NORTH AMERICAN SOCCER REPORTERS
Bylaws, Goals, Procedures

Section I: Goals

• To promote the work of soccer journalists in North America.
• To provide a unified voice among the journalists in regards to access, cooperation and information from organizations such as but not limited to The United States Soccer Federation, Major League Soccer, the United Soccer Leagues, the National Soccer Hall and the National Collegiate Athletics Association.
• To provide a network of resources for both journalists and editors.

Section II: Membership

• Will be open to soccer reporters whether in print, television, radio or internet regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual persuasion or language.

Section III: Leadership

A) The Executive Officers

• President: Oversee the organization, provide monthly updates, and work in collaboration with the various governing bodies to express concerns or praise regarding the NASR members.
• Vice President: The president’s chief officer will aide the president and fulfill his duties in the absence of the president. Conduct the annual review detailed in Section IV-E.
• Vice President (Spanish Language Media): Act as a liaison for Spanish speaking journalists and the NASR and the organizations covered by NASR members.
• Secretary: Organize and maintain all voting done by the organization whether on internal matters such as elections or amendments or external topics, such as league awards, etc.
• Communications Director: Maintain the organization’s website with daily links to blogs, video, stories, audio, etc.
• Treasurer: manage the organization’s funds, collect dues, pay outside vendors such as web-hosting etc.
• Officer At Large: assist all other officers when needed for projects, correspondence, information gathering etc.

The executive officers will have voting rights on all matters where membership wide voting is unnecessary.

B) Regional Representatives

A regional representative will be named from each of the four U.S. regions as defined by USSF. Regional representatives will not vote on executive officer issues but may be called up to represent the organization at events within their respective regions as necessary. They will also be in charge of recruiting and member retention for their areas.

C) Officer Elections

Officers will be elected on an annual basis through internet voting arranged by the active secretary. Elections will take place the first week of December and go into affect the following January.

D) Dismissal

Members can be removed from the organization for incidents such as plagiarism, libel, slander, reckless disregard for journalistic standards or behavior detrimental to the overall goals and ideals of the organization.
Any reporter subject for dismissal will be permitted to explain the incidents which led to a proposed dismissal. If after review by the executive officers it is determined that there are legitimate grounds for dismissal, membership will vote and a two-thirds majority will be required for the reporter’s dismissal.

E) Voting internal matters

All voting for internal matters done by the executive officers will be done with full disclosure to the NASR membership with results published on the NASR website.
All voting for internal matters done by the membership such as officer election will be done through private ballot.

F) Voting external matters

All voting for matters such as Players of the Week, Hall of Fame or other such annual honors will be done with full disclosure with the results published on the NASR website.

Section IV: Objectives

A) The membership will maintain the organization’s website which will feature but not limited to, daily hyperlinks to the work of all members regardless of the medium. Provide online chats with reporters, debates or other articles. Post election results. Post any updates or news relevant to the membership.

B) The organization will create a member/stringer database to provide editors a resource for utilizing NASR members for freelance or full time employment.

C) The organization will maintain an editor database to promote, provide updates, news and information about the organization and its members among news outlets.

D) The organization will conduct annual award competitions for reporters. Competition voting will be conducted through the president who will be unable to submit his/her own material for that year. The president will find independent judges outside the organization such as professors, editors or retired journalists, etc. Bylines and the name of the publishing media will be eliminated for the purpose of judging. Entries will be assigned numbers by the president en lieu of bylines before the materials are presented to the judges.

E) Provide an annual review to the organizations covered by NASR membership in regards to media availability, cooperation, information, etc. The review will be sent to the membership, the organizations, the editors/publishers/producers of the NASR members and the general public via the NASR Web site.