Every story here has a name on it, and the people writing hold each other to the same seven principles. This page is what those are and how they show up on a published story.
Our principles
Inspired by Eugene Meyer's 1935 principles for the conduct of a newspaper.
- Report the truth. Verify before publishing and correct errors promptly.
- Serve the community first. Your duty is to the public.
- Treat people with dignity. Welcome disagreement, seek out other perspectives, and give people the chance to respond.
- Vouch for one another. Journalists earn respect through their work. Readers show it by standing behind them.
- Be honest about AI. It can help you write, and you're responsible for what you publish, including keeping AI-made media truthful.
- No story is too small. Reporting on a school play, a fundraiser or a kitten up a tree helps keep a record of your town.
- Respect over agreement. We promote work the community respects, whether or not people agree with it. How respect works.
Editorial standards
Every story has a byline, and the person or publication behind it is responsible for it. We run the platform. The journalism belongs to the people who make it.
Nobody publishes here without being vouched for by a real person who puts their own name behind them. After a story goes live it gets a story integrity check, six things we look for on the page. We publish all six. The check never blocks a story, and readers never see the result.
Every story shows when it was published. If it's revised, it shows that date too, and archival work republished here keeps its original date. Authors correct their own work, and the correction shows on the story itself. If something looks wrong, flag it through the feedback form and we'll get it to the author.