Media Licence Program (Gotzborg)

The Media Licence Program was an initiative of the Ministry of Communications and Information which offered media organizations an official warrant in return for their voluntary participation in the program. The program ceased operation at the start of the Hiatus of 2007 to 2010.

Background

Media Licence Warrant, 2005

The program came into existence on March 2, 2005, by order of Deputy Vice-Minister of State Liam Sinclair, with two specific goals. Firstly, it would provide the Royal Government with a comprehensive directory of operational media organizations for the distribution of emergency bulletins. Secondly, it would recognize media organizations that maintained good journalism practices through the provision of an official warrant.

Media organizations, whether print or otherwise, within the Royal Kingdom were not required to obtain a licence, but were encouraged to voluntarily participate in the program. Those that did obtain a licence were provided with an official graphic that was permitted to be displayed for the duration of the six-month licence validity-period.

Policies

The policies governing the program were last amended on July 15, 2005, with effect from August 1, 2005. The policies were as follows:

1. The registered publication understands that should it not publish for a period of at least sixty days, the issued license may be revoked at the discretion of the Ministry of Communications and Information (herein referred to as 'the Ministry') or the Home Office.
2. The registered publication agrees to publish special notices of the Royal Government as directed. This measure is being implemented to make the emergency notification communication protocols between the Royal Government and the Gotzborg citizenry more effective and efficient.
3. The registered publication understands that if, in a period of thirty-days, it does not publish at least 15% Gotzborg-related content (article-wise), the issued license may be reviewed by the Ministry or Home Office and, at the discretion of the aforementioned powers, revoked.
4. Participation in this program is voluntary.

Participants

As of April 20, 2007, just before the program's cessation due to the hiatus, six media organizations participated in the program. Individual media licence records for each participant are available in the Ministry of Communications and Information Archive, maintained by the Public Records Office.

The participants included:

1. The Gotzborg Eagle (2005);
2. The RIMA Journal (2005, 2006);
3. Ansbach-Cibola Zeitung (2006);
4. MicroPages Inc. (2006);
5. The Novasolum Financial Post (2006); and,
6. The Novasolum Bulletin (2006);