Policies of the East Kingdom Chronicler

Part I. Pikestaff

A. General Submissions Guidelines

1. Deadlines

  1. All deadlines for all materials are the 25th of the month, two months prior to the issue in which the item is to be printed. For example, a submission during the month of January would appear in the March issue. A submission for the August issue should be submitted no later than 25 June.
  2. Late submissions and/or modifications may be accepted between the 25th and end of the month, entirely at the whim of the Chronicler. Don't count on it. After the month’s end, the issue will be at the printer and neither the King, the Board of Directors, nor the deity of your choice will be able to get changes made.

2. Paper Submissions Requirements

  1. Paper submissions should be typed using a dark ribbon. Please avoid fancy fonts and very small print. Neatly handwritten (preferably printed) copy will be accepted if absolutely necessary, but the Chronicler will not be responsible for errors in typing handwritten submissions.

3. Electronic Submissions Requirements

  1. Electronic submissions may be made in the form of e-mail. Do not use attachments. Do not use fancy tables or fonts. The submission should be in the body of the e-mail.
  2. All submissions by Electronic Mail will receive an electronic mail acknowledgment. If you don't get one within 24 hrs. (excluding weekends), call to find out if your mail arrived successfully.

4. Editing

  1. The Chronicler reserves the right to edit all copy. If you must have your article or announcement printed exactly as your wrote it or not at all, please specify that fact when you submit it.

5. Express mail

  1. If you send Express Mail, Federal Express, or other rapid delivery packages, you must waive the signature requirement. If you forget this, it will substantially delay arrival of your package, which will defeat the purpose of the express delivery. If you miss the deadline because you sent Express Mail and I couldn't get to the Post Office to sign for it until three days later, you will still be out of luck, and will have wasted your money on expensive Express Mail.

B. Event Announcements

1. Not all activities need to be announced in Pikestaff. Those which are of purely local interest can still be guaranteed of the appropriate insurance coverage by being announced in the local newsletter.

2. Complete Announcements

Official business of the Society (courts, transfer of offices, and Crown / Coronet lists, etc.) may only occur at events for which a complete announcement has appeared in Pikestaff. Some announcements in Pikestaff which do not include all the required information to be a complete announcement will be printed anyway, and marked incomplete. If business is to be transacted at an event which is listed as incomplete, contact the Kingdom Seneschal to resolve the matter. The Seneschal is the final arbiter in all questions of the officialness of events.

A complete event announcement must include the following:

  1. The date on which the event is to occur.
  2. Opening and Closing times for the site.
  3. The name, street address and town of the site. If there is no street number, this must be stated clearly, and the street name, highway number, or other designation for the road on which it is located must still be listed. There should be sufficient information in the announcement to allow someone to find the general area of the site on a road map without using the rest of the directions, and to ask directions to the specific site once they arrive within the local area.
  4. The name of the sponsoring Group. If the group in question is Incipient, then both the name of the Incipient Group and its sponsor must be included.
  5. The name, both SCA and legal, address and phone number of the autocrat. If there is a separate reservations clerk the autocrat's address is not required, but the reservations clerk must list his/her address instead.
  6. The statement "Make checks payable to SCA, Inc. - <group>", and the cost of the event, if there is a fee. If there is no fee, that must be clearly stated.

3. Event announcements will always appear in the issue for the month in which the event occurs. Events held in the first half of the month will also be published the month before the event. Every effort will be made to publish announcements as far in advance as possible, but space considerations may not always permit this.

4. Repeated Announcements

Once you have submitted an announcement, it is not necessary to resubmit it unless there are changes. It will be run until such time as the event occurs, unless unusual circumstances arise.

5. Announcements will be run only for those groups known to the Kingdom Seneschal and listed in the Regnum. An event run by an incipient group must be sponsored by an established group, and this sponsor must be stated in the event announcement.

6. Announcements for events taking place outside the East Kingdom will be run if space permits, and the event is deemed likely to be of interest to the populace of the East by the Chronicler.

7. Demos will be announced as space permits, at the discretion of the Chronicler. It is strongly recommended that only demos at very large events be announced in Pikestaff.

8. Local activities such as large practices may be announced, space permitting, at the discretion of the Chronicler. In the interests of insuring that the announcement remains current, they must be resubmitted each time they are to appear. This is in hopes of insuring that Pikestaff will not be announcing a local practice which is no longer happening, because no one thought of telling the Chronicler to stop.

C. Other Material

1. The primary purpose of the Pikestaff is to disseminate official information from the Kingdom and Society officers, and announce official events to the populace outside the sponsoring branches. However, should space permit, other materials will also be published. These may include;

  1. Short articles or essays
  2. letters to the Chronicler (editor)
  3. "lost and found" lists from events
  4. other announcements relating to the purpose of the SCA and its activities which are of general interest.
  5. Brief pointers to activities relevant to the purposes of the SCA, but not sponsored by it. These might include event notices from similar organizations, cultural exhibits or events, artistic performances, and similar useful activities. These will be run free of charge on a space-available basis, and never at the expense of announcing SCA sponsored activities.

D. Art

1. Cover art will be reproduced on Pikestaff in a size of 4.5" wide by 6" high. You can submit in either the exact size, or in a larger size which I will reduce. If you submit a larger size, the proportions should be such that it will reproduce to the 4.5"x6" size conveniently.

2. Cover art should be submitted in black ink or photo-copied, on white paper. It will not be returned unless you make special arrangements for its return, so in general you should not send originals.

3. Cover art in general should not include the title Pikestaff or the month. The size described above is intended to accommodate placing a typeset text block containing the title, month, etc. above it on the cover. I've chosen to do this to simplify complying with the requirements of the US Post Office for periodicals mailed under a bulk non-profit mailing permit.

4. If you have an idea which requires the incorporation of the title and/or month (a Celtic carpet page, for example), please contact me to discuss exactly which elements need to be incorporated.

5. Interior art is also welcome. It should also be executed in black, on white paper. The size is highly variable. The best recommendation I can make is to look at a few recent issues of Pikestaff, and note the size and proportions of the spaces where interior art was used.

6. Subjects for both interior art and cover art should be medieval in theme. There is some cross-over between medieval and fantasy art, but please be careful. Fantasy creatures are not out of the question, as long as they're depicted in a medieval fashion. You don't have to be able to document your art, but please make an effort to keep it appropriate. Also, please keep the subjects appropriate to a family magazine. Scantily clad ladies and barbarians, and excessively gory fight scenes will be rejected.

7. You should supply your name (mundane and society), mailing address, and phone number along with your art. The general publication terms are as follows:

  1. Cover art will be printed once, unless express permission is given to reuse the art as interior filler art later.
  2. Interior art may be submitted either for a single use, or for multiple re-use. Please indicate which sort of permission is given with the art submission. Also, if you will object to using a portion of a piece of interior art clipped to fit the space in question, please indicate this with the submission.

E. Advertising

1. Payment

  1. Payment must be received before an advertisement will be printed. No exceptions.
  2. Consult a recent issue for exact advertising rates.
  3. Checks should be made payable to SCA, Inc. - Pikestaff, and mailed to the current Chronicler, as listed in Pikestaff.

2. General Policies

  1. Ads are run on a space-available basis, at the discretion of the Chronicler.
  2. A maximum of three pages of advertising will be accepted for any given issue. Less may be accepted for some issues in months when there is a high volume of official business to be printed.
  3. Advertising space will be allocated on a first paid, first served basis.
  4. Ads for services which would violate the requirements imposed by our mailing permit, or the policies of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. will not be accepted.

F. Regnum

1. The Seneschalate Regnum

  1. The entries in the Seneschalate Regnum may only be changed at the direction of the Kingdom Seneschal. Typographic errors may be fixed directly, but should also be brought to the attention of the Kingdom Seneschal to insure that the official list remains accurate. Do not send address changes to the Chronicler.

2. The Chronicler Regnum

  1. Those groups which have local newsletters are listed in the Regnum at the rear of Pikestaff, if they currently have a warranted Chronicler in good standing. This means that I have received the annual report for the past year, and that the courtesy copies are arriving on a regular basis. One or two missing will be overlooked, as sometimes things get lost in the mail, however if three issues pass without one arriving, your newsletter will be deleted from the Regnum until such time as the problem is corrected.

G. Problems

1. Delivery

  1. Pikestaff currently sends out over 2000 copies a month. Every month, despite our best efforts, the Post Office apparently eats a few copies. If your copy does not arrive and your neighbors all have theirs, I recommend the following:
  1. Find the previous month's Pikestaff and look at your mailing label. Has your subscription expired?
  2. If your expiration date is well in the future, then you should contact the Kingdom Chronicler to seek a replacement copy. I print extra copies each month for just this purpose. When you do so, I need the following information:

* Your name

* Your mailing address, including zip code

* why you need a replacement (e.g. it didn't arrive at all, it arrived missing pages, just the back cover arrived, etc.)

* whether your subscription arrives 1st class or 3rd class. (Does the little postal permit box say "First Class" in it? If not, then it's 3rd class").

* Has your address changed recently?

  1. If you have moved, you must write to the Membership Services Office and ask that they change your mailing address. The Chronicler does not keep the mailing list, and cannot do this for you. Nor can the Chronicler check the mailing list to see what address your Pikestaff was mailed to, unless you happen to call between the time the mailing labels arrive and the time they go into the mail attached to the issue (between the 15th and the 20th of the month).
  2. If you have a recurring problem, such as late delivery, non-delivery, or damaged delivery, this may be solvable by a complaint to the Post Office. To do this at least 3 months worth of information will be needed. Record when the issue arrived, and its condition. Then contact me. I will be able to tell you exactly when the issues in question were mailed, and between us we can determine which of us should file the complaint. In general, if you're the only person in the area having the problem, you will need to file the complaint. If an entire area is having a problem, such as very slow 3rd class mail delivery, then I may be able to get some results by complaining on my end.
  3. If you have moved and filed a forwarding order with the PO, remember that they will only forward your Pikestaff if you get it delivered as First Class mail. Third Class mail will not be forwarded.

2. Other

  1. If you have any other problems regarding Pikestaff, please feel free to call or write to me. Not all problems will be fixable to everyone's satisfaction, but I will make a good-faith effort. I have a mild preference for phone calls rather than letters, as they allow for immediate clarification of the situation if it is appropriate.

Part II. Local Chroniclers

A. Requirements

1. Per East Kingdom Law, if a local group is of Baronial status or higher, it must have a chronicler. Shires, Cantons, and other small groups are not required to have a Chronicler, but may do so if they wish.

2. Like other local officers, local Chroniclers must be paid members of the SCA, Inc., and must have regular access to Pikestaff. This means that either they should have their own subscription, or that someone at the same address must be a subscriber. They are also expected to READ the Chronicler's column in Pikestaff regularly. From time to time updates to these policies will appear there. There are simply too many groups in the East Kingdom to do a mailing to all the chroniclers every time some policy statement needs to be made.

3. There are no formal requirements other than the membership requirement imposed by Corpora for the position of Local Chronicler. However there are several strongly recommended qualifications:

  1. The ability to produce a newsletter on a regular basis.
  2. Access to some type of word processing equipment to produce the newsletter. In theory you could so it with a typewriter, but in practice I doubt that most groups would be happy with the results.
  3. The ability to write reasonably clearly and correctly, and/or a proofreader who will tell you what to fix before you print the newsletter.
  4. Access to reasonably priced photocopying services.
  5. The ability to keep good financial and subscription records, or a deputy who you trust to do this for you.
  6. Being financially solvent enough to print an issue and then submit a request to the exchequer for reimbursement is not required, but will make life easier for both you and the exchequer.

B. Creation/Removal/Resignation

1. Authority

  1. The final authority to create and remove local chroniclers rests with the Kingdom Chronicler. Local seneschals may make recommendations, which will usually be followed, however they do not have the authority to take unilateral action regarding the creation or removal of a local chronicler.

2. Appointment of Local Chroniclers

  1. When a local group needs a new Chronicler, they should follow whatever selection process they are comfortable with locally. Once they have selected a volunteer who is acceptable to the local group, that person may request to be added to the roster of warranted chroniclers. The process for doing so consists of sending a letter to the Kingdom Chronicler stating that they have been selected by their local group to be their Chronicler. This letter should ideally be signed by the prospective Chronicler, the Local Seneschal, and the outgoing Chronicler. Since the Outgoing Chronicler is not always available, depending on their reasons for giving up the job, their signature may be omitted if necessary. This letter, accompanied by proof of the prospective Chronicler's membership, should be sent to the Kingdom Chronicler. Proof of membership may be a photocopy of your membership card, a recent Pikestaff label in your name, a canceled check, or a confirmation postcard from the Registry.
  2. There are too many groups in the East Kingdom to send out individual warrants. You are officially warranted when your newsletter information starts to appear as part of the Regnum listing. If it doesn't appear in the next possible issue of Pikestaff after your letter requesting warranting should have been received, there is a problem and you should contact the Kingdom Chronicler to determine what it may be.

3. Resignation of Local Chroniclers

  1. Local Chroniclers may resign at any time. It is expected that they will attempt to find a replacement before leaving the job, circumstances permitting.
  2. Outgoing Chroniclers are required to turn over all files, financial records and other supplies promptly and in good order.

4. Removal of Local Chroniclers

  1. A local chronicler may only be removed by the Kingdom Chronicler. Should a local group be unhappy with its Chronicler, they have the option of requesting of the Chronicler that they resign. The Chronicler is free to decline. Should they be unable to come to a mutually agreeable resolution of the situation, they may then request that the Kingdom Chronicler remove the local officer.
  2. Acceptable reasons for removal of a Local Chronicler include:
  1. non-performance of their duties. Repeated failures to produce the newsletter on schedule may be grounds for removal, depending on the frequency and severity of the failures.
  2. Violations of the East Kingdom Financial policies (detailed below)
  3. Repeated inclusion of inappropriate material, as defined by the Corporate publications policy.
  4. Repeated omission of required information, as defined by the Corporate publications policy.
  5. Failure to provide the courtesy copies of their newsletter as required by the Corporate Publications Policy, and these policies.
  1. This is not an exclusive list. Other valid reasons for removal may exist, depending on circumstances. However, removal is a last resort. The first resort should always be discussing the situation between the involved parties. All complaints in which that has not happened before bringing it to the attention of the Kingdom Chronicler will be rejected until that has happened.
  2. No Local Chronicler will be removed from Office without first being warned that there is a problem and given an opportunity to either explain why the situation that appears to be a problem isn't really one, or fix the problem.

C. Responsibilities

1. Financial

  1. Local Chroniclers are expected to maintain financial records and handle subscriber moneys in accordance with the East Kingdom Exchequer's and the SCA's financial policies. Primarily this means that all moneys must be placed in an SCA bank account, usually the one opened by the local group. Checks must be made payable to SCA, Inc. - <local group>. All reasonable requirements imposed by the local exchequer must be complied with. Disputes regarding what is reasonable in this area should be directed to the Kingdom Exchequer, as the Kingdom Chronicler has no authority over your Local Exchequer. At a minimum your local Exchequer will need receipts for your expenses, and information about subscription liabilities.

2. Reporting

  1. The Local Chronicler's primary report is the copy of their newsletter which goes to the Kingdom Chronicler. In addition to the newsletter copies, they are required to report to the Kingdom Chronicler annually. These reports are due on December 15. E-mail reports are acceptable.
  2. The report should consist of:
    1. the Chronicler's name (legal and SCA), address and phone number, and proof of membership (for e-mails, include membership type, number, and expiration date)
    2. newsletter specifics (name, group, issues per year, price, number of subscribers)
  1. Failure to report by January 15 will result in a notice being sent to the Local Chronicler in question. If not response is forthcoming within 30 days the Local Chronicler will be suspended, and their local Seneschal informed that they should select a replacement.

3. Newsletter

  1. The primary responsibility of a local chronicler is the production of a newsletter for their group. It may appear as often and they and the group deem useful. Typical frequencies are monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly. The may take the form of either printed copy, electronic text, or both, so long as they are directed to a specific list of subscribers. Electronic documents made available to the general public at will, such as web pages, do not count as newsletters.

4. Misc.

  1. All Local Chroniclers are expected to have a copy of the Society Publications policy in their files, and to have familiarized themselves with its requirements. A copy appears as an appendix to these policies, and additional copies can be obtained from the Kingdom Chronicler.

D. Courtesy Copies

1. Courtesy copies of all local newsletters must be sent to the following people:

  1. The Kingdom Chronicler
  2. The Kingdom Seneschal
  3. Their Royal Majesties

2. If you live in a principality, it suggested that if you can afford it, you also send to the following:

  1. The Principality Seneschal
  2. The Principality Chronicler
  3. The Prince and Princess.

3. Finally, if your group can afford it, sending copies to the following people would be appreciated, but is not required.

  1. The Kingdom Historian
  2. The current Heirs to the Kingdom and/or Principality
  3. The Society Librarian/Archivist

4. Courtesy copies should be mailed at the same time as paid subscriptions.

E. Newsletter Contents

1. Required Contents

  1. The official standard disclaimer from the Corporate Publications policy: "This is the <publication name>, a publication of the <group name> of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. <Publication name> is available from <real name and address of publisher>. It is not a corporate publication of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., and does not delineate SCA policies." This must be included verbatim. If you feel a desire to include additional humorous disclaimers, feel free, as long as you don't stick them in the middle of the required text.
  2. The full names, addresses and phone numbers of the local officers.
  3. How to obtain a subscription to the newsletter. This should include the frequency of the newsletter, and cost if any, and an address to which to direct the request for a subscription, and the statement "Make checks payable to SCA, Inc. - <group>" if there is a charge for the subscription.

2. Suggested Contents

  1. Directions and information about local events, such as fighter practices, dance practices, regular group meetings, and so forth. This serves both to publicize these activities to your local group, and to designate them as being SCA-sponsored activities, with coverage from the SCA's insurance policy.
  2. Local information from other nearby groups.
  3. Information about activities which are relevant to the purposes of the SCA, but are not SCA sponsored events. Examples might include local museum exhibits, performances of medieval works, craft demonstrations/classes, etc. They should be clearly marked as not being SCA-sponsored activities to insure that no possible confusion will result from publishing them in your newsletter.

3. Things you may not print

  1. Advertising:
  1. The Corporate Publications policy explicitly forbids local newsletters from accepting paid advertising of any sort. In the past some local newsletters have apparently been printing advertising for local merchants without accepting any payment for the service. While this complies with the letter of the Society publications policy, it is circumventing the intent. Furthermore, whether the advertisement is paid for or free, a person unacquainted with the policy looking at such an issue is likely to assume that the advertisement was paid for.
  2. The bottom line is that our newsletters exist for the benefit of our members, not to benefit commercial enterprises, even those owned by our members. This does not mean that you can't mention commercial enterprises at all, but you need to consider the context when you do so. There's a world of difference between an article reviewing local sources of materials useful to SCA recreation or a brief mention that some local merchant is having a sale on duct tape, and running half a page of their advertising copy. A good rule of thumb would be to consider what your local newspaper would do with the material. Would they consider it a review, or would they demand payment to run it? If the latter, it doesn't belong in your newsletter.
  1. Reprinting Material from Other Sources
  1. It is imperative that we respect copyrights. Printing copyrighted material in your newsletter without permission is a very serious matter. Reprinting material by someone with a litigious temperament could result in very serious legal charges, both against the offending local officer and the SCA itself. As such, if I find you printing copyrighted material without the appropriate permission from the author, you will get one warning. If it happens a second time, your warrant will be immediately suspended, and your group will be asked to select a replacement.
  2. In general, you need permission to reprint anything that is not being submitted directly by its author. If the article contains a blanket permission to reprint in SCA publications, or non-profit publications in general, that is sufficient. If you have obtained permission to reprint from the author, you should indicate this clearly either before or after the article. if the item is from a commercial source you should send a copy of the permission letter to the Kingdom Chronicler for the files in case of later problems concerning the item.
  1. Inappropriate Material
  1. Section I.B.13.a of the Corporate publications policy contains a list of inappropriate types of material.

Part III. SCA Publications Policy for Local Chroniclers

Editor's Note: The following material is reprinted from the Society Publications Policy, Fall 1991. For consistency, the numbering of this section has not been modified from the original material, and therefore is out of sequence with the numbering used in the remained of this document.

I.B.13. Quality of Contents

I.B.13.a Editorial material

All editorial material, both text and images, must conform to the goals and objectives of the Society, and portray the Society and the Kingdom in a positive light. No content, including official kingdom announcements, is exempted from this requirement.

There is no way to anticipate all the types of material which may be objectionable; what follows is a representative list:

Personal attacks on individuals or groups

Harsh criticism of the behavior of individuals or groups

Copyrighted material used without permission

Use of racial or religious stereotypes

Offensive words, phrases, or images

It should be noted that banishment announcements may not state why the individual is being banished (see Corpora VI.A.1.h).

If in doubt, consult. Talk to the submitter. the Kingdom Seneschal, Royalty, the Society Chronicler, the Kingdom or Chronicler's Ombudsman, or other responsible individuals (but not all of the above at once -- see I.B.8.c).

I.C. Local Newsletter Policies

I.C.1. Reasons for a local or organizational newsletter

A local newsletter is less formal than a Kingdom newsletter. It exists to serve the needs of a local group or organization, to inform and educate that group of people about the SCA community in which they live, and to further the educational purposes of the SCA. It is crucial that the members of a local group communicate with one another, and a newsletter is an excellent method of communicating with the populace.

A functioning newsletter is considered a positive factor when a group applies for advancement. Any group which wishes to achieve the status of Barony should have a regular newsletter, and any group which aspires to higher status than baronial must have a newsletter.

1.C.1.a. Definition of a local or organizational newsletter

A local branch or organizational newsletter is an official publication of a recognized group or educational organization within the SCA, Inc. It cites that local group or educational organization as its publishing authority, keeps its funds in an official SCA, Inc. branch bank account, and has as its editor a chronicler who is warranted by the Kingdom Chronicler. No other publications are considered official for the purposes of this policy,

I.C.2. Disclaimer

I.C.2.a Corpora requirement

This statement must appear in each issue of a publication which is produced by an organization of the SCA, Inc., but which is not published as a function of the Registry mailing list.

This is the (Name of Publication), a publication of the (Name of Branch or other organization) of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. (Name of pub1ication) is available from (real name and address of publisher). It is not a corporate publication of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Incorporated, and does not delineate SCA policies.

For the purposes of this policy, a corporate publication of the SCA, Inc., is defined to he one of the following: Kingdom Newsletters; Pegasus, the newsletter of the Principality of Lochac, Tournaments Illuminated; Complete Anachronist; The Known World Handbook; or the handbooks and guidebooks which are published by the Corporation and its officers, The Board is not limited by this list and may from time to time designate other publications as corporate publications.

I.C.2.b. Non-use of the Disclaimer

Any publication which does not use this disclaimer may not cite the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., or any of its branches or educational organizations as the publishing authority for the newsletter, and may not publish official communications from any officers of the SCA to the members of any officially recognized branch or educational organization.

Additionally, the newsletter may not be funded by any branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. No funds for this publication may be held or disbursed from any bank account bearing the Taxpayer ID of the Society 'or Creative Anachronism, Inc.

I.C.3. Reporting

Local Chroniclers must make a written report to their Kingdom Chronicler and their local branch treasurer on a regular basis. These reports must be made at least once per year, although a Kingdom may decide to require them more frequently.

Local Chroniclers must also send copies of their newsletters to the Kingdom Chronicler or his or her designates.

I.C.4. Fiscal Responsibility

I.C.4.a. Subscription Liability

The funds which a branch accepts from a subscriber for a newsletter create an obligation on the part of the branch, which must then publish the promised number of newsletters and make a reasonable effort to deliver them to the subscriber. If it cannot do so, it must promptly refund to every subscriber an amount equal to the remaining subscription liability.

If a group has not published a newsletter for which they are holding funds at least every six months or such lesser period as determined by the Kingdom Chronicler, they must make an earnest effort to return all subscription funds in their keeping.

I.C.4.b. Where and How Funds are to be Held and Administered

Funds collected for a newsletter must he held in the local branch bank account, to be disbursed by the treasurer at the chronicler's request. The chronicler should provide receipts for funds spent, and account to the local branch treasurer regularly. These reports must be made at least once per year and may be required more frequently.

Each local chronicler must keep up-to-date records of subscribers, the amount they have paid, and how many issues remain in each subscription. These records must he made available to the local treasurer for reporting purposes.

I.C.5. Copyright

The Society for Creative Anachronism operates under the ideals of chivalry. Respect for others' property, including intellectual property, is part of those ideals.

Local Chroniclers must ensure that copyrighted material is not used in the their newsletters except in conformity with applicable copyright laws. Authorization must be received from the copyright holder, and the copyrighted material accompanied by the notice "Copyright [holder and date]. Used with permission."

The relevant copyright statues are summarized in Part II of this document.

To encourage the dissemination of information yet preserve our authors' and artists' rights, newsletter editors should consider adopting this or a similar copyright statement:

Copyright (c) 1992 Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Except where otherwise stated, all articles in this publication may be reprinted without special permission in newsletters and other publications of branches of the SCA, Inc., subject to the following conditions:
a) The text must be printed in its entirety, without additions or changes.
b) The author's name and original publication credit must be printed with the text.
c) You must send a letter to the editor of this newsletter, stating which articles you have used and in which publication the material has been reprinted.

The wishes of authors and artists who do not want to give this blanket reprint permission should be respected, and this exception should be printed at the bottom of the first page of the article text. Editors should make sure their contributors know of this policy before a submission is accepted.

Chroniclers who persist in reproducing copyrighted material without permission will be removed from office.

I.C.6. Politicizing the office

Funds collected in the name of the SCA and its branches may not be used to publish attacks by one member on another. Local newsletters exist to provide information to their members and to further the educational purposes of the Society. Philosophical discussions of the way the Kingdom or a branch works are not out of place, but they need to be handled very carefully. Articles which cause anger and divert people from study and re-creation are not acceptable.

This is not an issue of freedom of the press. Chroniclers have a responsibility to see that their newsletters do not further the political aims of any one faction within a kingdom or branch, and that a newsletter is not used to provide a platform for any one view in prefer to another. Personal attacks may not he published in the name of the SCA or any of its branches, or paid for with money that will have to he reported to the IRS as spent in the furtherance of our educational purposes.

Chroniclers have a further responsibility not to take sides in a political dispute in print. Use of the newsletter to further personal political aims is grounds for removal from office.

I.C.7. Chain of Command

The editor of a local newsletter reports to and is responsible to the Kingdom Chronicler, who acts as the representative both of the Crown and the Society concerning publications in the Kingdom. In Principalities, the local editor must report to the Principality Chronicler, who in turn is responsible to the Kingdom Chronicler. The local chronicler is also responsible to seneschal of the group and the members of that group. Local branch chroniclers who cannot accept this chain of command should not be in office.

The Kingdom Chronicler may, with whatever Royal approval is required by Kingdom Law, remove from office any local chronicler who does not abide by the policies and guidelines which the Society or Kingdom Chronicler sets for local branch publications.

I.C.8. Contents of the Newsletter

A local branch newsletter is bound by the same suitability restrictions as the Kingdom newsletter (see I.B.13.a). Newsletters which do not abide by those guidelines cannot be published under the aegis of any branch of the Society, with the same consequences as for non-use of the disclaimer (see I.C.2.b).

I.C.9 Advertising

It is the policy of the Society that, due to the complexity of Internal Revenue Service regulations, local newsletters cannot accept paid advertising for publication in their newsletters. Individuals may, however, sponsor pages within the newsletter, and may have a brief announcement of that sponsorship listed either on that page or elsewhere within the newsletter.

I.C.10. Removal from Office

The Kingdom Chronicler, with whatever Royal approval is required by Kingdom Law, may seek the removal of a local chronicler. The reasons for removal from office include, but are not limited to:

* Failure to make proper financial reports (see I.C.4.b)

* Repeated failure to send a copy of the newsletter to the Kingdom Chronicler and any others he or she may designate (see I.C.3.)

* Use of subscription funds for unauthorized or personal purposes (see I.C.4.a and I.C.5.b)

* Use of copyrighted material without permission (see I.C.5.)

* Failure to abide by the policies in this document

* Use of material which is in poor taste (see I.B.13.a and I.C.8.)

* Infringement of Kingdom Law

* Politicizing of the office (see I.C.6)