Website spotlight: Bias and Fairness
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Title
1
Redding Searchlight publishes newsroom ethics
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Milton Independent shifts coverage after receiving reader feedback
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USA TODAY editor shares paper's goals of factual reporting
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Corpus Christi Caller-Times uses opinion labels
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Coloradoan responds to user questions about crime coverage
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Community Impact draws attention to breadth of work
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WEB SPOTLIGHT
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ETHICS: Brand mission and story
ETHICS: Newsroom policies
FAIRNESS: Fairness and objectivity

The Record Searchlight wrote a column explaining the ethics that steer their newsroom. In it, they address how they try to be fair, accurate and balanced, but acknowledged that sometimes mistakes happen and bias creeps in. "We also have to be humble enough to admit we make mistakes and sometimes fail to fully live up to our best intentions. In our local reporting, bias may creep in because we choose to interview one person versus another, or cover one important topic instead of something else. We try to guard against this, but we know it happens," the column read.

Record Searchlight
4/28/2021
https://www.redding.com/story/opinion/2021/04/28/record-searchlight-journalists-motivated-fairness-balance/7353158002/
Publish Airtable + Web All Stars
7/14/2021
11:07pm
BIAS AND FAIRNESS
FAIRNESS: Fairness and objectivity
ENGAGEMENT: Comments and moderation
ETHICS: Community investment

After getting feedback from the public that the paper only highlighted images and tours of expensive homes in the community, the Milton Independent acknowledged and responded to the feedback by saying they were going to shift their coverage to include homes with lower cost of price. "We are thankful for your feedback and want to explain why we are creating this kind of content and address how we plan on adapting it based on your feedback," the Facebook post read. "We can see —based on what you click and comment on— that Milton readers enjoy flipping through photos of interesting and expensive houses. We too, find it fun, but we also want to make sure our content is useful, meaning we want to also introduce you to real estate that you might consider at some point."


Milton Independent
1/12/2021
https://www.facebook.com/miltonindependent/posts/4126770697337549
Publish Airtable + Web All Stars
Social example
7/14/2021
11:07pm
BIAS AND FAIRNESS
FAIRNESS: "Fake news"
ENGAGEMENT: Crowdsourcing
ENGAGEMENT: Responding to feedback or questions
FAIRNESS: Fairness and objectivity

USA TODAY editor Nicole Carroll started a dialogue with readers about why some people deny the seriousness of COVID-19. In a column she wrote about the experience, where she clearly stated the newsroom's goals of spreading facts, and then had health reporters address the claims she heard from readers. "I say this constantly: Our job is to spread truth. Many letters repeated the same false claims, the same bad information. So I asked our team of health journalists to take on the most stubborn misconceptions and set the record straight," Carroll wrote.

USAT
12/4/2020
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/12/04/covid-conspiracy-why-people-dont-believe-deadly-pandemic-misinformation/3803737001/?for-guid=1bc65328-0e70-41bd-8791-52733eb25a6c&utm_source=usatoday-The%20Backstory&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=narrative&utm_term=hero
Publish Airtable + Web All Stars
7/14/2021
11:07pm
BIAS AND FAIRNESS
What is the right to use plastic grocery bags worth to you?
FAIRNESS: Opinion vs. news
HOW NEWS WORKS: Labeling and explaining types of content

It’s important to label content so your audience understands when they’re reading an opinion story versus a news story. The editorial board at the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times did this by clearly labeling one of it’s editorials with the word “opinion.” The board also posted an explainer at the top of the editorial on how opinion content is different from traditional news coverage. “The conclusions and opinions here have been derived by our Editorial Board and are not associated with the news staff,” the board wrote.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times
8/21/2019
https://www.caller.com/story/opinion/2019/08/21/what-right-use-plastic-grocery-bags-worth-you/2062068001/
Publish Airtable + Web All Stars
Opinion, Bias and Fairness >> Opinion vs. News, labeling and explainig types of content
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14
1/4/2021
4:51pm
BIAS AND FAIRNESS
FAIRNESS: Sensationalism
ETHICS: Newsroom policies
ENGAGEMENT: Comments and moderation
ENGAGEMENT: Responding to feedback or questions
TOPICS: Crime and safety

While sharing a crime story on Facebook, the Coloradoan received questions about how they approach covering crime stories. In the comments section of the Facebook post, the news organization explained their crime coverage policy and answered questions from users.


Coloradoan
2/5/2018
https://www.facebook.com/Coloradoan/posts/10155166494881472
Publish Airtable + Web All Stars
Coverage type: Crime and safety; Your ethics and values; ; ;
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Explain your process
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If we name a person accused of committing a crime, we are committed to seeing the court proceedings through to their end.
We explained in comments why we didn't publish names/photos of 21 cited in a prostitution sting.
People responding to the original post did suggest we should have published their photos and names.
We responded to individual comments, as well as made a blanket comment to pin at the top. Many people "liked" our responses. Some said they felt we should follow up, and we responded to them, as well. Jen got several emails thanking her for the explaination and for writing the article.
This gave us a chance to explain our internal points of consideration for reporting not just on prostitution allegations, but DUIs and criminal charges. We've been talking this through internally for many months, but this gave us a chance to share it with our audience. This may be a good subject for a future FB live.
428
6/17/2021
4:54pm
BIAS AND FAIRNESS
FAIRNESS: Fairness and objectivity
HOW NEWS WORKS: Sourcing
HOW NEWS WORKS: Story selection and deciding what news is

Balanced reporting can happen over time, but readers don’t always see the full breadth of your coverage. An editor’s note can draw attention to the wide variety of sources you’ve interviewed—and highlight your promise to keep sharing a range of perspectives.

Community Impact Newspaper (Texas)
1/25/2018
https://communityimpact.com/austin/central-austin/editors-pick/2018/01/25/austin-city-council-greg-casar-drafted-paid-sick-leave-policy-compromise-ordinance-says/
Publish Airtable + Web All Stars
Fairness and objectivity; Sourcing; Story Selection; Coverage type: Politics and government;
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Demonstrate balance
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Do readers get a sense of the breadth of different voices we speak to during the reporting process? Over the life of an issue, we hear from all sides: for, against and more nuanced takes. We wanted to provide them with one-stop shop for all of our previous coverage on one particular issue: the city's proposed paid sick leave policy.
I wrote an editor's note explaining that we have spoken to a variety of sources throughout our reporting, and they may not all be expressed in any given article. So I linked to our topics page, which is created when a story carries a certain tag (in this case, paid sick leave).
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6/17/2021
4:54pm
BIAS AND FAIRNESS

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