(Established by Management Committee Resolution: M-2025-M18-M4)
(Updated by Management Committee Resolution: M-2026-M12-M3)
Purpose:
To ensure that all public media releases issued by Better Transport Queensland (BTQ) reflect the organisation’s values, strategic messaging, and collective endorsement.
Scope:
This bylaw applies to all official media releases intended for public distribution.
Spokesperson Assignment:
Any member of the Management Committee (MC) or any member appointed by MC resolution forms a pool of authorised spokespeople, and any one of them may assign themselves to a draft MR on their initiative. MC may reallocate the media release to another spokesperson at their discretion.
Spokespeople must uphold the policy platform, accurately represent BTQ’s positions, and confine their commentary to matters relevant to the association’s objectives. They must also clearly differentiate between official policy and any personal interpretation of the association’s values.
Approval Requirements:
A media release (MR) must be approved by three distinct members via public reply in the draft topic:
- The authorised spokesperson named on the media release
- One member of the Management Committee (MC)
- Any financial member of the association, including members of the Management Committee (MC) or Working Committee (WC)
Approvers must:
- Provide editorial sign-off and confirm alignment with BTQ’s public messaging strategy
- Ensure that the media release is not inconsistent with the policy platform or any provisional stance
- Affirm that the media release aligns with the values and goals of the association
Media releases are not contingent on unanimous member support and may be issued once the required approvals have been obtained.
Procedure:
- The Draft MR is presented in the Draft Media Release category for member input.
- The author of the media release must indicate via reply when the media release is ready for approval.
- For collaborative media releases, any co-author is able to indicate that the media release is ready for approval.
- Once the original author/s have handed off the release, it becomes the assigned spokesperson’s responsibility to make editorial changes and expedite the release.
- Each approver must provide written confirmation of approval in the replies.
- Once all three approvals are received, the MR may be published or distributed.
Exceptions:
Mechanical Errors
Mechanical errors in an approved media release may be changed without reapproval. Mechanical errors include:
- Spelling mistakes
- Grammar errors
- Punctuation errors
- Capitalisation errors
- Formatting issues