I think it's best that I clarify not just on my current positions, but the history of thought that has gone into NBS to clear up some of the confusion that I've noticed.
In the early days of NBS, eleven episodes were produced under the TNP NBS banner using Mixlr and Google Drive to publicize the recordings. These shows were intended as a political podcast to routinely discuss recent TNP and NS events in an open forum, allowing each person to share their own opinions. As private citizens, it is obvious that these opinions are not necessarily representative of official TNP government views, and there was never any misunderstandings in this regard. Following the eleventh broadcast, NBS essentially went inactive for many months.
That is, until I joined The North Pacific and took interest in
bootsie radio and
NBS, uncovering each old episode with an eagerness to approach each episode as a sort of time capsule from the past. It wasn't long before I wanted to bring the program back, and build it into something TNP could be proud of. Inspired by
Europeia's EBC Radio, I took to creating TNP Tutorial videos in an effort to help other newcomers like myself become interested in NS. Soon enough, I hosted episode twelve of the official NBS show, and a few more shows after that. By then I was Minister of Communications, and the NBS videos that followed were continuations of that progress. NBS never really grew to its full potential, but that was one of the ideas upon which I built my delegacy campaign.
I'd really like to see NBS become much more active, but in order for that to happen, it can't just be two people who know how to record and upload episodes. I had hoped that NBS could be a real boon to all of the Ministries, and serve as an outlet for all sorts of new shows in official capacities. I had an idea that TNP's University could take on the TNP Tutorial Series and build it into a huge archive of public help videos, guiding and training newcomers in our regional dynamic and Ministry functionalities. This could help both with recruitment and retention. Additionally, I had hoped that TNPU could use NBS to sponsor debates on a wide variety of topics, including potentially IRL ones. The Ministry of Culture was also planning on using NBS to help promote RP, and WA Affairs could use NBS to showcase particularly important IFVs or train newcomers on WA resolution writing, WALL, and how the WA works in detail.
Moreover, the more people are involved, the more active NBS will be. A great way of encouraging that is to allow people to produce their own shows and post it on the platform. These ideas were first expressed in January of this year, when I made a post describing a handful of
show ideas that could be worked into the NBS banner. This is a vital step for NBS to become more active and interesting.
Furthermore, I made a specific effort to integrate private news sources into the NBS platform. Doing so makes it easier for private citizens to find content they like, which boosts view counts, and it's just a lot easier because people don't have to subscribe to multiple separate YouTube channels. It's like having to access a new Discord server each time you switch topics. One of the great things behind my idea for NBS was that an integrated platform would help drive activity, and frequent uploads would draw viewers to the platform.
This was my vision for NBS, and I hoped it would be a centerpiece of my delegacy.
Naturally - and as before - the same policy applies that private citizens speak only on their own behalf, and TNP government views are not necessarily a part of that. Additionally, I made sure to put a disclaimer at the start of each NBS News Show I have personally produced stating as such. In fact, the wide majority of the content already on NBS is not government opinion, so much so that you'd be hard pressed to find anything that is.
When the topic of NBS shows was brought up in VC the other day, I encouraged Wonderess to create his own show. If we're going to have third-party creators post on NBS, it's only fair that we do not discriminate based on the content of those shows. If someone isn't interested, then they can just skip that one. Furthermore, I felt that it would violate his freedom of speech and freedom of religion as is enshrined within the Bill of Rights of our region to refuse him.
When NBS then made its first Catholic Show recording, there was an outpouring of outrage against the concept. While I had expected some to disagree with the contents of the show, I had not expected outright hostility against the idea itself. However, the questions they posed make a certain amount of sense, and is something that was going to come up eventually.
It is natural to wonder, at some point, where we draw the line on content that is published on our platform. The policy at that time was that all content published must first be screened by the Ministry of Communications, and that any obviously offensive or inherently inappropriate material would be barred from access to the platform. While ideally, NBS shows would focus only on NS-related content, I was not averse to having non-NS content featured, as can be seen by the sports channel that was to be hosted by Bobberino (which unfortunately never happened), and the TNPU debates I was looking forward to.
In my conversations in #northern_broadcast_service and in private last night, I spoke with a pretty large handful of people. I read comments made by Robespierre, bootsie, Darcania, Wonderess, Dino, McM, UM, Brendog, and I'm sure a few others. Through those conversations, it became apparent to me that there was a need for clarification on the intent of NBS and perhaps a change in policy. Simply allowing any content on the platform is clearly not going to work, and as more non-NS material gets posted on the YouTube channel, the greater the likelihood that someone will object to controversial topics being given an amplified voice on the platform.
Simply barring non-NS-related content from the YouTube channel makes a certain amount of sense. While such a blanket ban may accidentally catch IRL-based shows that most everyone may support (like IRL election coverage/debates), it prevents the platform from being abused. It provides a clear-cut way for the Ministry of Communications and TNP government to make rulings based on what can and can't be published on the platform without having to judge the subjective value or intent of the production.
The idea was floated that a separate Private Media YouTube channel could be created to clearly and unquestionably distinguish privately produced media from official TNP-sponsored NBS media. However, this Private Media YouTube channel would still be under the Ministry of Communication's purview, and thus a part of the TNP government. It would still be a location in which shows published here would be given an amplified voice based on the platform they're on. That's the reasoning for why the Private Media YouTube channel should be restricted to NS-only topics if the main NBS YouTube channel is. Not doing so would mean that we may as well have all content on the same YouTube Channel, and distinguish between government endorsed content and private media via the use of playlists (the former policy).
While the argument can be brought that restricting any given show is a violation of a citizen's freedom under the TNP Bill of Rights by discriminating against their free speech - or in this case to religion, this rule - while created in response to this controversy - would not bar any specific religion or way of thinking; it would go further to bar any non-NS related content. Doing so does not prevent creators from creating their own podcasts and publishing them on their own YouTube channels, and it does not prevent them from promoting that content independently. As such, I feel that, while strict, this is a fair policy.
This reasoning led me to post the following last night in response to the concerns that were raised:
Any show posted on TNP youtube platforms **must** be NS-related. Furthermore, the NBS youtube channel will be split up. All official NBS shows will remain on the NBS Channel, and any NS-related private media sources will be posted on a new, specifically private media channel. Only the official NBS channel will be actively promoted, but the private media channel will continue to be maintained. Not necessarily all media posted on the official NBS will represent government opinions, but they will be government run shows. Any citizen that seeks to publish non-NS related material is free to do so on their own youtube channel, but that sort of content will not be contained either within the official NBS or Private Media channels. For clarity: TNP University will be allowed to publish through private media, but only specifically NS-related content will be posted on the private media account.
This addresses the concerns of a need for a distinction between officially produced NBS content and the private media I would like to promote. It also prevents a slippery slope of IRL topics from becoming commonplace on the Private Media Youtube channel, allowing TNP's government to make clear judgements as to what content should and should not be posted.
