Communications: June 2019 Report

Comms has a few concrete goals every term that we spend a great deal of time working toward achieving. This term we added even more as we try to ramp up and expand what this ministry can do. Considering where we expected to be at this time, and where we need to be if we are to accomplish the goals we laid out at the start, we are doing just fine. The first issue of TNS was released on schedule, the next issue of TNL is still on track to be completed by its deadline, and with three shows posted in successive weeks, NBS is on track to form a pattern of at least one show a week. They are all different sorts of shows showcasing a bit of the variety we could have going forward.

This work isn't without its challenges, of course. I have had to learn a lot in a very short amount of time and the first news show took a week to get edited and published. This was entirely due to me and my circumstances, as is evident by the fact our second broadcast was published before that news show, and was out within a day of being recorded. It can be done and I hope it will be done this way in the future now that I have a better grasp of the tools and have made pretty much run into every obstacle that they had for me. For the next editing period I will employ a different program that does not leave an intrusive watermark, and I will do all audio editing through Audacity. The next recording I do will have muted Discord sounds. I know how to do all of the actual work now so it should take me less time as I don't have to clumsily figure it all out again. And when I record another show, I will aim to avoid a holiday weekend where people's schedules are more difficult and I will have less time to work on the editing. Perhaps most of this sounds like obvious ideas, but it goes to show one cannot just "wing it" when it comes to running these radio shows.

TNL is on schedule by virtue of having several more weeks before its deadline, but with only enough tentative commitments to meet the minimum goal of articles for the issue, it's a very unstable situation at the moment. A few more commitments and drafts in the days ahead could turn that around, but thankfully we have a bit of time before we have to worry too much about it. Our slate this issue looks like it will be mostly foreign authors, though this balance can and likely will change as our in-house authors submit work, some of which may be run if the outside authors are unable to complete their work.

We saw some excitement with the controversy over the first private media show that had nothing to do with NS. It led to a major change in how our TNP University is run. Going forward this ministry will respect the Delegate's decision to keep non-NS topics out of our output, and will operate purely NS-based shows. This does not diminish our desire to showcase more private media and unique show ideas, but for the time being our schedule ahead will continue to produce at the very least Boostie radio, news shows, and one on one or singular voices drilling down into particular topics (the idea is not to exclusively do interviews, especially since we had two with Bootsie's show and the Robespierre interview).

My deputy has laid out the projects we have completed and are still to complete this term. I have no reason to anticipate delays or an inability to complete them all at this time. It's been challenging but we have some cool projects and toys to play with and it's well worth the effort thus far.

-Ghost

Legend (Key):

* denotes a larger scale project such as TNS, TNL, RPR, or NBS
^ denotes a smaller, subsequent assignment or task to a project

Thus far into the administration of our newly-elected Delegate, @El Fiji Grande, the Ministry of Communications here in the North Pacific has completed the following tasks:

[1.] The North Star (TNS) Issue VIII Planning^ (Completed 13 May 2019)
[2.] The North Star (TNS) Issue VIII Publication & Release* (Completed 1 June 2019)
[3.] DRAFT for TNS VIII: May General Elections Summary^ (Submitted 26 May 2019)
[4.] DRAFT for TNS VIII: NPA Bulletin^ (Submitted 26 May 2019)
[5.] DRAFT for TNS VIII: The Spotlight #19^ (Submitted 14 May 2019)
[6.] DRAFT for TNS VIII: WA Digest^ (Submitted 29 May 2019)
[7.] DRAFT for TNS VIII: RA Highlights^ (Submitted 29 May 2019)
[8.] CODING for TNS VIII: Off-Site Distribution^ (Completed 2 June 2019)

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At the present date, the Ministry of Communications (under the leadership of newly-appointed Minister @Pallaith) is actively working to complete the following projects:

[1.] The Northern Lights (TNL) Issue XXIX Planning* (Started 25 May 2019)
[2.] The North Star (TNS) Issue IX Planning* (Started 2 June 2019)
[3.] DRAFT for TNS IX: NPA Bulletin^ (Assigned 2 June 2019)
[4.] DRAFT for TNS IX: The Spotlight #20^ (Assigned 2 June 2019)
[5.] DRAFT for TNS IX: WA Digest^ (Assigned 2 June 2019)
[6.] DRAFT for TNS IX: RA Highlights^ (Assigned 2 June 2019)
[7.] Communications Point & Ranking System Update* (Ongoing)
[8.] Weekly Northern Broadcast Service (NBS) Shows* (Ongoing)

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In accordance with the Ministry of Communications' point and ranking system that was introduced and implemented by former Minister of Communications, @El Fiji Grande, the following totals have been accumulated and accounted for in an effort to update the program:

GUIDELINES:

• FIVE (5) points are awarded to a member of the Executive Staff serving the Ministry of Communications when they author lengthy articles for the Northern Lights.
• THREE (3) points are awarded to a member of the Executive Staff serving the Ministry of Communications when they participate in a Northern Broadcast Service show.
• TWO (2) points are awarded to a member of the Executive Staff serving the Ministry of Communications when they assist in editing articles and formatting publications.
• ONE (1) point is awarded to a member of the Executive Staff serving the Ministry of Communications when they write a short governmental report for the North Star.

Click to expand...

INTERNAL BREAKDOWN:

As of the thirteenth (13th) of May in the year two-thousand and nineteen (2019), the most up-to-date totals for each member of the Executive Staff serving the Ministry of Communications' term points were calculated. In addition, on the same day, each member of the Executive Staff serving the Ministry of Communications' legacy points were also recorded. Keep in mind, both a member's term points and legacy points are cumulative. Meaning that in such a case where an Executive Staffer was to appear on and participate in ten shows brought to you by the Northern Broadcast Service (NBS). they would accumulate thirty points in total that would culminate into their total points for the term.

The only difference between the two values being that term points reset upon the conclusion of each four-month period, whereas legacy points are constant and do not reset. With that being considered, here are the newest totals for each member of the Ministry of Communications:



(DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that you, as a viewer on this thread, will have access to all of the links herein as they relate to the appropriate destinations for each project completed or for each project currently in-progress. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact either the Minister of Communications @Pallaith or myself - Deputy Minister @Robespierre.)