General Overview of Policy Standards
When submitting information to Siletz News, it’s important to ensure all facts and details are accurate, double-checking names, dates, and statistics. Write clearly and concisely. Make sure the information is newsworthy and relevant to the newspaper’s audience.
If submitting an article or story, cite sources and give credit where it’s due, including names and context when quoting someone. Follow ethical guidelines, such as respecting privacy and avoiding plagiarism, and adhere to the newspaper’s submission guidelines regarding format, length, and style. Be sure that submissions are sent as attachments.
If submitting a photo or supporting image with your article, please ensure it is an attachment and not embedded in an email or document. Staff will request the image be sent again as an attachment. To ensure the highest quality in print, we request that photos are unedited and high quality.
Remember, the deadline for submissions is the 10th of each month or the nearest business day. You can find the deadline in the extended tribal calendar on the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) website at ctsi.nsn.us, in the News & Events tab. Tribal Members should email items for consideration in Siletz News to pias@ctsi.nsn.us. If you have questions or need assistance you can call our Public Information Department at 541-444-2532. Our staff is more than willing to help however we can.
Passages Policy
- Length: Maximum of 25 words.
- Format: Submissions should be in .doc or .docx format and as an attachment.
- Attachments: Photos should follow the photo policy standards.
- Deadline: Submissions must be received by the Siletz News deadline.
- Editing Rights: The newspaper reserves the right to edit for grammar and clarity while maintaining the original message.
- Review Process: All passages will be reviewed by the public information staff before publishing. The person submitting the passage should only be submitting for their own direct family such as their partner, children, siblings, and parents. Tribal members will not be permitted to submit a birthday wish or birth announcement, and photo to a minor who is not in their care or without the parent/guardian’s written permission to the Public Information department.
Letters to the Editor Policy
- Length: Maximum of 300 words.
- Format: Submissions should be in .doc or .docx format.
- Attachments: Photos should follow the photo policy standards.
- Contact Information for Staff Use Only: Include name, phone number, and email – include your preferred contact method should Public Information staff need to contact you. This will be considered your digital signature, required for your letter to be published in Siletz News.
- Review: All letters will undergo a thorough review by the editorial team, including fact-checking and proofreading.
- Selection Criteria: Letters are selected based on relevance, clarity, and adherence to editorial standards. Priority is given to letters that address current issues and provide constructive feedback.
- Editing Rights: The newspaper reserves the right to edit letters for grammar and clarity while maintaining the original message. All text must adhere to the newspaper’s editorial standards, including accuracy, relevance, and ethical considerations. Significant edits will be communicated to the author for approval.
Tribal Member Article Policy
- Length: Maximum of 500 words.
- Format: Submissions should be in .doc or .docx format and as an attachment.
- Attachments: Photos should follow the photo policy standards.
- Deadline: Submissions must be received by the Siletz News deadline.
- Review: All articles will undergo a thorough review by the editorial team, including fact-checking and proofreading.
- Editing Rights: The newspaper reserves the right to edit articles for space, grammar, and clarity while maintaining the original message. All text must adhere to the newspaper’s editorial standards, including accuracy, relevance, and ethical considerations.
Tribal Member Obituary Policy
- Length: No word maximum.
- Format: Submissions should be in .doc or .docx format and as an attachment.
- Attachments: Photos should follow the photo policy standards.
- Deadline: Submissions must be received by the Siletz News deadline. If your family member passed away after the deadline but before the 20th of the month, please contact the PIO to make late arrangements.
- Review Process: All obituaries will be reviewed by the public information staff before publishing.
- Editing Rights: The newspaper reserves the right to edit obituaries for grammar and will take care to maintain the original message from the family.
Fliers and Advertisements Policy
- Acceptance: We can accept a flier for an event.
- Publication Frequency: We will only run it twice in our publications.
- Additional Outlets: We reserve the right to publish in additional news outlets produced by our department.
- Printing Discretion: We also reserve the right not to print the flier, with priority going first to Siletz Tribal news, events, important notices and information. Since Tribal Member fliers aren’t CTSI events and are considered community events, they may not be selected for the newspaper if space is limited.
Photo Policy
- Format: Acceptable formats include .jpg, .jpeg, .png, and .tiff. Please ensure photos are sent as attachments.
- Resolution: Photos are printed at a minimum resolution of 300 pixels.
- Metadata: Include captions if needed.
- Quality: Photos should be unedited. Scans of photos, photos of a photo, and screenshots have lower quality and drop more when formatted for print. Staff may ask for a higher quality photo from the author.
- Usage Rights: Siletz News asks that photos are submitted by an authorized person, such as a direct family member or parent/guardian.
- Editing and Alterations: Photos may be edited for clarity, brightness, contrast, and formatted for print. The public information department will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the subject. Ethical standards must be maintained in all photo edits.
Public Information Editing Rights
- Editorial Discretion: All items submitted to Siletz News will be reviewed by the editor first, and submitted for final approval in the Siletz News. Final approval is given by the Chief Executive Officer or their designee. The editor will contact the author for review if a change is made by staff that is outside of editing rights.
- Malicious content: Conflicts, hate speech, slander, violence or threats of violence, personal attacks, unsubstantiated statements and ethical breaches will not be printed in Siletz News.
- Staff editing rights: The Siletz News reserves the right to edit all text submissions for grammar and clarity without altering the core message. The photo editing process is simple – we format the color, size, and clarity of the photo in compliance with printing requirements.
- Transparency: Contributors will be informed of potential edits and provided with a mechanism for feedback or approval of significant changes. The editorial team will strive to maintain transparency in the editing process.
- Consistency: All content will be edited to maintain a consistent editorial style and tone across the newspaper.
- Ethical Standards: The Public Information department adheres to ethical journalism practices, including avoiding plagiarism, respecting privacy, and ensuring balanced reporting. Resources and training will be provided to staff and contributors to ensure understanding and adherence to the guidelines.
- Additional considerations: Not all letters are guaranteed to be published upon submission. Some factors that may contribute to a decision not to print a submission include but are not limited to: Space limitations; compliance to the policy; originality and relevance.