Why should you trust what you read from the Western Wayne News?
We don’t take it for granted that information provided by a news organization like ours will be accepted as trustworthy and factual without scrutiny, and you shouldn’t either.
In today’s media landscape it’s especially important to examine how news is gathered, confirmed and reported, and what factors might be driving or influencing a news organization’s work.
The information below will help you understand the ethics and process that guide our news coverage.
⚖️ We follow a code of ethics
The Western Wayne News follows the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which lays out principles and practices for journalists to follow in their reporting work. The code includes four key directives:
- Seek Truth and Report It
- Minimize Harm
- Act Independently
- Be Accountable and Transparent
You can click through to the entire code document to read more about how these principles are put in to action.
We also follow Associated Press style guidelines for articles, to ensure that our writing is consistent and helpful in its presentation to readers, and that it follows the best practices of our profession.
⁉️ We do not report rumors or speculation
When we become aware of information that might be of interest to our readers, we work to confirm its accuracy directly with the people, organizations and officials who have firsthand knowledge of the situation. We ask for and review official documentation when available.
When information might be sensitive or in dispute, we work to verify it with multiple reliable sources, and we name those sources in our reporting.
We do not allow sources to remain anonymous unless the information they are providing is too important to the public to withhold and there would be a demonstrated and unacceptable risk of harm in naming them.
💰 We do not publish sponsored content
News articles and features appearing in the Western Wayne News are assembled and reported by our team, and we do not allow third parties to pay to have their information, events, or news published in WWN as news. (We encourage and accept tips about information that our readers might want to know about, but whether and how something appears in the paper is solely at the discretion of our journalists.)
When we publish information written by a third party, such as a news article from one of our reporting partners or a quote included in a news release, we provide clear attribution or otherwise make it clear where the information came from.
And while we greatly appreciate the financial support and partnership that our advertisers represent, they do not get to tell us what to report or how to report it.
📣 We clearly label opinion articles
When a letter, news analysis or column is expressing an opinion or personal perspective and has been written outside of our news reporting and editing process, we clearly label it as such.
🧍🏼 News articles are written by humans, not AI
We do not use AI (artificial intelligence, also known as large language models, machine learning, and related terms) to generate the articles we write. We publish and update an AI Usage Statement that details where and how we do make use of AI in our operations.
🕵️ We disclose conflicts of interest
In a small community, our team may have multiple roles. We avoid having reporters cover any topics where they may have a personal affiliation or interest. When that is not possible, we disclose in writing any affiliations or other potential conflicts of interest that may affect our reader’s ability to trust that reporting as independent.
✏️ We gladly correct our errors
If we get something wrong, we own up to it by publishing a correction with the correct information. If we find a news story to be materially inaccurate or otherwise based on problematic reporting practices, we’ll retract it and publish a statement about why we made the retraction.
📸 We do not alter the meaning of photos and videos
Other than light retouching of media to improve the clarity and accuracy of publication in print or online, such as cropping, dodging and burning, conversion into gray-scale, and normal toning and color adjustments, we do not alter or digitally manipulate the content of photos and videos in any way.
We do not use AI or similar technologies to generate or modify photos and videos used in our news coverage.
While we occasionally use stock photography as placeholders for online news coverage, we are careful to not represent those images as being depictions of the subjects of our news stories.
❤️ We use care in reporting on people’s personal lives
We try to avoid causing or amplifying harm to individuals as a part of reporting on news. We try to balance the importance of a news story to local residents against the need for privacy and safety. We avoid publishing stories that are purely salacious in nature without providing any real news value to the community.
We don’t publish the name, addresses, photos or family/community associations of juvenile victims, survivors or perpetrators.
When writing about suicide, sexual assault, harassment and intimidation we generally remove as much identifying information as possible, including family connections, exact age, and circumstances such as where the an attack or incident took place, unless we believe sharing that information could help prevent further harm.
When writing about cases of individual fraud and identity theft we don’t disclose victim details unless specifically encouraged to by the victim as a way to spread awareness about their experience and prevent future harm.
💸 We don’t make donations or political contributions
We generally don’t make donations to organizations and programs in our coverage area; you can read more about our approach to community donations and partnerships.
Neither our reporters nor our ownership make contributions to political parties or candidates active in our coverage area.