The Danby Area News (Danby News or DAN) is published monthly by the Danby Community Council. It is primarily funded by the Town of Danby, with lesser contributions by the United Way and advertiser/sponsors.
Issues are formatted into eight to twelve 8.5x11 pages. They are printed and mailed to approximately 1425 recipients. Almost all recipients are Danby residents. Some issues are mailed, by request, to individuals and groups outside Danby including Danby-related community groups and former residents.
Typically, the copy deadline for an issue of DAN is the 15th of the previous month. After layout, the issue is sent to a print shop for duplication around the 20th. Address labels are applied and the issues are delivered to the Post Office around the 24th. The goal is to have the DAN delivered before the 1st of the month.
About 2/3 of the issues are mailed using a carrier-route sort, addressed to "Postal Patron." Many addresses, however, are not contained within contiguous delivery routes. As a result, approximately 1/3 of the issues are individually addressed.
Historically, there have been infrequent flare-ups of individual sentiment about the DAN content, generally in relation to perceived bias (political or otherwise).
The DAN is intended to fulfill a community-building role by providing information about life and living in the Town of Danby.
The DAN will publish, subject to space limitations and guidelines described in this document, articles, news, event announcements, and other contributions submitted by various Government, Community Organizations, Businesses, and Individuals that are of interest to Danby Residents.
The Editor will try to include as many submissions as possible. If there is not enough space, preference should be given to time-sensitive items.
Submissions generally fall into one of five categories:
Information about official events in Danby will be published when available. Information provided by Town Officials, in their official capacity, will be given preference.
In the absence of an offical communication, information provided by other interested parties may be published. This information should be factual in nature, and should be free of opinion and conjecture.
The editor should make a diligent effort to verify the accuracy of information, regardless of its source. If multiple items are received, relating to the same subject or event but with differing factual content, preference should be given to items received from Town Officials. If the difference involves two or more Town Officials (or two or more individuals), either both or neither of the items should be published.
Space permitting and subject to other guidelines, the DAN will include all items presented by Community Groups and Individuals.
The DAN will not regularly publish information, news, or events that are private or restrictive in nature; that is, news about limited-membership organizations or events that are not open to the public. This includes, but is not limited to, religious groups. The DAN may publish occasional announcements from these groups and organizations, when they describe events that are intended for the general public.
Informative articles may be published when their content is of interest to Danby Residents and space permits. The article should not contain personal or ad hominem attacks. The editor should fact-check the article.
The DAN will publish the schedule for Official Town meetings and, when appropriate, a brief description of the intended agenda.
Space permitting, the DAN may publish the schedule for meetings and events promoted by Community Groups and Individuals. When possible, contact information should be included.
The DAN will publish a Directory of frequently-called Town Offices, along with their business hours.
Prior to a Town election, the DAN may solicit and publish brief statements from the candidates. The statements should be approximately equal length; the editor will inform the candidates of that length, at least five days prior to the submission deadline.
Statements from candidates for a single office should be placed in close proximity for each other. Statements should be published verbatim, as submitted, unless the Editor and Candidate agree on an edited version; however, the Editor should add a note when a statement contains factual errors. If a candidate does not submit a statement, the Editor should substitute a notice that a statement was not submitted.
In addition to the construction of the actual issue, the Editor is responsible for ensuring that the DAN is readable, enjoyable, and appealing. In order to achieve this, the Editor should:
In order to fit a submitted item into the available space or layout, the Editor may excise portions of the text, but should preserve the original intent of the item. When significant changes are required, the Editor is encouraged to submit the item to the author for approval; however, the time-sensitive nature of the production process may take priority over re-approval by the author.
The Editor will not give preference to articles submitted by any group, individual, or Town Official, or to any political party or religious group.