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Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
College of Communication
Anonas St., Sta, Mesa Manila

COC The Communicator Constitution
 

Article I

NAME AND DOMICILE OF THE ORGANIZATION

Section 1.      This Institution shall be known as “The Communicator”

Section 2.      The Communicator shall be the official student publication

Section 3.      The Communicator shall occupy a permanent office at COC grounds.

Article II

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

Section 1.      The Communicator shall be an autonomous institution in all sense and field. Conceptualization of contents shall lie primarily on its editorial board.

Section 2.      The Communicator stands for, and advocates the truth, fairness, honesty and integrity.

Section 3.      The Communicator shall reflect the true sentiments and ideas of the students.

Section 4.      The Communicator shall not only instill and promote students’ rights, interests and welfare but shall also provide scientific and technological information that would be of help to them.

Section 5.      The Communicator shall promote civic, environmental and human consciousness among students.

Section 6.      The Communicator shall at all times uphold the reputation, interests, goals and ideals of the COC community.

Article III

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Section 1.      The Communicator shall be headed by an Editor-in-Chief.

a.    The Editor-in-Chief is the highest position in the institution; shall call and preside all the meetings; exercise over all supervision in the institution; shall create committees, appoint staffs and determine their functions with prior consultation with the Editorial Board. The Editor-in-Chief shall sign all kinds of correspondents of the office.

b.    The Associate Editor shall be responsible for the camaraderie and coordination among all the constituents of the institution; shall take charge in the absence of the EIC; is responsible for grievances the students may take; shall take jurisdiction upon articles to be encoded.

c.    The Managing Editor shall be responsible to manage the general fund of the institution and all financial matters concerning the publication; receipts and official account of the institution shall be under his/her jurisdiction; shall be responsible for printing and distribution of the newspaper.

d.    The News Editor shall be responsible for all the news that will be handed on to him/her by the institution’s correspondents which are also under his/her supervision, or any other news submitted to the publication for publishing; shall observe the principles of the institution and shall apply it as the primary guidelines to edit the news articles.

e.    The Feature Editor shall be responsible for the feature articles, primarily those which are submitted by the publication’s writers; shall observe the principles of the institution and shall apply it as the primary guidelines to edit the feature articles.

f.      The Literary Editor shall be responsible for the literary articles which are contributed by the writers or by the students to the publication; shall observe the principles of the institution and shall apply it as the primary guidelines to make the best choice in publishing literary articles.

g.    The Culture Editor shall be responsible for all the articles which entertainingly inform the COC community; shall observe the principles of the institution and shall apply it as the primary guidelines to choose and edit the articles.

h.    The News Correspondents shall be responsible for news, feature, literary and commentary articles which should be factual, timely and relevant; shall observe deadlines set by the Editorial Board; shall observe the principles of the institution and shall apply it as the primary guidelines to write the articles.

i.      The Photographers shall be responsible for all the photographs relevant to the articles to be published.

j.      The Artists shall be responsible for the creation of all the illustrations of the publication; shall be responsible for laying out all the physical aspects of the newspaper.

Section 2.      All members of the institution shall work according to the Ethics of Journalism and shall observe and apply the principles of the Institution to uphold the advocacy of truth, honesty and fairness and maintain the Institution’s integrity.

 
Article IV

POSITION AND MEMBERSHIP IN THE ORGANIZATION

Section 1.      The Editorial Board, composed of the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor and Managing Editor, is the highest policy making body of the institution.

Section 2.      Section Editors will be composed of the News Editor, Feature Editor, Literary Editor and Culture Editor unless the Editorial Board appoints other position as Section Editor.  Section Editors shall be appointed by the Editorial Board based on his/her performance in the institution and the result of the Editorial Board Examination.

Section 3.      The Editorial Board Examination shall be exclusive for all the members of the publication with one year residency in the institution.

Section 4.      All bona fide students of the College of Communication can be a member of the institution, provided that he/she passes the qualifying examination and interview that will be conducted by the Editorial Board.

Section 5.      All applicants shall be given freedom on which position to apply given that they have their own specialization.

Article V

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Section 1.      The Communicator shall be given the privilege of press freedom as mentioned in PD 7079 known as “Campus Journalism Act of 1991.” The institution shall have the right to information on matters regarding the campus, especially the College of Communication; shall also have the right to undertake researches, publish and discuss recommendations pertaining hereto and its pursuit for truth and academic excellence.

Section 2.      The Communicator shall have the right to utilize the resources provided by the college.

Section 3.      The Communicator staff shall have the right to cover events, as also provided by the Section 1 of this Article.

Section 4.      All staff is required to report on a daily basis.

Section 5.      Whoever staff that is reluctant to perform his/her duty and destroys the credibility of the institution shall be subjected to disciplinary action. There shall be three levels of penalty which are:

                                    1. Warning

                                    2. Suspension

                                    3. Termination

Article VI

PUBLICATION FUNDS

Section 1.      The Communicator shall be financed out of the publication fee paid by the students and collected during enrollment or regular dates of registration per semester. The publication fee shall be deposited in a reputable government bank in the name of The Communicator.

Section 2.      The publication fee to be paid by the students is PhP20. The fee shall be collected by The Communicator representatives.

Section 3.      The Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor shall be the signatories of the bank account of The Communicator. Any checked signed by any of the two signatories shall be acknowledged by the bank.

Section 4.      The financial and business management of The Communicator shall be vested upon the Managing Editor.

Section 5.      To ensure the proper expenditure of The Communicator funds, the following must be observed:

a.    There shall be a semestral budget to cover the operation of The Communicator.

b.    The Managing Editor shall prepare the budget for each semester.

c.    There shall be no deficit spending in the financial management of The Communicator. The Managing Editor shall prepare the payroll and vouchers for all the expenditures and operational needs of the staff subject to the approval of the Editor in Chief

d.    The Managing Editor and Editor in Chief shall submit the budget and financial report, including specifications and changes, at the beginning and at the end of his term, respectively to the University’s internal audit and shall receive a clearance from the office.

e.    The balance of funds shall be added to the succeeding terms.

Article VII

MEETINGS AND PROCEDURES

Section 1.      The Communicator staff shall hold meeting every week. Every 1^st and 3^rd Friday of the month for the Editorial Board and every 2^nd and 4^th Friday of the month for the entire staff.

Section 2.      Meetings shall be held for the purpose of assessment of every task, division of tasks, planning, and conceptualization plus other matters.

Section 3.      The Editor in Chief shall call and preside all the meetings. Special meetings shall be called by the Editor in Chief at his discretion or upon the notice of the Editorial Board for nay purposed deemed to be necessary.

Section 4.      Order of the meetings shall be as follows:

1.      Call to order.

2.      Roll Call

3.      Determination of quorum

4.      Reading and approval of minutes

5.      New business

6.      Adjournment

Article VIII

HOUSE RULES

Section 1.      All students shall observe discipline under the roof of The Communicator.

Section 2.      Anyone shall not use the name of The Communicator for personal purposes.

Section 3.      All staff shall pay respect to each other.

Section 4.      Personal feud among the members of the institutions shall not affect the efficiency of any staff and shall be settled at the soonest possible time.

Section 5.      Accomplish assignment on time they are expected to be submitted.

Section 6.      Cleanliness shall be observed in the office.

Section 7.      Every staff shall observe visiting hours. Visitors are not allowed to enter the office during official meetings

Section 8.      Every staff shall take good care and watch supplies or materials and keep their maintenance.

Article IX

EDITORIAL BOARD EXAMINATION

Section 1.      The Editorial Board shall continue to hold office, until a new set of successful Editorial Board Examinees are ready and are finalized to take the positions.

Section 2.      The highest positions (Editor in Chief, Associate Editor, Managing Editor) shall be given to the incoming Editorial Board based on the result of the Editorial Board Examination.

Section 3.      The Editorial Board Examination shall be facilitated by the outgoing Editorial Staff who shall also have the privilege to set the criteria which is the basis for the examinees’ score. The criteria shall be objective to accurately reflect the examinee’s competence.

Section 4.      The Editorial Board Examination shall be judged by two (2) prominent writers in the University and one (1) College of Communication Faculty who is knowledgeable in the field of journalism.

Section 5.      In cases such absence of a CoC faculty, the facilitators of the Editorial Board Examination can extend their search outside the college but not outside the University.

Section 6.      The Editorial Board Examination shall be conducted every June.

Article X

AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS

Section 1.      Two thirds (2/3) vote of the members of the Institution can amend any section of the guidelines during meeting/s called for such purpose.