Stanley582
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Stanley582
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- Joined
- Jan 26, 2026
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- #1
CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
A BILL TO
ESTABLISH STANDARDS FOR THE USE OF THE COMMONWEALTH'S OFFICIAL NEWS CHANNEL
The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:
1. Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Communications Act'.
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Luka Del Rey.
(4) This Act has been sponsored by Stanley582.
(5) This Act has been co-sponsored by Musclebound.
2. Reasons and Intent
(1) The #news channel is a server property owned and maintained by DemocracyCraft Staff and falls under the jurisdiction of Congress as stated by Staff, yet there is no consistent legislation governing how media organizations use it.
(2) Readers currently cannot reliably tell apart good-faith reporting, opinion, satire, and paid promotion, because none of it has to be disclosed or labelled. Articles go up without a byline, advertisements get dressed up as news, and contests run without any stated rules.
(3) An independent Commission is the cleanest way to set and enforce these standards in one place, while keeping every person free to publish news anywhere else they like.
3. Definitions
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) Commission. The Redmont Communications Commission established under this Act, also referred to as the "RCC."
(b) Official News Channel. The #news channel in the DemocracyCraft Discord server.
(c) Media Outlet. Any organization, group, or individual that publishes news, journalistic, or entertainment content to the public on a recurring basis, whether in writing, video, or any other media form. A person who solely operates a Media Outlet is considered to hold a leadership position within it.
(d) Content. Any published piece of written material, image, or Video Content posted within the Official News Channel.
(e) Video Content. Any video or livestream published by a Media Outlet to a public platform, including but not limited to YouTube, that is distributed within the Official News Channel.
(f) Byline. A clear, conspicuous attribution identifying the author or authors, or the publishing organization, responsible for a piece of Content.
(g) Advertisement. Any Content, or portion of Content, that has been paid for, sponsored, or otherwise provided in exchange for money, services, or other valuable consideration, or that promotes a product, service, organization, or individual on behalf of a paying or sponsoring party.
(h) Sponsored Consideration. Any money, service, or other thing of value provided or promised to a Media Outlet or its members in exchange for publishing or influencing Content.
(i) Good-Faith Reporting. Content published as a sincere attempt to inform the public of factual events, as distinguished from opinion, editorial, endorsement, parody, satire, or knowingly fabricated material.
(j) License. The authorization permitting a Media Outlet to publish Content within the Official News Channel, granted automatically upon the filing of a complete application under Section 6.
(k) Legally Qualified Candidate. Any individual who has formally declared and qualified as a candidate for an elected public office in the Commonwealth.
(l) Serious Violation. A knowing or deliberate breach of this Act, limited to the publication of a knowing hoax, deliberate news distortion under Section 13, the publication of undisclosed paid or sponsored Content under Section 11, or a false or misleading statement to the Commission under Section 5(5).
(m) Repeated Violation. Four or more separate violations of this Act that the Commission has adjudicated against the same Media Outlet within a single License period.
PART II - ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMISSION
4. The Redmont Communications Commission
(1) There is hereby established an independent body known as the Redmont Communications Commission.
(2) The Commission shall consist of four Commissioners, each of which will serve for a term of 2 months, and one of whom shall be designated Chairperson.
(3) Commissioners shall be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and shall serve fixed terms of four months.
(a) Candidates for a Commissioner shall not hold a leadership position within any Media Outlet that is licensed or unlicensed.
(4) The Commission shall operate independently of any executive department. A Commissioner may only be removed for misconduct, neglect of duty, or incapacity, on the proposal of a Commissioner and with the approval of the President.
(5) The Commission conducts action(s) by vote, and a quorum of three Commissioners must be present for any vote to be valid. Routine business is decided by a majority of those present.
(6) To make, amend, or repeal a regulation under this Act, the regulation must be approved by a simple majority of all Commissioners, and only after the public comment period in Section 5 has closed.
5. Powers and Duties
(1) The Commission shall have the authority to:
(a) register Licenses, and suspend or revoke Licenses, for Media Outlets in accordance with this Act;
(b) make regulations consistent with this Act governing how Content is published in the Official News Channel, including authorship disclosure, advertising transparency, political publication, and decency standards;
(c) investigate complaints of violations of this Act or its regulations, whether filed by the public or initiated by the Commission;
(d) impose penalties as set out in this Act; and
(e) maintain the Public File under Section 15 within the DemocracyCraft Forum.
(2) Before a regulation takes effect, the Commission shall publish the proposed regulation publicly within the DemocracyCraft Forum and allow a public comment period of no less than 48 hours, during which any person may submit feedback. The Commission shall consider the comments it receives before its final vote, and the regulation does not take effect until it is published in final form.
(3) The Commission shall act in a viewpoint-neutral manner. It shall not refuse, condition, suspend, or revoke a License, nor impose a penalty, on the basis of the political viewpoint, opinion, or editorial position of a Media Outlet.
(4) The Commission shall enforce this Act consistently. It shall not pursue enforcement against one Media Outlet for conduct that it knowingly tolerates in others.
(5) A Media Outlet shall not knowingly make a false or misleading statement to the Commission, nor knowingly withhold material information from it, in any application, report, or response to a Commission inquiry.
(6) In investigating a suspected violation of Section 11, the Commission may require a Media Outlet to produce records of any consideration it received in connection with the Content in question, provided that the Commission first sets out in writing the specific basis for its suspicion. The Commission shall not open a further investigation into the same Media Outlet for the same conduct absent new evidence. Where the Commission has reason to believe a payment has been concealed, it may refer the matter to the Department of Commerce, which is authorized under the Commercial Standards Act to monitor financial transactions, and which shall report relevant findings to the Commission.
PART III - LICENSING OF OFFICIAL CHANNEL ACCESS
6. Licensing
(1) No Media Outlet shall publish Content in the Official News Channel without a valid License. Nothing in this Act restricts the publication of news anywhere outside the Official News Channel.
(2) Before applying, a Media Outlet shall run /news request. It shall then file a License application in the designated subforum at Forums > Departments > Redmont Communications Commission > Applications, which shall include:
(a) the name of the Media Outlet;
(b) the Discord username of the owner and of each person responsible for its published Content such as Editor(s), if any;
(c) the platforms on which the Outlet publishes, if any;
(d) any other information the Commission reasonably requires by regulation promulgated by the Commission; and,
(e) a signature of the applicant that they acknowledge they have read this Act, or a condensed and concise version of the rules as outlined in this Act, published by the Commission.
(3) The filing of a complete application automatically grants the applicant a License. The Commission does not approve or deny applications, except as provided in subsection (4).
(4) The Commission may refuse to register a License only where the applicant has committed two or more Serious Violations of this Act or its regulations. No other matter, including any other past violation, may be considered in registering a License.
(5) A Media Outlet whose License has been refused under subsection (4), or revoked, may file again for a License at least one week after a prior revocation or refusal. A prior refusal or revocation does not prevent the automatic grant of a License where the applicant does not have two or more Serious Violations.
(7) The Commission may suspend or revoke a License only where a Media Outlet has committed a Serious Violation or a Repeated Violation of this Act, provided that the Outlet is:
(a) given written notice of the specific grounds for the action; and
(b) afforded an opportunity to respond before the action takes final effect.
(8) The Commission may also request that DemocracyCraft Staff revoke a Media Outlet's access to the Official News Channel in order to give effect to a suspension or revocation under this Act.
(9) Any refusal, suspension, or revocation of a License may be appealed to the appropriate court, which may review the Commission's action for arbitrariness, viewpoint discrimination, or abuse of discretion. On appeal, the Commission bears the burden of showing that the grounds for its action existed and that any penalty imposed was proportionate.
(10) A Media Outlet that holds an existing permit to post within the Official News Channel at the time the Commission is established may continue to post within the #news channel for 2 weeks following the establishment of the Commission, but may not continue to post after that 2 week period until granted a license by the Commission.
(11) Content published by a Media Outlet within the Official News Channel during any period in which it did not hold a valid License, including after a License was refused, suspended, or revoked, and before any reinstatement or new grant, may be referred to Staff for deletion upon the request of the Commission. Content published while the Media Outlet held a valid License is not subject to deletion under this subsection.
(12) Content published in the Official News Channel before the Commission is established shall not be enforced against under this Act.
PART IV - CONTENT AND LABELLING STANDARDS
7. Reservation of the Official News Channel for Good-Faith Reporting
(1) The Official News Channel is reserved for Good-Faith Reporting and for Content labelled in accordance with this Section.
(2) Content that is opinion, editorial, endorsement, satire, parody, or fabricated material, rather than Good-Faith Reporting, shall be clearly and conspicuously labelled as such near the start or end of the Content, by a label such as "Opinion", "Editorial", "Endorsement", "Satire", or "Parody".
(3) No person or organization shall publish Content that a reasonable reader or viewer would mistake for Good-Faith Reporting where it is not, and which bears no label as required under subsection (2).
8. Bylines
(1) Every piece of Content published in the Official News Channel shall include a Byline, unless compelling or extenuating circumstances put the author(s) at a risk for retaliation or safety, given the context of the Content, which shall exempt this Subsection from being applied to the said Content.
(2) For written Content, the Byline shall appear near the start of the Content. For Video Content, the Byline shall appear within the video itself or in its description.
(3) For Video Content, identification of the publishing organization on the channel or account it is published from shall satisfy the Byline requirement where no individual author is credited.
9. Accessibility of Video Content
(1) Reserved
PART V - ADVERTISING AND SPONSORSHIP TRANSPARENCY
10. Disclosure of Advertisements and Sponsorship
(1) Where Content contains an Advertisement, the Advertisement shall be clearly and conspicuously disclosed as such at the place within the Content where it appears, by a label such as "ADVERTISEMENT" or "SPONSORED".
(2) Where a Media Outlet or any of its members has received Sponsored Consideration in exchange for publishing or influencing Content, the Outlet shall disclose that fact to its audience at the point of publication, including the identity of the party that provided the consideration.
(3) A disclosure is not conspicuous if it is hidden, significantly smaller than the surrounding content, or placed where a reasonable reader or viewer would not readily see it.
(4) No Media Outlet shall publish Content that is, in whole or in substance, an Advertisement while presenting it as Good-Faith Reporting. Such Content shall instead be labelled as advertising or sponsored content under this Section.
PART VI - INTEGRITY AND DECENCY STANDARDS
11. Prohibited Content
(1) No Media Outlet shall, with the knowledge of its management, deliberately falsify a significant matter of news. This does not apply to a minor or incidental inaccuracy, or to a mere difference of opinion or interpretation.
12. Contests, Votes, and Giveaways
(1) Where a Media Outlet runs a contest, audience vote, giveaway, or similar promotion, it shall fully and accurately disclose all material terms at the time the audience is first told how to take part, including:
(a) how to enter or take part;
(b) any eligibility restrictions;
(c) the deadline to take part;
(d) the nature and value of any prize;
(e) how winners or results are determined; and
(f) when results and prizes will be given out.
(2) The disclosure under subsection (1) may be made within the Content itself or by a clearly and conspicuously linked set of written terms, which shall stay accessible for no less than 14 days after the promotion ends.
(3) A Media Outlet shall run any such promotion in line with its disclosed terms, and shall not give false, misleading, or deceptive information about it.
(4) Where the material terms of a promotion change after it has begun, the Media Outlet shall disclose the change to participants within a reasonable time.
PART VII - TRANSPARENCY AND RECORDKEEPING
13. The Forum and the Public File
(1) A dedicated item titled "Redmont Communications Commission" shall be created in the Departments category of the forums. The Commission shall maintain there a publicly accessible register containing:
(a) a list of all licensed Media Outlets and the status of their Licenses; and
(b) a record of all enforcement actions taken under this Act.
(2) Each licensed Media Outlet shall keep, and make available for public and Commission inspection, the political file required under Section 12(5).
(3) Each licensed Media Outlet shall keep a copy of the Content it publishes in the Official News Channel, unless it is removed via /news remove, for no less than 31 days.
PART VIII - ENFORCEMENT
14. Penalties
(1) Except for a Serious Violation, the Commission shall apply penalties in the following order for successive violations by a Media Outlet, and shall not skip a step absent a Serious Violation:
(a) a written warning for a first violation;
(b) a fine for a second and third violation;
(c) a suspension of the License for a fourth violation; and
(d) revocation of the License for any further violation.
(2) A Media Outlet or person that violates any provision of this Act, or any regulation made under it, shall be liable to a fine of no less than $300 and no more than $1,000 per violation.
(3) Publishing Content in the Official News Channel without a valid License shall carry a fine of $100 per item of Content so published.
(4) Each piece of Content published in violation of this Act is a separate offense.
(5) The Commission may, in addition to or instead of a fine, suspend or revoke the License of an Outlet that has committed a Serious Violation or a Repeated Violation, in accordance with Section 6.
(6) Correction Window - A Media Outlet that removes a piece of Content from the Official News Channel within 10 minutes of posting it shall not face penalty under this Act for that Content. This allows a Media Outlet to correct a mistake by removing and, if it chooses, reposting a corrected version.
(a) The correction window applies only to the first posting of a piece of Content. Where a Media Outlet reposts the same or substantially the same Content, the window does not restart, and the Content is treated as continuously published from its first posting for the purposes of this Act.
(b) A Media Outlet shall not repeatedly remove and repost the same or substantially the same Content in order to keep it displayed while avoiding penalty. Content kept visible in this manner is treated as continuously published, and the correction window does not apply to it.
(7) Any person aggrieved by a penalty imposed under this Act may appeal to the appropriate court.
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- It's a good idea, but there are multiple errors in this bill: 