You Are Cordially Invited…

…to have a Narco News co-publisher's account

By the Narco News Team
Somewhere in América

Updated June 18, 2008

Lee este solicitud en español

All journalists who publish on Narco News, and all readers who donate labor or funds through the Fund for Authentic Journalism, are invited to be co-publishers of this online newspaper.

Co-publishers may comment, critique, add new information, fact-check and ask questions about any Narco News story, via our group blog, The Narcosphere.

If you are one of those folks, who have already helped build and defend this online newspaper, you can sign up right away for your co-publisher's account.*

If you have not already helped us to publish this international online newspaper, “reporting on the drug war and democracy from Latin America,” you still can. Click here, and make a contribution to The Fund for Authentic Journalism. Once you've made a donation of any size, come back and complete this form to apply for your co-publisher's account.

If you've already helped us, please use this form so we can verify your identity and historic contribution, and information about how to sign the co-publisher's agreement and activate your online co-publisher's account will be sent to you.

If you have any questions, or don't hear back from us quickly, contact webmaster@narconews.com

** required fields (this information will not be made public, it is strictly for the use of Narco News and The Fund for Authentic Journalism in being able to contact you, and verify your identity).

** Name:
** Email:
** Mailing address:
** City or Town:
** State or Province:
** Zip Code:
** Country:
Telephone:

Please check appropriate boxes:

I have already donated to the work or legal defense of Narco News through LiveArt1st, the Drug War on Trial defense fund, or The Fund for Authentic Journalism.

I made my contribution in: none 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 and I gave dollars.

(If, having helped out already, you would like to make a new contribution to get Narco News up to speed again, click here.)

I have authored a news story or column that was accepted for publication by Narco News, or have been a student or professor at the School for Authentic Journalism.

I have volunteered my labor in other ways (translation, graphic design, tech support).

Please specify the nature of your previous contribution of your labor:

Important: If you have not donated, had a work published on Narco News, or concretely collaborated yet with the project with your labor, it is unlikely that you will be immediately offered a copublisher account. All copublishers have invested time or resources in this project of Authentic Journalism. We believe such an investment is an important sign of good faith and shared mission. If you haven't yet donated resources or labor to this project, contact publisher Al Giordano at publisher@narconews.com with an email explaining why you still want a copublisher account. Otherwise, your application may not be approved. Thanks.

I affirm that the information I've provided here is accurate.

Once you have completed the form above, you will receive an email asking you to reply to confirm that it is your authentic email address. Please make sure you reply to that email to complete this process. Thanks.

* A co-publisher's account will entitle you to comment, without advance moderation, on all Narco News stories, and to participate in our online community with others to rate the comments of others and to determine, collectively, which comments will be featured each day on our front page, among other options.

The right to comment will be revocable and will be subject to a very few but firm guidelines to keep us legal and never boring. When your co-publisher's account is ready, we'll contact you via email, and invite you to click "I agree" on a simple online form, pledging to respect our guidelines. Misrepresentation or "identity theft" will provoke immediate loss of co-publisher status. Other guidelines, which we are still developing (and consulting you on how to refine them), in general, will exclude partisan electoral campaigning (although offering opinions about politicians, parties and electoral movements is of course always welcome), fundraising, commercial activity of any kind, "spam," illegal acts, republishing of texts already published elsewhere (when publishing a link and a brief excerpt would suffice), copyright violation, and uninteresting, or overly personalized, flame wars. Since some of these criteria are clearly subjective, co-publishers will be involved in helping us evolve and define, as our online community grows, the minimal guidelines to provide for a fast-moving, real-time, forum brimming with free expression, debate, fact-checking, strategic and tactical discussions, and coherent exchanges on the issues and ideas raised by our stories and columns, and on the general issues of the drug war and democracy in Latin America, including the behavior of the media and journalists on these issues of public importance.

For more Narco News, click here.