PUBLICITY GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS

This policy concerns any interaction with any segment of the media that results in any form of publicity, including but not limited to press releases, newspaper and magazine articles, online videos and so on, which will hereinafter be referred to as “publicity.” All members of NYHFA must conform to this policy, and your continuing membership indicates acceptance of the policy.

  1. All publicity involving any mention of NYHFA in any form (e.g. NYHFA, New York Historical Fencing Association, New York HFA, etc.) or displaying any form of branding for the organization (e.g. logos on jackets or tshirts, etc.) must be approved beforehand by the director and/or deputy director.
  2. Any publicity involving any mention of NYHFA must be for the purposes of promoting NYHFA and/or HEMA itself, not self promotion for the person organizing the publicity.
  3. You can not profit financially from any mention of NYHFA or any NYHFA branding.
  4. This policy and all of its conditions include social media, with the exceptions listed below.
  5. This policy and all of its provisions are subject to change without notice.


PUBLICITY THAT HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED

  1. Can not feature any NYHFA branding, such as the NYHFA logo, or patch.  

  2. Can not mention NYHFA by name in any variation.

 

BREACH OF GUIDELINES

Any breach of the NYHFA publicity guidelines may result in expulsion from the group, and or action taken against the publication using the NYHFA branding without consent, including but not limited to demand for retraction and legal action.  


MEDIA AT AN EVENT

If media is present at an event you are attending, or if you are otherwise confronted by the media when you did not set up such a confrontation yourself (whether you knew about it ahead of time or otherwise), then the same exemptions that apply to social media and communicating your own personal experiences apply, under the following conditions:

 

  1. Do not make statements that represent anything other than your own person views and experiences.
  2. You may speak on behalf of NYHFA if you are rank 3 or above or are serving in an appointed office (e.g. treasurer, PR secretary, etc.).
  3. If you are speaking on behalf of NYHFA as per item 2, do not knowingly misrepresent NYHFA. For example, do not represent your own personal views as NYHFA policy or standards, do not misrepresent your role in NYHFA, etc.
  4. Be respectful, polite and refrain from discussing politics, religion or other potentially controversial topics. Keep in mind that one of your responsibilities as a member, be it student or teacher, is to spread awareness of HEMA, particularly as practiced by NYHFA,
  5. If you wish to violate any of the above in an encounter with the media, then do not wear NYHFA branding and do not represent yourself as a NYHFA member. If the media person asks about NYHFA or says that you are a NYHFA member, make it known that you are not representing NYHFA in the interview and are speaking solely as an individual.
     

EXCEPTIONS

Personal social media belonging to you, including personal blog posts, detailing your individual experiences, are exempt from this policy and all of its provisions.