SITE MANUAL INSTRUCTION MANUALS STYLE GUIDE POLICIES AND RULES 2017 EDITION ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ! This year will mark the fifth anniversary of Royal Central first going to pixel. In this time, with the contribution of a dedicated team of writers and editors, we have evolved to become the most popular independent royal news outlet on the web. What’s more, our readership still continues to grow not just by the month, but by the week! As we look now towards appealing to new readers and producing an even wider range of content, maintaining a collective set of core principles and standardised practices is more important than ever both ensuring our published content is consistent for readers and in simplifying the steps Royal Central’s contributors have to take to get content published in the first place. The 2017 Site Manual, the fourth edition since we began, is intended to be the comprehensive authority on how Royal Central is run, what our style is and how to use the systems we have in place, most especially in the case of the latter the Desk - our own in-house developed content management system which contains all the tools contributors may need on a day-to-day basis. Uniquely this year, the Site Manual has been written and constructed for use on the Desk. While the original PDF document version will remain available, a number of more interactive and user-friendly aspects have been introduced to provide what is hoped will be more helpful and readily available guidance to team members. In keeping with our pledge to continue to simplify our processes and documentation, this year’s Site Manual once again sees a reduction in size compared to last year. The 2016 Manual contained a total of 6,874 words. This year’s contains 5,822. FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 2 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ! Contents POLICIES AND STRUCTURE 4 CONTRIBUTORS’ CODE OF CONDUCT 4 SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY 5 GENERAL GUIDANCE 5 ROYAL CENTRAL TWITTER ACCOUNTS 6 PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA 6 ROYAL CENTRAL FACEBOOK PAGES 6 ROYAL CENTRAL’S STRUCTURE 7 EXPENSES 8 PHOTOS 9 WHAT IS ROYAL CENTRAL? 11 STYLE GUIDE 12 SPELLING AND GRAMMAR 12 CORRECT FORM 13 GUIDANCE FOR CONTRIBUTORS 15 USING THE DESK 17 DASHBOARD 17 ASSIGNMENTS 18 ADMIN 21 CONTENT 25 MY SETTINGS 26 WRITING AN ARTICLE 27 EMAIL ACCOUNTS 31 Version A ! FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 3 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ! Policies and structure Contributors’ code of conduct All contributors agree to be bound by these terms by submitting content to the Royal Central website. 1. By publishing an article on the Royal Central website, all contributors agree that the article’s original contents become the intellectual property of Royal Central. 2. By publishing an original photograph on the Royal Central website, contributors agree that Royal Central may reuse that photo at any time on the site. The photo remains the intellectual property of the photographer unless the photograph was taken on a trip for which the contributor has made an expenses claim (of any value), in which case all published photographs become the intellectual property of Royal Central. 3. The Editor-in-Chief is appointed by the Director of Royal Central. All other editorial and team appointments are made independently by the Editor- in-Chief. Contributors may be dismissed without warning or notice at any time. 4. While Royal Central retains the copyright to original published content on the site, contributors reserve the right to have their work anonymised on request. Contributors may ask an editor to remove their name and any other identifying features from content on the site at any time. 5. The Editor-in-Chief is in charge of the day-to-day running of the site. In his absence, the Deputy Editor assumes day-to-day responsibility, except where another individual has been given this responsibility by the Editor. 6. By submitting work for publication, all contributors agree that the work is entirely their own and that any content knowingly plagiarised could leave them - as the author - open to any legal challenges that may arise. Contributors who have knowingly plagiarised content and published it, or attempted to, on the Royal Central website MUST be dismissed by the Editor-in-Chief immediately. Editors will use plagiarism detector software to ensure all articles contain original content. 7. No article on the Royal Central website may be republished elsewhere without the express permission of the Editor-in-Chief. FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 4 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ! 8. No contributor may submit a sponsored article which they have been paid to publish on the Royal Central website without the prior knowledge and consent of the Editor-in-Chief. 9. Contributors are entitled to reclaim certain costs and expenses incurred during the course of writing for Royal Central. 10. Royal Central email accounts provided to editors and reporters are for use by that individual. The account may NOT be used for fraudulent, improper or otherwise unlawful activity. 11. All reporters must submit at least one article for publication every week, unless agreed otherwise with the Editor-in-Chief. Social media policy There are separate rules that apply to both personal and Royal Central social media accounts. The two are clearly delineated below. GENERAL GUIDANCE 1. Covering breaking news is an important part of Royal Central’s social media use. However, senior contributors and editors who post updates to Royal Central’s social media are encouraged to exercise caution in posting unconfirmed stories or engaging in speculation as this can be detrimental to our reputation with readers. 2. The use of photos and videos on Royal Central’s social media should be done with care to obeying all relevant copyright law. Quoting tweets is a way in which images and videos can be shared with our readers, without needing to directly retweet content. 3. The number of updates on Royal Central social media should be kept to a minimum. Too many tweets will saturate our coverage and readers will pay less attention to the content we put out. 4. Copyright legislation also applies to the content of tweets. Contributors are reminded to credit tweets from other authors and not to plagiarise content posted by someone else. FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 5 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ! ROYAL CENTRAL TWITTER ACCOUNTS 1. The @RoyalCentral Twitter account may only be used for posting news and updates relating to royal news and the site itself. Personal, political, marketing tweets are not permitted. 2. Following other accounts from the @RoyalCentral Twitter account should only be done for Royal Central contributors and useful sources. 3. Only Royal Central contributors’ accounts should be retweeted from @RoyalCentral. PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA 1. For those who wish to use their personal Twitter account for their Royal Central contributions, the use of the line ‘all views my own’ in your Twitter biography is encouraged. Alternatively, some contributors create a separate account for personal and Royal Central use. This is all optional however, except for editors who should include a line in their biography stating all views expressed are their own. 2. Contributors are reminded that where they identify themselves on social media as Royal Central contributors, their behaviour reflects on the site itself. Contributors are therefore asked not to do things which may damage the reputation of the site. ROYAL CENTRAL FACEBOOK PAGES 1. Private messages on Royal Central’s Facebook pages should not be responded to. Readers are directed to the contact us page on our website and there are notices on the page indicating we don’t respond to direct messages through Facebook. 2. Articles submitted to the British Monarchist League should be posted at least an hour apart. This maximises the number of impressions it makes. FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 6 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ! Royal Central’s structure Royal Central has five different teams… • The Editorial team • The Technical/administrative team • The Reporting team • The European reporting team • The Blogging team The day-to-day running of the site is managed by the editorial team, headed by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor is also supported by a Deputy Editor and often one or more Assistant Editors. The Editorial team set the direction of the site and lead on major news coverage. The administration of the site is managed by the technical/administrative team, consisting of one or more ‘directors’ who are responsible for managing major aspects of the site, such as communications. The reporting team is responsible for producing Royal Central’s news coverage and is led by a Chief Reporter who will often work closely with the editorial team in planning coverage. The European reporting team is led by an editor (Europe Editor) and deals solely with reporting on the European monarchies. Its reporters are chosen for their special expertise in European royal coverage. The blogging team produces Royal Central’s blog coverage. The Contacts section on the Desk will hold an up-to-date list of the members of each team and their respective roles. Each user account on the site is assigned a grade. You can view yours on the dashboard of the Desk under ‘My Account’. The grade relates to the access permission the account has on site. From top down they are … • Administrator (Grade 1) • Reporter (Grade 4A) • Editor (Grade 2) • Blogger (Grade 4B) • Senior Contributor (Grade 3) FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 7 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ! Expenses While Royal Central remains unable to pay or employ contributors, we do recognise that it would be unacceptable for contributors to incur costs in the course of writing for the site.