Journalistic Immunity: A Proposed Policy
Published on 06. Feb, 2009 ... written by Securitas Protector, Tags: Articles
Let me begin by saying that a major block in my journalistic work in New Eden is the danger of reporting lowsec and 0.0 events. Sure, I can fit out a Covert Ops frigate and watch from afar, and if all goes well I survive the day. But, some gatecamps are quite adept at catching even cloaked ships, not to mention the amount of activities that one can do while cloaked is somewhat limited.
For example, a journalist can’t fit a ship scanner or cargo scanner to check what kind of fits each side has, cannot lock ships to check damage after fights, whether a ship is buffer-tanked, receiving remote repair or is using an armor repairer, how well a specific ship’s tank is holding up, watch specific strategies on the battlefield, and so on. Without trust and operating without the permission of 0.0 parties, journalists can’t survey fleets, conduct interviews with pilots, actually join fleets and monitor coordination, or see the competence of FC’s.
In short, many activities are difficult if not completely impossible without the willing consent of other powerful parties outside of high security space. To remedy this and to make the stress on ALL New Eden’s journalists a little less, I propose Journalistic Immunity. Below I’ll lay out some guidelines for a possible approach.
EVE will be mapped into red zones and green zones; red zones are areas not cleared for access by the residents(or sovereignty holders), while green zones are cleared for complete access.
A quick definition: A journalist is defined as a member of a listed EVE news source, and must be “on assignment” or working on a story for JI to apply.
The rules inside “Green Zones”
- A journalist cannot be fired on by all agreeing parties
- A journalist may NOT fire on ANY other pilot unless first fired upon.
- A journalist’s ship will be named “Reporter” or something to that effect.
- A journalist must be “on assignment” and working on a story. This is to prevent abuse of the system.
- A journalist will announce himself in local before entering.
- A journalist’s biography will contain basic JI(Journalistic Immunity) guidelines OR he will provide a link in local.
- If a journalist is told to leave by sovereignty holders he or she will do so within a reasonable amount of time.
- A journalist may NOT rat or mine unless given explicit permission to do so.
- A journalist may ONLY publish intelligence(information provided by residents, not by local or eyesight) cleared by resident contact(CEO, director, or FC).
Depending on the violator(journalist vs resident) the area will either be declared a red zone and the resident(player, corp, or alliance) blacklisted OR the journalist will have his immunity revoked.
The rules inside “Red Zones”
- A journalist may NOT fire on ANY other pilot unless first fired upon. You’re reporting a story, not starting a war.
- A journalist is on his or her own and can expect to be fired upon.
- And no matter what, a journalist on assignment is ALWAYS neutral.
The reason for all of these rules is expressly so that the system will not be abused by the journalist, or in other words so just by being a member of some news network on off days, you can’t just prance around other people’s space. Also, it is hoped that better news will be published if there is a sense of trust between those who make the news and those who report it. An FC or CEO should be able to have absolute confidence(or as close as you get in EVE) that a journalist can join his or her fleet and publish a story that is better because of the first-hand perspective, while also keeping private intelligence out of an article.
Lastly, as a note to all the pirates and gatecampers out there, know that if this policy is adopted, and you see a journalist, even in a red zone, he is there for your enjoyment. If you let him be, he won’t shoot, and maybe a few days later, you’ll be reading about yourself on EVE-Mag.
Have a great day,
Securitas
Please comment on whether or not you think this is a good idea and possible changes.
24 Responses to “Journalistic Immunity: A Proposed Policy”
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ArsenalOfCharm
06. Feb, 2009
It’ll never happen, such extensive information about FCing, fleet compositions, coordination etc are huge security risks for any alliance. You’ll never find anyone worth covering that will agree to such terms especially with a debacle like DBoB happening and so fresh in everyone’s minds. Its why alliance warfare coverage is so damn difficult and frankly why I do my best to steer clear of it. You’re best bet are reliable sources that want to tell the story and not flood you with misinformation. This can only be done with secure and trusted sources generally pilots you have a past with. Either way it still turns out to be a pain in the butt, because alliance leadership can lie to their membership to keep large picture plans under wraps or to keep moral high, hence how the phrase “We didn’t want that region any way” started.
Securitas Protector
06. Feb, 2009
I would like to comment that several prominent corporations and alliances have already agreed to interviews and all of the above with me.
Thanks,
Securitas
Leird
06. Feb, 2009
I’m not a writer nor am i in a prominent corp or alliance.
But all in all i think it’s a great idea!! And i’m pretty sure that most of the big alliances in EVE would glad agree to these “terms”, mostly because it’s a good way to promote EVE awareness to the generel public.. I got hooked on EVE by 2 things, 1 my good friend played and 2 i read a couple of blogs about EVE.
ikalugin
06. Feb, 2009
I am afraid there would be dificulcy in arranging such a system simply becouse everybody who has any inteligence would use this for spying. Fcs would love to have info on their enemies. Also unkilable scout could be handy. I am only for such system – it would make inteligence easier but people would abuse it. The way you might do this is by puting a corp for reporters and link it to the websites.
Marius Deterium
06. Feb, 2009
Interesting idea. Will be fun to see if you have any success with it.
craterius
06. Feb, 2009
I do not like the idea at all.
A good part of the tension in the game, and therefore its interest, is the general feeling of insecurity in low sec and null sec space. Having a class of pilots able to pilot through space with immunity while it watches the action, would in my view emphasize the game aspects of EvE, at the cost of the immersive aspects. This does not have my vote.
Securitas Protector
06. Feb, 2009
Thank you for all of your comments.
To ikalugin: Thanks for giving some suggestions, I’m actually planning on having a site that lists reporters and authorized news outlets. Thanks for your input!
To craterius: I can see your side from a point of view, but at the same time, immersion might actually increase as in a “real” New Eden there probably would be a somewhat untouchable journalist class. However there will always be a risk as some pirates and alliances won’t agree…so there is still the uncertainty factor and tension. Some pirates might actually specifically go after reporters because they’re seen as untouchable. You do present valid concerns, however.
Thanks again everyone.
Jacob Mei
06. Feb, 2009
Id personally just slap a cheap chip with a covert opts cloak, let both sides know your out there and just stay well enough away from the fight to avoid cross fire.
Galendil
07. Feb, 2009
It should be like Real Life. In RL, Journalists are usually regarded as “above the fray”. But often they are used by sides to make a point or get a political message out. Sometimes, when things are bad, they are captured and executed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pearl).
Sad but true. Good Luck with this, I hope it works, however be aware that you are never safe.
craterius
07. Feb, 2009
In RL, there are whole sections of the world Western journalists do not enter, because they will be kidnapped, blown up, or beheaded.
Allowing journalists to wander around nullsec with immunity could only happen in a game, not RL, & would detract from the immersive pleaseure of the game, IMO.
Securitas Protector
07. Feb, 2009
Craterius, once again, you’re right…but as I said there will most definitely be red zones much like those whole sections of the world.
It would not be all nullsec, and speaking as journalist in my opinion it would actually increase the immersive atmosphere of the game…
Once again, valid concerns, and perhaps for some players, too high of a price, but then again they don’t need to be journalists.
MrMatthew
09. Feb, 2009
The entirety of this plan relies on the assumption that no one will abuse the system. As mentioned above, this could give some one immense power and opportunity to infiltrate corps and leak sensitive data to anyone they want. The potential for corruption here is ridiculously high.
Especially after the whole BoB incident, I can’t even begin to believe this is a good idea.
trevhead
10. Feb, 2009
Sadly i dont think it will work in most cases but where it does work it will be a good thing and if it really brings those alliences that allow reporters puplicity then i can see it expanding to other alliences who see its pertential for properganda. Like the MC used to do.
Personally i would like to see more articals and interviews about the 0.0 and empire alliences in the game. Battle reports are all well and good but i would alos like to know more about a alience then just its name and wether its blue or red.
Brutus
12. Feb, 2009
The NBSI policy adopted by most 0.0 alliances means you’d have to get blue standings from all the warring alliances (and possibly others living around there), which seems practically impossible – some will just have a good laugh, set you red and get a couple of your covops blown to bits before you catch on to what happened.
Alliances will NEVER fully trust you because you represent a security liability (cvasi-free to run around, checking their installations, activity, numbers and ship distribution), and you won’t trust the people in local as, again, some will just shoot you down for giggles.
Securitas Protector
14. Feb, 2009
Thanks for all the replies everyone, but hopefully there would be enough trust between the alliances and certain news outlets is what I’m hoping for. I’ve decided to go ahead with the policy anyway.. just to see if it works.
Nephar
14. Feb, 2009
Interesting policy I must say, if you can get the trust it’ll probably work but if not you’re screwed
Privavarian
14. Feb, 2009
IMO This could deffinately work in Empire Lowsec and highsec. it’s going to be nearly impossible to do it in 0.0 though unless you are willing to risk getting blown up.
Or become a GM or whatever and fly arround in your Polaris which no one can destroy! Muwhahah!
Though I wish you the best of luck.
Priv
Stuffoflegends
14. Feb, 2009
This is what ISD is MENT to be already doing…
however it’s interesting that whenever something good happens to BOB there is a front page story within minutes, when it’s something bad, it can be a few days, in the case of thier disbanding (how HUGE was that) there STILL hasn’t been a front page story on the band of brothers alliance being disbanded…….
ISD is so bloody biase that they have no use and most players see them as a hinderance rather then a boon.
if you want to do alliance based reporting, join ISD, if you plan to be 100% neutral, you may get booted rather quicky… (which is what happened when one member of ISD attempted to out the fact that so many were bias)
bob
14. Feb, 2009
why not just fly a frigging co-vops?
Asuri Kinnes
14. Feb, 2009
I wish you luck, but I can’t see this catching on for a great number of journalists… It would be too much of a PITA to keep track of who’s who (imho).
While I like hearing about the fights in 0.0 space, I can’t imagine that having more than one or two -trusted- journalists running around reporting on ship fits and fleet tactics would be appreciated…
I know I would give the old ( o,O ) to anyone who asked if they could have my fleet composition and tactics to report on…
AK
Alekseyev Karrde
14. Feb, 2009
Good for those outside of 0.0
Bad for the 0.0 entity’s you’re reporting on
That’s how it’s generally going to be unless you can sell an advantage to whoever you want to embed with AND build up trust w them some how.
I’d agree to it, because I’m a merc CEO and publicity is good for buisness. Also, I’m reasonably sure we could cripple Securitas’ alliance if there was any funny buisness. Since he’s got something to lose and I’ve got something to gain, why not get my name in the paper.
Securitas Protector
24. Feb, 2009
Alright, I made a post on CAOD…and I’ve begun contacting alliances…lets see how this turns out…
Gregore
05. Mar, 2009
I’m going to rename my pirate ship “reporter – don’t shoot me”
gyro pointe gyro
10. Mar, 2009
Even if you got anything like this going it would be ruined very quickly by violations of one of your points
“A journalist may ONLY publish intelligence(information provided by residents, not by local or eyesight) cleared by resident contact(CEO, director, or FC). ”
Most of the people who profess to want to observe and report battles are retards. Especially the ISD / RP /CCP related ones.