Civic Media News Ethics and Standards

Civic Media’s News Ethics and Standards statement includes concepts and language developed by the Radio and Television Digital News Association and our own journalists. These principles are designed to guide journalists working with any news platform, including broadcast channels, websites, mobile devices, video, social media, and live story events.

Civic Media’s journalists are professionals who operate as trustees of the public, seek the truth, report it fairly with integrity and independence, and stand accountable for their actions.

PUBLIC TRUST: 

Our journalists recognize that our first obligation is to the public.  

We:

• Understand that our commitment to public service is the foundation of the Civic Media’s trust and credibility.
• Recognize that service in the public interest creates an obligation to reflect the diversity of the community and guard against oversimplification of issues or events.
• Provide a full range of information to enable the public to make enlightened decisions.
• Fight to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in public.

TRUTH: 

Our journalists pursue truth aggressively and present the news accurately, in context, and as completely as possible.  

We:

• Continuously seek the truth.
• Resist distortions that obscure the importance of events.
• Clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders.

We do not:

• Report anything known to be false.
• Manipulate images or sounds in any way that is misleading.
• Plagiarize.
• Present images or sounds that are reenacted without informing the public.

FAIRNESS: 

Our journalists strive to present the news fairly and impartially, placing primary value on significance and relevance.  

We:

• Treat all subjects of news coverage with respect and dignity, showing particular compassion to victims of crime or tragedy.
• Exercise special care when children are involved in a story and give children greater privacy protection than adults.
• Seek to understand the diversity of their community and inform the public without bias or stereotype.
• Present a diversity of expressions, opinions, and ideas in context.
• Present analytical reporting based on professional perspective, not personal bias.
• Respect the right to a fair trial.

INTEGRITY: 

Our journalists strive to present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest, and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news. 

We:

• Identify sources whenever possible. Confidential sources should be used only when it is clearly in the public interest to gather or convey important information or when a person providing information might be harmed. Journalists should keep all commitments to protect a confidential source.
• Clearly label opinion and commentary.
• Guard against extended coverage of events or individuals that fail to significantly advance a story, place the event in context, or add to the public knowledge.
• Refrain from contacting participants in violent situations while the situation is in progress.
• Use technology with skill and thoughtfulness, avoiding techniques that skew facts, distort reality, or sensationalize events.
• Disseminate the private transmissions of other news organizations only with permission.

We do not:

• Pay news sources who have a vested interest in a story.
• Manipulate the content of interviews without explicit disclosure.
• Use surreptitious news gathering techniques, including hidden cameras or microphones, unless there is no other way to obtain stories of significant public importance and only if the technique is explained to the audience.
• Accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.
• Engage in activities that may compromise the integrity of Civic Media.

INDEPENDENCE: 

Our journalists defend our independence from those seeking influence or control over news content.  

We:

• Gather and report news without fear or favor, and vigorously resist undue influence from any outside forces, including advertisers, sources, story subjects, powerful individuals, and special interest groups.
• Resist those who would seek to buy or politically influence news content or who would seek to intimidate those who gather and disseminate the news.
• Provide appropriate context for our news based on our editorial judgment and Civic Media’s core values, including democracy, truth, and transparency, and not as the result of outside influence.
• Resist any self-interest or peer pressure that might erode journalistic duty and service to the public.
• Recognize that sponsorship of the news will not be used in any way to determine, restrict, or manipulate content.
• Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately.
• Defend the rights of the free press for all journalists, recognizing that any professional or government licensing of journalists is a violation of that freedom.

We do not:

• Provide interview questions to subjects ahead of time, nor accept a predetermined list of questions from subjects.

ACCOUNTABILITY: 

Our journalists recognize that they are accountable for their actions to the public, the profession, and themselves.

We:

• Actively encourage adherence to these standards by all journalists and their employers.
• Respond to public concerns, investigate complaints, and correct errors promptly and with as much prominence as the original report.
• Explain journalistic processes to the public, especially when practices spark questions or controversy.
• Recognize that professional electronic journalists are duty-bound to conduct themselves ethically.
• Refrain from ordering or encouraging courses of action that would force employees to commit an unethical act.
• Carefully listen to employees who raise ethical objections and create environments in which such objections and discussions are encouraged.
• Seek support for and provide opportunities to train employees in ethical decision-making.

In meeting its journalistic responsibility, Civic Media has created this code to identify important issues, to serve as a guide for its employees, to facilitate self-scrutiny, and to shape future debate.