Fundamentals
Telling the truth
Accuracy is the overriding value that virtually all journalism organizations agree on. We must strive to report facts accurately or we will lose our credibility. Accuracy is achieved through a combination of commitment, skill, transparency and correction.
We may come across information that’s difficult to verify and turn to the reader for help in confirming or denying it. We will refrain from reporting rumors, etc., because “it’s out there” and if we confirm that a widely read rumor is untrue, we will provide a public service by shooting it down.
Objective journalism attempts to present all sides of a story, and not slant a story so a reader draws the reporter’s desired conclusion. In marketing, the intent is to pursuade the reader to take action from a storyline. Our goal is to deliver an accurate, evidence based story that is compelling for the reader to take healthy action.
- Be honest, accurate, truthful and fair. Do not distort or fabricate facts, imagery, sound or data.
- Provide accurate context for all reporting.
- Seek out diverse voices that can contribute important perspectives on the subject you’re writing.
- Ensure that sources are reliable. To the maximum extent possible, make clear to your audience who and what your sources are, what motivations your sources may have and any conditions people have set for giving you information. When unsure of information, leave it out or make clear it has not been corroborated.
- Correct errors quickly, completely and visibly. Make it easy for your audience to bring errors to your attention.
- If a report includes criticism of people or organizations, give them the opportunity to respond.
- Clearly distinguish fact from opinion in all content.
Conflicts of interest
- Avoid any conflict of interest that undermines your ability to report fairly. Disclose to your audience any unavoidable conflicts or other situational factors that may validly affect their judgment of your credibility.
- Do not allow people to make you dishonestly skew your reporting. Do not offer to skew your reporting under any circumstances.
- Do not allow the interests of advertisers or others funding your work to affect the integrity of your journalism.
Community
- Respect your audience and those you write about. Consider how your work and its permanence may affect the subjects of your reporting, your community and since the Internet knows no boundaries the larger world.
Professional Conduct
- Don’t plagiarize or violate copyrights.
- Keep promises to sources, readers and the community.
- If you belong to a news organization, give all staff expectations, support and tools to maintain ethical standards.
In Practice
Interviewing
- Our organization never pays for interviews.
- Our organization permits interviewees with transcripts to revise their comments to clarify complicated or technical matters.
- Our organization will provide interview subjects with a general idea of our questions in advance.
- Articles and reports must state the method of interviewing (i.e., whether it was in person, by telephone, video, Skype or email) regardless of the situation or context.
Sources: Reliability and Attribution
- We may use sources with a conflict of interest in stories, but details that signal the conflict of interest should be included (e.g. a scientist who conducted a study about a drug's effectiveness when the study was funded by the manufacturer).
- We include source attribution in online stories themselves as well as links, if available, that provide additional information.
Accuracy
- Our staff members must take responsibility for the accuracy of all information that we publish, using an accuracy checklist before publication.
- We should not publish rumors or other information we have not verified.
- If we are unsure of the accuracy of information, we should cite our sources, word stories carefully to avoid spreading false rumors, acknowledge what we don’t know and ask the community’s help in confirming or correcting our information.
Online Commenting
- We have a system that permits individuals to “flag” comments for potential problems, and we review those “flagged” comments in a systematic and timely fashion.
- We do not permit anonymous comments at all.
Quotations
- We will clean up random utterances such as pauses, “um” or “you know” unless they materially alter the meaning.
- We will allow separate phrases of a quote separated by ellipsis. (“I will go to war … but only if necessary,” the president said.)
- We will allow separate phrases of a quote separated by attribution. (“I will go to war,” the president said. “But only if necessary.”)
Withholding Names
- Unless we have a compelling reason to withhold a name, we always publish names of people involved in the stories we cover.
Community Activities
- Our journalists are encouraged to be involved in the community and the issues we cover, but we will disclose these involvements in our coverage.
Gifts, Free Travel and Other Perks
- Our journalists may accept free travel and other gifts if they are financially essential, but we should disclose those gifts in our reporting.
Personal Ethics Statements by Staff
- Our journalists are encouraged to make personal ethics statements, which provide more information about themselves and their attitudes, even though they must follow our corporate values.
- Our organization’s policy prevails if personal ethics codes and organizational policy conflict.
Plagiarism and Attribution
- We must always attribute all sources by name and, if the source is digital, by linking to the original source.
- When we are using someone else’s exact words, we should use quotatio