NH Press Association Bylaws
Article 1: Name ……………………………………………………………………………..2
Article 2: Objectives………………………………………………………………………….2
Article 3: Memberships……………………………………………………………………………….3
Article 4: Membership Revocation………………………………………………………………….8
Article 5: Dues…………………………………………………………………………………………8
Article 6: Board of Directors…………………………………………………………………………8
Article 7: Executive Committee……………………………………………………………………..9
Article 8: Officers……………………………………………………………………………………..10
Article 9: Amendments……………………………………………………………………………….10
Article 10: Effective Date……………………………………………………………………………..10
Article 1: Name
This association shall be called the New Hampshire Press Association.
Article 2: Objectives
The objectives of the New Hampshire Press Association are:
To identify and advance the common interests of its members;
To protect the freedom and advance the ethical standards of New Hampshire’s press;
To promote and encourage higher standards of journalism to the benefit of the industry and the public;
To aid and advance the study and teaching of journalism;
To encourage and promote a better understanding between the public and the Press;
To cultivate friendly relations among members of the Press;
To improve the conditions of journalism and journalists by promoting and protecting the principles of
freedom of speech and of the press and the public’s right to know;
To act as an educational center and medium for the dissemination of knowledge and information about
journalism and the news business;
To encourage the interchange of ideas among the members by holding social and business functions,
including, but not limited to, an annual business meeting and a yearly journalism awards contest.
Article 3: Memberships
Section 1 – Application Procedures
All applications for membership will be reviewed and decided upon by the Executive Committee
within 60 days of receipt.
In addition to either accepting or rejecting an application, the Executive Committee may also
determine an applicant’s appropriate membership classification – Regular Member, Associate
Member, Allied Member or Individual Member.
Membership decisions of the Executive Committee may be appealed to the Board of Directors
at its next regularly scheduled meeting; the outcome of the appeal to be determined by
a majority vote of the Board of Directors present.
Section 2 – Membership Classifications
A: Regular Members
Requirements
Must be published for the previous 12-month period.
Must be published in a daily, weekly or monthly cadence and must also bear a
fixed title or name and datelines.
Must be updated no less than once a month.
Must not be published primarily for advertising purposes but be principally
devoted to the dissemination of original local or state news and opinion that
represents at least a minimum of 25 percent of non-advertising content.
Must not serve primarily as a platform to promote the interest and/or opinions of a
special interest group, government, individual or cause.
Must abide by copyright laws.
Follows professionally defined and accepted ethics and standards of journalism
that reflect credit on the Association.
Is published in accepted digital, print or broadcast formats and standards
generally recognized by professional news organizations.
The publication must produce content and employ/contract reporting staff in New
Hampshire.
Must have a known NH-based office of publication and must include direct
contact information in each updated publication.
Privileges/Rights
Regular Member news organizations are entitled to have a voting representative
serve on the Press Association’s Board of Directors and those organizations’
employees are eligible to serve on the Association’s Executive Committee and
hold executive office.
Regular Member news organizations in good standing may vote on elections and
policy issues presented to the Board of Directors during its annual business
meeting, quarterly meetings or any other scheduled meeting.
Regular Member news organizations may also have a representative attend
Executive Committee monthly meetings in a non-voting capacity.
Regular Member news organizations are entitled to participate in the Press
Association’s annual Excellence in Journalism Contest.
Regular Member news organizations and their employees are entitled to be
members of any committees established by the Executive Committee and Board
of Directors to advance the Press Association’s objectives.
Regular Member news organizations are included on the Press Association’s
official business mailing list to receive regular updates on Press Association
News.
B: Associate Members
Requirements
Associate Member organizations include New Hampshire non-news magazines,
trade publications, and periodicals that provide original content, the majority of
which is produced by local staff and/or purchased from recognized news sources.
Associate Member organizations also include colleges and universities, college,
university and high school news outlets, nonprofit associations, law offices and
other organizations interested in furthering the mission of the NHPA and the
future of journalism in New Hampshire.
Associate Member organizations also include candidates for regular membership
that have not been operating in New Hampshire for at least 12 months.
Privileges/Rights
Associate Member organizations may not have representatives hold executive
offices of the Association or vote on elections and policy issues presented to the
Association’s Board of Directors during its annual business meeting, quarterly
meetings, or any other scheduled business meeting.
Associate Member organizations may not have representatives serve on the
Association’s Executive Committee unless elected by the Board of Directors as
non-voting, ex-officio members.
Associate Member organizations may have representatives appointed to be
non-voting ex-officio members of any committees established by the Executive
Committee and Board of Directors to advance the Press Association’s objectives.
As members of Press Association committees, representatives of Associate
Member organizations may advise but cannot vote on official policy decisions.
Representatives of Associate Member organizations may attend the Press
Association’s Board of Directors meetings as non-voting participants.
Representatives of Associate Member organizations may attend the Press
Association’s Executive Committee meetings by invitation.
Associate Member organizations and their representatives are included on the
Press Association’s official business mailing list to receive regular updates on
Press Association News.
Representatives of Associate Member organizations may attend the annual
banquet and other networking events.
C. Allied Members
Requirements
Allied members include organizations closely or directly allied to regular
members of the New Hampshire Press Association that the Executive Committee
and/or Board of Directors determines to be appropriately concerned with
furthering the objectives of the Press Association.
These include but are not necessarily limited to:
Sales representatives.
Advertising agencies.
Public relations firms.
Consultants.
Manufacturers and distributors of supplies, equipment and services employed by
regular members or who are otherwise engaged in supporting the news industry.
News organizations deemed to primarily promote the interests and/or opinions of
special interest groups, individuals or causes.
Privileges/Rights
Allied Member organizations may not have representatives hold executive offices
of the Association or vote on elections and policy issues presented to the
Association’s Board of Directors during its annual business meeting, quarterly
meetings, or any other scheduled business meeting.
Allied Member organizations may not have representatives serve on the
Association’s Executive Committee unless elected by the Board of Directors as
non-voting, ex-officio members.
Representatives of Allied Member organizations may be appointed to be
non-voting ex-officio members of any committees established by the Executive Committee and Board of Directors to advance the Press Association’s objectives.
As members of Press Association Association committees, representatives of
Allied Member organizations may advise but cannot vote on official policy
decisions.
Representatives of Allied Member organizations may attend the Press
Association’s Board of Directors meetings as non-voting participants.
Representatives of Allied Member organizations may attend the Press
Association’s Executive Committee meetings by invitation.
Allied Member organizations and their representatives are included on the Press
Association’s official business mailing list to receive regular updates on Press
Association News.
Allied Member organizations and their representatives may attend the annual
banquet and other networking events.
D. Individual Members
Requirements
Individual members include individuals employed by the Regular Members, as
well as freelance writers, editors, authors, columnists, photographers,
videographers, graphic and web designers who regularly participate in the
production of New Hampshire news and opinion, and uphold the principles of the
Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
Full-time employees of Regular Member news organizations shall be considered
individual members under the umbrella of that organization.
Freelance journalists whose content regularly appears in one Regular Member
news organization can be considered a member of that news organization, with
that organization’s approval.
Individual members also include high school or college students interested in
journalism.
Individual members also include retired editors, reporters, owners and publishers.
Privileges/Rights
Individual members cannot hold executive offices or serve on the Executive
Committee of the association unless authorized by their Regular Member news
organization.
Individual members cannot vote on elections and policy issues presented to the
Association’s Board of Directors during its annual business meeting, quarterly
meetings or any other scheduled meeting, unless they have been designated by
their Regular Member news organization to be its Board of Directors
representative.
Regular Member news organizations may appoint individual members to serve
as voting members of any Association committees established by the Executive
Committee and/or Board of Directors to advance the Press Association’s
objectives.
Individual members not directly affiliated with a Regular Member news
organization may serve as non-voting members of any committees established
by the Executive Committee and/or Board of Directors to advance the Press
Association’s objectives.
Individual members, not serving as the representative of a Regular Member news
organization, may attend the Press Association’s Board of Directors meetings as
non-voting participants.
Individual members may participate in the Association’s annual journalism
contest as prescribed by the contest rules.
Individual members are included on the Press Association’s official business
mailing list to receive regular updates on Press Association News.
Section 4: Membership revocation
Any membership may be revoked for cause by the Association’s Board of Directors at any regular
meeting by a two-thirds vote of the regular members present.
Article 5: Budget, Dues, Fiscal Year
The organization shall operate on a fiscal year, commencing on July 1 and ending on June 30. It shall be the responsibility of the Executive Committee to present a budget covering those dates for approval by the Board of Directors at the annual business meeting in April.
Dues will be approved by the Board of Directors upon the recommendation of the Executive Committee during the Association’s annual business meeting in April.
Membership fees are due July 1 for the ensuing fiscal year.
At the discretion of the board of directors, members who are not current in their dues can be barred from voting at the annual meeting, prevented from holding executive offices and barred from participating in the annual best journalism contest.
Section 6: Board of Directors
Each Regular Member news organization is entitled to appoint one representative to the Board of
Directors.
The Board of Directors is responsible for setting the Association’s primary goals, objectives and
policies.
The Board of Directors shall meet quarterly at a time convenient to members. The schedule for the meetings shall be in January, April, July and October. The annual business meeting in April is where officers will be elected, the Executive Director will present a yearly progress report and the major objectives for the coming year will be established.
Board of Directors meetings may be conducted by the most convenient means possible except for the
annual business meeting which will be conducted in person, except for extraordinary extenuating
circumstances.
Agendas for the quarterly meetings shall be released by the Executive Committee no less than 48
hours in advance.
All members shall be notified of the time, place, and arrangements for the annual meeting no less than 14 days in advance by the Board of Directors.
The April annual business meeting’s agenda will be determined by the Executive Committee and
distributed to members 14 days in advance of the meeting. Any member can request items be added to the agenda no later than seven days before the annual meeting.
Special meetings may be called at the discretion of the Executive Board. The Board of Directors shall
be notified of the time, place, and agenda as soon as possible in advance of such a special meeting.
Section 7 – Executive Committee
There will be an Executive Committee composed of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, the immediate past president, two at-large regular members and as many as five non-voting, non-regular ex-officio members.
The election of officers and other Executive Committee members shall be by a majority vote of the regular members present at the annual April business meeting.
In advance of the annual meeting, the President will appoint a nomination committee to nominate
candidates for election as at large and ex-officio executive committee members at the annual meeting.
Each member organization is allowed one vote. The list of candidates will be distributed to members no less than 30 days prior to the annual meeting. Candidates may also be nominated from the floor.
The Executive Committee will release the list of eligible voters prior to the annual meeting or any other scheduled business meeting. Eligibility will be determined by the principle of “one regular membership, one vote.”
Executive Committee members are elected to two-year terms by the Board of Directors at its annual business meeting. There are no term limits. There is an expectation that the vice president will succeed the president.
Regular Membership organizations shall have no more than one representative on the Executive
Committee at a time.
The Executive Committee governs and conducts the daily business of the NHPA. Business includes but is not limited to: hiring and supervising executive director; managing NHPA finances; running the annual Excellence in Journalism contest; creating and ensuring the success of Association committees; organizing educational seminars for NHPA members; resolving disputes between members; addressing concerns of individual members that have industry-wide relevance.
In addition, the Executive Committee is responsible for implementing the policies established by the Board of Directors.
The Executive Committee shall meet monthly at a time convenient to members. An agenda of the
monthly meetings will be released to the Board of Directors no less than 48 hours in advance.
The meetings may be conducted by the most convenient electronic means possible.
Any disputes between the executive committee and any member will be heard by the full board.
Section 8: Officers
There will be four officers: president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Each will be elected at the Association’s annual business meeting in April by a majority of the votes cast by the Board of Directors present and take office at the conclusion of that meeting. Each officer will serve a two-year term. Officers must be representatives of Regular Member news organizations. There are no term limits.
No person can hold more than one office at a time.
Any officer may resign at any time by notice in writing to the Association, and any officer may be
removed by a ⅔ vote of the Board of Directors present at any regularly scheduled meeting.
The president, with the approval of the Executive Committee, may appoint select committees to
examine issues deemed important to the best interests of the association. At the association’s annual meeting or any other scheduled meeting, regular members by a majority vote can recommend the president appoint select committees.
In advance of the annual business meeting in April, the President will appoint a nomination
committee to nominate candidates for election as officers of the association at the annual April business meeting. Each Regular Member organization is allowed one vote. The list of candidates will be distributed to all members no less than 30 days prior to the annual meeting. Association officers and at-large Executive Committee candidates may also be nominated from the floor during the annual April business meeting.
A vacancy arising in the office of the president by death, resignation, or temporary inability to act shall be filled by the vice president for the remainder of the term or until it is determined by the Executive Committee the president is fit to return.
A vacancy arising in the offices of vice president, secretary and treasurer will be filled by appointment to be made by the president with the advice and consent of the Executive Board.
Article 9: Amendments
These articles may be amended at the annual meeting or at a special meeting by a two-thirds vote of the regular members.
Amendments can be proposed by the board of directors or any regular members so long as they are submitted in time to be included in the annual or special meeting’s agenda.
Article 10: Effective Date
These by-laws shall take effect on October 23, 2021. All existing Press Association memberships in good standing will retain their current status.