The Carmel Pine Cone’s essential commitment is to maintain our readers’ trust through truth, accuracy, fairness and impartiality. Our news coverage must avoid even the appearance of unfairness, bias or conflicts of interest.
• Our primary duty is to our readers. Therefore, news must be reported honestly, objectively and without personal bias. A clear line must separate news from opinion. Pine Cone reporters should pursue verifiable facts and let readers draw their own conclusions.
• We must verify all information we report, seek responses from those accused of wrongdoing, identify sources whenever possible, and carefully question their motives before granting anonymity.
• Headlines, photos and quotes must not mislead or oversimplify. Stories should reflect diversity without stereotyping. Paid content and advertising must be clearly distinguished from news. Errors must be corrected promptly.
• Plagiarism is strictly prohibited. Any material from other sources must be properly attributed.
• Journalists must not accept gifts, free meals, travel or services from sources (with narrow exceptions, such as public press-area food at events). They must pay their own way to avoid any obligation or appearance of favoritism.
• Employees must avoid assignments that could benefit themselves financially or otherwise. Romantic, financial or close personal ties to subjects (for example, political candidates or covered organizations) generally disqualify an employee from covering those subjects.
• Outside employment, investments and civic involvement must be disclosed and may require recusal. Political activities (donations, campaigning, yard signs, etc.) are heavily restricted for news staff.
• Community participation is encouraged but must not compromise perceived independence. Employees should not hold leadership roles or engage in advocacy on the beats they cover.
• Photographs must accurately represent reality. Significant alterations or staging must be labeled as illustrations or reenactments. Minor technical changes (such as color correction) are allowed.
• Tools such as ChatGPT, Grok and HyperWrite may be used as aids in reporting and editing, but must not be presented as original work.
If you have questions or comments about this policy, please bring them to the attention of the Publisher, Paul Miller.
Copyright, Carmel Communications, Inc.