include, but are not limited to: staff requirements (to be ratified by Management Desk), a style guide (excluding photography) and job descriptions for each position. These will be on file with the Editor in Chief at all times. When applicable, staff rules must be consistent with paper-wide regulations. Responsibilities of the Editor in Chief: The Editor in Chief will be responsible for leading the paper in all day-to-day editorial operations, carrying out his or her administrative duties and acting as a liaison with the business staff. The Editor in Chief's decision on all timely editorial matters is final. His or her decision may be ratified or changed at a later Management Desk for permanence, if applicable. The Editor in Chief will file a job description with Management Desk. Management Desk: Management Desk will consist of the following members: the Editor in Chief, who will be its chair, unless two-thirds of Management Desk votes otherwise; the Managing News Editor and the remaining news editors, who will split a single vote; up to two staff-elected Editorial Page Editors; two Arts Editors; the Managing Sports Editor and the remaining sports editors, who will split a single vote; and up to two Photography Editors. The Copy Desk and Online editors will serve as ex-officio members. Proxies will be given to editors on Daily business. A quorum will consist of a majority of Management Desk votes. Management Desk will have final authority over all matters concerning the editorial side of The Michigan Daily, except editorials, which will be decided by the editorial board. Editorials concerning The Michigan Daily or any member of The Michigan Daily editorial staff will be under the jurisdiction of Management Desk. Management Desk can be called by the Editor in Chief or by a quorum of Management Desk. Editorial Board: Editorials on the left side of the Editorial Page Page will be decided by Editorial Board, which may be attended by any Daily staffer. Any staffer meeting his or her staff requirements may vote. Copy Desk/Online editors: The copy desk and online editors will designate an individual in November to serve as editor for their respective sections for a one-year term, excluding summers, to begin January 1. The designated editors shall be approved by the Managment Desk before taking their positions. Hiring/Firing Policy: Section heads may fire any staffer. Management Desk may also propose firing any staffer. A fired staffer may appeal his or her firing to Management Desk. Pending appeal, a person is suspended from all Michigan Daily activities. A 2/3 vote of Management Desk will overturn a firing completely, while a simple majority will allow the person to attempt to join another staff. Section heads and the Editor in Chief may be fired by two-thirds of Management Desk. The Daily will abide by University Bylaw 14.06 governing non-discriminatory hiring policies. When editors are fired, interim editors will be named immediately by the section editor, or Editor in Chief if the section editor was fired, until the affected staff can choose a new editor. Management Desk will elect a new Editor in Chief until elections can be held. Appealed firings will be taken up at the next Management Desk. Suspended staffers may bring one outside representative to their hearing. All Michigan Daily staffers must be enrolled University of Michigan students. Non-students may join if they dropped out of the University for personal or financial reasons for not more than one year. Election Rules: Paper-wide elections shall be held twice a year at times deemed appropriate by Management Desk - once in the fall to elect the next year's Editor in Chief, and Editorial Page Editor(s); and once in the spring to elect a summer Editor in Chief, Editorial Page Editor(s), and a New Student Edition Editor. An eligible voter is anyone who has met his or her staff's requirements for four consecutive weeks or three quarters of the school term prior to the election. Voters must be present at the entire election. All staffers will sign in before nominations are taken at the first election. Proxies may be given for staffers on Michigan Daily business or for religious reasons. Management Desk will authorize a list of all such absences 48 hours prior to the election. Management Desk can authorize this list by a majority of signatures on a list posted on the bulletin board. To be eligible to run for Editorial Page Editor or Editor in Chief in the fall election, a person must have been on staff at the end of the previous term. Candidates must receive a majority to win. In case of an election in which no candidate receives a majority, the lowest vote-getter will be disqualified and a run-off election will be held. Candidates may choose to run, and be voted upon, as a team. Only one candidate may be elected to any position, except for Editorial Page Editor and New Student Edition Editor, in which case a ticket can be elected, provided they run, and are voted upon, as a team. Elections will be certified by the Editor in Chief and senior non-running members of each staff. Ethics Code: Gifts, favors, and special privileges from sources compromise the integrity of journalists. Nothing of value should be accepted. This rule does not apply to promotional items such as tickets to events or performances that will be covered in the Daily. Promotional items should be returned to the source after the story has run. In order to avoid the appearance of bias, journalists forfeit some of their freedom of expression. That does not mean they cannot participate in the political process or let their views be known publicly. It does mean that beat reporters may not reveal their bias about their beat - whether participating in demonstrations, running for campus office, wearing T-shirts or buttons, joining newspaper organizations which pertain to their beat, or speaking to other reporters for attribution. (The one exception: If a reporter calls to find out what we have already reported or to get background information, reporters and editors may speak to them in their role as a Daily staff member. That does not include when the subject the reporter is calling about concerns the Daily. In that case, the only person authorized to speak for the Daily is the Editor in Chief unless he/she designates someone else to speak for the paper.) Similarly, general assignment reporters and photographers may not reveal their biases about stories they are covering. (Some examples: The University administration reporter should not wear a "No Code" button, a reporter or photographer covering a rally should not participate in the demonstration.) Editors may not reveal their bias about any story or issue they may assign or rewrite except when they feel compelled to write a rightside dissenting from the position of the Daily Editorial Board. Editorial Page staff members and editors are exempt from this policy, but they may not reveal their biases in their role as a Daily staff member. Reporters, editors, and photographers who are not covering a specific beat, issue, or event may reveal their biases, but not as a representative of the Daily. News reporters and editors may not reveal personal opinions in the Daily that damage the news section's reputation of objectivity. The News Editors will be responsible for establishing policies for their staff to prevent such conflicts. Any staffer employed by the news section cannot simultaneously be employed by the Editorial Page. No Daily staffer may be a representative or executive officer of the Michigan Student Assembly or an executive officer of any other college student government. If a staffer's participation in any student organization is considered a conflict of interest by two-thirds of Management Desk, that staffer will have one week to resign from the Daily or the conflicting organization. Any Daily staffers who have identified themselves as representatives of other organizations in demonstrations, etc. should not be simultaneously or subsequently identify themselves as Daily staffers in that context. Any staffer participating in an event should not deliberately set themselves in the focal point of action (i.e. where the photographer is most likely to shoot the picture). Both staffers and photographers should cooperate in keeping Daily staffers out of pictures. If a photographer has to ask a staffer to get out of the way, staffers should do so immediately. If there is any other alternative, pictures with Daily staffers in them will not run in the paper. Daily reporters must properly identify themselves as such prior to interviewing a source in nearly all cases. Planned deception for the purposes of obtaining otherwise unattainable information must be approved by the Editor in Chief and the Management Desk. No Daily-bashing allowed either in the Daily or any other publications. Internal politics should not be a subject of publication. Again, the only person authorized to speak for the paper is the Editor in Chief unless she/he designates someone else to do so. Any Daily staffer may submit editorial material to outside news agencies or publications if: (1) It is not information which may compromise the Daily's opportunity to obtain an exclusive; (2) The Daily already has the information which is being submitted; and (3) It is not for a publication which competes directly with the Daily. Staff members may not work for The Michigan Review or the Michigan Independent. They may string for The Ann Arbor News, the Ann Arbor Observer, Ann Arbor Magazine, or Agenda (even though they do compete directly with the Daily) as long as they clear it with the Editor in Chief first and they do not provide information the Daily would normally cover. The Michigan Daily has the right to publish images for any publication, print or electronic, that were shot for the Daily by Daily photographers forever. The Daily and the photographer may license any image subject to the Daily's policy on freelancing under these bylaws. Any sale of an image by a photographer must have prior approval of the Editor in Chief. When an image is sold, credit must be given courtesy The Michigan Daily and the photographer. Future sales of past photographers' images will be directed to the photographer within reason. If the photographer is not accessible, The Daily may sell the image and all proceeds will go to the photo department's budget for that fiscal year, under the normal sale guidelines. In return for licensing given to The Michigan Daily, the photographer keeps the copyrights to all photographs. Deadlines: Deadlines will be created by the Editor in Chief. Meetings: All meetings will run according to parliamentary procedure, except special rules made in these bylaws. This includes the parliamentary procedure rule that a speakers' list may be changed by a two-thirds vote. All votes concerning personnel, including elections and firings, will be by secret ballot. All other votes will be open. Vote totals on all issues will be posted on the main bulletin board. Agendas for all meetings, to the best of the chair's knowledge, shall be posted by the chair not less than 48 hours prior to the meeting. All votes, including procedural and those limiting or stopping discussion, will be made only by those people on the board or desk. All votes, including those on procedural matters, will require a majority to pass. Staffers or those attempting to become staff members may attend all meetings. Non-staffers will not attend Michigan Daily meetings except if invited by a majority of those meeting, or if acting as a representative for a suspended staffer at his or her Management Desk hearing. Amendments: These bylaws may be amended by a three-quarters vote of Management Desk and a majority vote of an assembled staff. Ratification: These bylaws will be ratified as those of The Michigan Daily by a majority of a complete Management Desk and a majority vote of the staff as a whole at The Michigan Daily elections of November 2, 1990. The bylaws will take effect immediately. All documents required by these bylaws will be submitted to the Editor in Chief within one month of ratification. Section heads will be responsible for educating their staff of these bylaws. Approved 11/2/90 The Michigan Daily Bylaws Approved November 13, 1992 as amended, The Michigan Daily Bylaws Approved March 14, 1993 as amended, The Michigan Daily Bylaws Approved April 12, 1995 as amended, The Michigan Daily Bylaws Approved April 12, 1996 as amended, The Michigan Daily Bylaws Approved November 15, 1996 as amended, The Michigan Daily Bylaws Approved April 7, 2000 as amended, The Michigan Daily Bylaws |