These practices and principles are culled from the interviews that comprise this module. As you can see, there is consensus on some and disagreement on others.
- Local news sites define news more broadly than larger news organizations and publish items and stories that traditional newsrooms might pass on.
- The closer a news site is to its community, the more its story choices are likely to be questioned.
- Standards vary widely, but most sites draw some sort of line at posting many of the names (and photos) in police reports.
- The line is often based on severity of the incident or charge. Most sites say they’ll also omit the names of minors.
- Some try to report only on “public figures,” but that’s a difficult distinction to draw.
- Some sites say they won’t publish a name unless they can commit to following the case’s progress and disposition.
- A few sites post whatever information the police provide, in full (as do some larger local news organizations).
- Google and search mean any report can follow someone forever; one company’s “sunset” policy deletes all police items after six months.
- Use of information users provide to your site is limited both by law and by your own privacy policy and terms of use. Be careful how you use it.
- The closer a news outlet is to the community it covers, and the smaller that community is, the more likely it is that readers will recognize a face, a name, or a license plate. Keep that in mind in coverage of crimes, accidents and similar stories.
- Sometimes journalists choose to violate a story subject’s privacy in the cause of some greater community good. If you do, think it through, and be prepared for a storm.
- Many sites treat “friend-only” Facebook profile material as private information. Most treat tweets as public statements.
- Editors need to consider that reports in social media are often unverified.
- Twitter can be a forum for fast story feedback, information vetting, and ethical debate.
- Most sites lack explicit written policies or guidelines, though a handful have invested the time and resources to create them.
- Many editors rely on internal compasses, often shaped by their professional journalism careers.
- With or without company policies, the best decisions get made when more people participate in the discussion.
- Volunteer contributions from members of a local community allow small news sites to widen and deepen coverage in non-traditional ways.
- Clearly label the source of community-contributed content.
- Be transparent about contributors’ backgrounds and surface any potential conflict of interest.
- Some local news sites adhere to the tradition of journalistic impartiality and avoid advocating one side of public controversies.
- Others – probably the majority – embrace the alternative tradition of either representing a particular community point of view, promoting specific issues, even crusading for particular causes.
- In smaller organizations it’s much harder to compartmentalize “news” and “opinion,” or reporters and columnists – even if you want to.
- The majority of sites we talked to try to enforce a policy requiring commenters to use their real names.
- Many sites moderate all comments, reviewing them before they’re published. This takes lots of time and inhibits direct conversation, but protects discussions from shills, trolls, spammers and, potentially, libel suits.
- A few sites believe commenters have a right to anonymity, understanding that allowing anonymous comments demands extra vigilance in monitoring them.
- Separate editorial and business roles where you can – but accept that it’s sometimes impossible in smaller shops.
- Be forthright with advertisers and funders about exactly what they’re buying.
- Identify advertisers when you write about them or topics that relate to their business.
- Tell readers about any line-blurrings that make you think twice.
- When a story is edited post-publication, most sites make an effort to note the change.
- Site editors place errors into three rough categories (though these distinctions can be hard to draw):
– Major substantive errors, misquotations and factual mistakes are fixed in the story and noted in a correction notice.
– Minor errors are often corrected via strike through.
– Trivial typos are usually corrected without notice.
- Some sites are beginning to provide Wikipedia-style “history” or “revisions” features that let readers track all changes made to a story after its initial publication.
- Most sites won’t take down a whole story or post after it’s published except in the rarest of circumstances, and any such “unpublishing” calls for an explanation to readers.
- Local news sites generally look askance at accepting anything more valuable than a cup of coffee.
- Like many larger news organizations, they do often accept free tickets to entertainment events for review purposes.
