Editorial Standards & Ethics

What these standards are for

These are the rules Riverdale Standard works to, written down so readers can hold us to them. They apply to all ten desks: world news, business, technology, science, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, auto and gaming. A gaming story and a story about a coup are held to the same standard of accuracy, sourcing and fairness. The subjects differ; the discipline does not.

Accuracy comes first

We publish what we can verify. Every fact in a story should be traceable to a document, a record, a direct observation or a named or identified source, and the story should tell the reader which. A claim we could not verify is either left out or presented as an unverified claim, with that word. Being first is worth something; being right is worth more, and when the two conflict we hold the story. The fact checking policy describes how verification works in practice.

Independence

No advertiser, studio, publisher, manufacturer, club, federation, government, party or campaign influences what we cover or how. Advertising is served through a network and no advertiser identity is part of editorial planning. Nobody outside the newsroom sees a story before it is published. We accept no payment for coverage, no payment to withhold coverage, no payment to place or remove a link, and no gifts of more than nominal value from anyone we cover. Travel and access for reporting are paid for by us; where a story could not have been done without an organisation’s assistance, the story says so.

Sourcing and attribution

Sources are named whenever possible. When we quote a person, we say who they are and in what capacity they spoke. When we rely on a document, we identify it well enough for a reader to find it. Phrases such as “sources say” and “people familiar with the matter” without further identification are not acceptable attribution on this site. A business story names the filing and the period; a sports story names the official record; a science story names the paper and the journal.

Anonymous sources are used only when the information is important, cannot be obtained on the record, and the source has a real reason to fear the consequences of being named. An editor must know the source’s identity and approve the use. The story explains why the source is not named and what position they are in to know what they claim. Anonymity is never granted to allow someone to attack another person or organisation without accountability, and never to communications staff to spin their own announcement.

Fairness

People and organisations criticised in a story are given a genuine chance to respond before publication, with enough detail about the allegation and enough time to answer it. The response is reported fairly and prominently, not buried. Where someone declines to comment, we say so. Where we could not reach them, we say what we tried. Fairness does not mean false balance: a claim contradicted by the evidence is reported as contradicted, not as one of two equal views.

Covering conflict, disaster and grief

World news often involves people on the worst day of their lives. We do not publish the names of victims before their families have been told where we can avoid it. We do not show the dead or the dying gratuitously. We approach the bereaved once and accept a refusal. We report casualty figures with their source and treat early numbers as provisional. We describe atrocities accurately without amplifying the people who commit them for attention.

Review copies, access, travel and embargoes

Devices, vehicles, games, screenings, hotel stays and event access supplied for review are disclosed in the review, along with how long we used them and under what conditions. A loan or a hosted trip does not buy a verdict, and we do not accept access on the condition that coverage be favourable, be shown to the provider before publication, or omit any topic. Where we could not have reviewed something without the provider’s help, we say so and let the reader weigh it.

Embargoes are agreements about timing and nothing else. We honour an embargo we have agreed to, and we agree to one only when the terms are written down in advance. An embargo does not restrict what we say, who we ask, or whether we report information we obtained independently before the briefing. Briefings offered on the condition that we cannot disclose that the briefing took place are declined.

Financial interests and betting

People who write or edit business coverage do not trade in the securities or tokens they cover, and they disclose their holdings to an editor. People who cover sports do not bet on the competitions they cover. Nobody acts on information obtained through reporting before it is published, and nobody shares it with anyone who might. A story is never timed, held or shaped to benefit any position.

Opinion, analysis and reviews

News stories report; they do not argue. Where we publish opinion, analysis or a review, it is labelled and the label is visible, and the piece is kept separate from news coverage of the same subject. Analysis is the reasoned view of the writer and is not a recommendation to buy, sell, book, back or avoid anything. Reviews state the reviewer’s basis: what was tested, under what conditions, for how long, and what was compared.

Headlines, images and captions

A headline must be supported by the story beneath it. It may not promise more than the story delivers, imply a conclusion the story does not reach, or state as fact something the story attributes. Images must show what the caption says they show. File photographs, stock images, renderings, screenshots and illustrations are identified as such. We do not alter news photographs beyond routine cropping and exposure adjustment, and we do not create synthetic images of real events or real people and present them as photographs.

Plagiarism, originality and conflicts

We do not present other people’s work as our own. Reporting that originated elsewhere is credited to where it originated. A reworded version of someone else’s exclusive is still someone else’s exclusive. Quotations are exact; where we tidy grammar in a spoken quote we do not change meaning, and where we cut, we mark it. Staff and contributors disclose to an editor any financial interest, employment history, family relationship, advisory role, political involvement or business connection that touches a story, and they do not cover subjects where such a conflict exists.

Errors and accountability

We correct errors openly under the corrections policy. Readers who believe we have breached these standards can write to support@riverdalestandard.com; complaints are read by an editor not involved in the story and are answered in writing. These standards are reviewed when the corrections log or a complaint shows they need to be, and changes are published on this page.