At the heart of Indymedia is the principle of "Open Publishing", which allows anyone to self-publish their work on the IMC web sites. The IMC Newswire encourages people to become the media by posting their articles, videos, audio clips, photos and artwork directly to the web site using the "Publish" form.

Indymedia relies on the people who post to present their information in a thorough, honest, accurate manner, but has no control over what people post. After an article has been posted, it can be hidden from the Newswire by the NYC IMC editorial collective. The current NYC IMC editorial guidelines appear here.

Indymedia also encourages community dialogue through the "add your own comments" link at the bottom of each post. This link goes to a publish page where a person can add further information, refute stated information and/or discuss the post. The comments are then added in chronological order to the original post, sometimes making for lively discussion.

Read More on Indymedia and Open Publishing:

Open publishing is the same as free software
by Matthew Arnison

Punk Planet: The DIY Ethic and Some Practical How-To's
by Various Authors

IMC: A New Model by Dorothy Kidd

Indymedia Essay Collection
by Various Authors

Citizen Journalism
by Wikipedia