In its highest form, journalism is the dissemination of accurate information and provocative commentary. Bakersfield Express (BE) commits to that vision and to putting service to the reader and to the common good above any special interest or economic, political, or philosophical agenda. This is best achieved, we believe, through a multiplicity of views on a range of topics. We recognize and fully embrace the great privilege attached to First Amendment protections and vow to accept the corresponding duties. Chief among those duties are independence, competency, honesty, and respect for others. Specifically:

• BE journalists — whether paid professionals or community contributors — will strive for genuine independence. They will avoid conflicts of interest that could imperil their ability to report or the credibility of their reporting. They will not accept gifts or favors from people or entities they cover from persons who might seek to influence coverage.
  • While these standards are less stringent for community commentators — as opposed to those providing news coverage — they too should strive for fair and even-handed analyses, ones not motivated by material gain.
  • In cases where contributors are writing about organizations they represent, BE will clearly disclose the author’s relationship to the subject matter. BE journalists may not involve sources with which they have a business or financial interest.
  • BE is non-profit and thus less susceptible to market whims. We must, however, produce sufficient income to fund operations. We recognize the associated temptations to orient content solely around market research and metrics but commit to keep our primary purpose — dissemination of socially vital information — as our driving force.
  • Sponsors and donors of BE support our overall mission, but will not sway our editorial decision making.
• BE adheres to the distinction between news and opinion and will clearly label articles and commentaries accordingly. The open environment provided by the Web makes the blurring of these lines easier and more frequent. BE will strive to clearly delineate the respective categories.
• BE seeks a variety of styles and tones, within limits of editorial appropriateness (including clarity and civility).
• BE insists on honest reporting in all cases. This includes such obvious considerations as fabrication and plagiarism. We extend the duty, though, to such more subtle concerns as the following:
  • BE reporters, in the performance of that work, must clearly identify themselves as such;
  • Contributors cannot use pseudonyms; and
  • Reporters will not rely on anonymous sources for other than deep background.
• BE recognizes that nearly all news coverage — especially news images — violates persons’ privacy. We do not adhere to a minimalist legal standard, but instead consider such violations to occur any time information about a person or persons is revealed to others without their consent. Such violations must, thus, be justified by a more powerful competing moral good, e.g., public safety or other significant community benefit.
• BE recognizes that news organizations hold considerable power and via such can cause great harm to subjects and sources — economic harm, reputational harm and emotional harm. We will thus always strive to mitigate such harms and commit them only when justified by a competing moral good.
• BE’s reporters and editorial staff will always strive to treat persons — especially subjects, sources and readers — with respect, never treating them as mere tools for our publishing goals.
• BE’s fundamental purpose is to enhance the vibrancy of conversation over vital social issues and values. We thus seek contributors from all walks of life. Those contributions, however, must adhere to basic journalistic standards, including:
  • Appropriate style and grammar, as these contribute to story clarity;
  • Civil discourse; and
  • Community standards of decency—for example, we will always edit obscene material, ethnic, racial or religious slurs, copyright or trademark infringements, and unwarranted personal attacks.

We thus retain the right and the duty to edit contributions as per these criteria. To maintain decency on the website, we also retain the right and duty to edit comments on stories as well.

• BE will strive for transparency in all we do, including (as noted above) clear identification of contributors and sources, as well as background for information — e.g., Web links and other research avenues. Provision of such information, especially of Web links, does not signify an endorsement of those sites, and the reader should also be aware those sites may have editorial standards different than our own.

We are deeply grateful to The Poynter Institute, and especially to Robert Steele, for permission to build off, and in a few cases to use direct quotations from, “Online Journalism Ethics: Guidelines from the Conference” (http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=117350&sid=26).

Last updated: May 13, 2010