Users browsing this thread:

South Pacific Independent News Network · 10-07-2021, 11:53 PM

OCT. 2021 CABINET ELECTION
Minister of Media

Senior Editor James Halpert sat down with all candidates for Minister of Media to know more about them, their journey in the South Pacific and their ideas for the Ministry of Media.

Floptop

Floptop, as you say in your campaign you have been in the region for around 5 months. Perhaps you can tell us a bit about yourself and your history in the region thus far?

well I joined TSP as soon as I started playing NS. Ive since joined every ministry including OWL and have become a SPSF soldier. When I first joined TSP I knew absolutely nothing about the game since then though i've been able to become pretty knowledgeable about the GP community and the game itself.

It sounds like your focus so far has been on more foreign-facing issues? Or have you also had a hand on issues relating to the "home ministries"?

I've always liked dealing with foreign affairs and such but yes i've also done work in the region such as my work in the Ministry of Engagement and of course my work in the Ministry of Media such as dispatch work for the Ministry of Engagement and the interview i've conducted with our Prime Minister for the Ministry of Media

You had a number of options for this election then. What made you decide that you wanted to run, and specifically for Media?

Well at first I didn't even consider running for office this election since im fairly new to NS and the region but after seeing Moon and HumanSanity nominate me for Minister of Media and thinking about what I can do for the Ministry I decided to run since I truly believe I can better the Ministry. I was also nominated for Minister of Culture but decided not to run for that office since I had less experience in that field.

You mention a number of items in your campaign. One that I think stands out is the promise to release at least one piece of media, be it an article or interview, per week. How feasible do you think that will be?

I think it's very feasible. I see why people would doubt one piece of media per week being possible but I think through proper organization of the ministry I can achieve this. If for some reason this wasn't the case I have no problem writing an article/ conducting an interview myself for every single week this term though I doubt that would be necessary.

That would certainly be one way to do it. Still, wouldn't that option (taking on the work yourself) be a patch that ignores the hypothetical problem of the ministry relying on a single person?

The inactivity problem in the Ministry will be addressed and made a top priority. This will done by boosting recruitment, giving members more of an incentive to work, and much more. Senior Members of the ministry and I will make it a top priority to end the inactivity problem plaguing the ministry during this term.

You also mentioned an interest in running polls to gauge public opinion of government officials. Now this is probably a more obscure or technical-minded question, but how would you ensure that these polls are representative rather than self-selecting?

well the link to the poll will be given on discord and to the game side community as well. The poll won't just say " Rate Minister X from 1 to 10" but would be more focused on things the Minister and their Ministry have done throughout the month and whether people agree with those or not.

It's probably time to wrap things up, but is there anything about yourself or your campaign that you would like to bring up before that?

I know my campaign sounds very optimistic but I truly believe I can achieve all these things. If I don't achieve most of my goals written in my campaign if elected I will not be running for another term.
Thank you so much for having me

Thank you for participating! As always I encourage all voters to check out Floptop's campaign and ask questions so that you are informed before voting.

Rabbitz

We are back with our October 2021 discussion series. This time we have Rabbitz, candidate for Minister of Media.

Hi.
I'm running again.
lol

It’s good to have you here. Thank you for agreeing to participate in this discussion series.
You have run for Minister of Media, albeit unsuccessfully, in all elections since October 2020. Why do you think you came up short in prior elections, and what has changed this time around?

I came up short for the first few because of seniority, then the last few because of extreme measures. This time, since Moon has established enough of a foundation for MoM to not change it drastically, I feel that I should be easier and a lot more moderate in my current stance. That is why there will be no activity sheets, no nothing - just an old rabbit, Grammarly, articles, some puzzles, and a possible MoM Bot.

As you mention, this term the Ministry has managed to release monthly issues, after suggestions by some that not enough was being done. Has the Ministry finally found its footing in terms of sustainable output or are there any issues that you believe still need some adjustment?

Sustainable, in terms of the bare bones monthly issues, as is: yes. Could more be done: yes. If we gain enough writers during my term, we could branch out to events across NS and expand the TSJ; but given the current circumstances, I don't see that happening in such a way to be sustainable. I will, however, try to get more folks coming into MoM by requesting the Local Council to post our MoM ads every now and then on the RMB. In addition, MoM Bot is in the works which will allow MoM to have a solid schedule for planning.

You have mentioned just now, and also in your campaign, a shortage of staff that prevents the Ministry from having a dedicated editing team and overall just more manpower. How serious do you think this issue is and what do you think could be done to address it?

The issue isn't great enough to impact the production of the monthly TSJ or just TSJs in general, but it is great enough to impact whether an article gets manually reviewed. What I plan to solve this is dividing whether an article gets manually edited based on their "heaviness". If the topic is light, such as RP, basic R/D field report etc., they will be self-edited using Grammarly or other; if the topic is heavy, such the Monthly TSJ or a interregional dispute, a small editorial team will be assembled. The above will mostly be a general guideline, especially for the former, allowing for lighter topics to be manually reviewed upon request.

You have also mentioned a MoM bot. Could you explain in more detail what that involves?

The bot will be similar to what OWL bot does, except made for MoM. The bot will hook up to the Google Calendar API once the OAuth and Service Account credentials are filled in and the permissions are granted, allowing for the bot to edit a Google Calendar given a command. For example "!create event Xeno on Monday 5pm - 6pm" will generate an event on Monday at 5pm - 6pm called "Xeno". The bot that I am currently making is a modified design of the Niles bot, with the modifications being I'm trying to add a function that will allow the bot to store separate calendars and their information, and then switch from one to another upon a particular command. Unfortunately, I have run into a few errors, so the project is still in the works.

You propose in your campaign that Southern Journal issues should have an entertainment section. Do you expect this to be just a bonus to the monthly issues or is there a goal of making this section, particularly the puzzles, into a cooperation opportunity with the Ministry of Culture, a way of driving reader involvement if you will?

The goal of it was to add some flavor to the bland TSJ, and to draw reader attention to garner regular readers. After all, who hasn't wanted to know the answers for their NYT crossword puzzle? As for MoC, if they want to get involved to see who can finished the crossword first, then I am all ears.

Like a rabbit.
You say in your campaign that you want to hold two polls a month. How will you ensure that the results are truly representative and adequately reflect regional opinion, as opposed to reflecting only the views of those who happened to pay attention to the announcement?

The poll will be posted on the RMB with the consent of the LC; in addition, the form will have a spot to input their main nation name along with their WA nation . There will also be a section that asks if they are in active duty, and a disclaimer at the top that says if they are in active duty, their primary nation is their "would be" WA nation. In addition, each nation will be validated via a search to see if they are truly in TSP or if they are just a puppet, a puppet being defined as a no purpose nation as to not exclude ambassadors and dual citizens; if they are found to be just a puppet, than their opinion will be discarded. If a puppet is suspected of being an ambassador or a dual citizen, we will send a quick ping to make sure.

Before we wrap things up, would you like to bring up anything else?

I think cake is better than pie.

I can already see Penguin readying for battle.
Thank you again for participating! I encourage all voters to check out Rabbitz's campaign campaign campaign and them questions there so that you can cast an informed vote.

The South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN) is not affiliated with the Government of the South Pacific and any opinions expressed in its publications are those of its authors unless otherwise stated.

(This post was last modified: 10-11-2021, 10:30 PM by South Pacific Independent News Network.)