Standards and ethics

The basic rule

Every fact in a story has either one primary document or two independent sources behind it, and the story names them. If we cannot source a fact, it does not run.

How a story gets made

1. We read the document. That means agendas, minutes, notices, state letters, budgets and court records, read on the official site that posts them, and we keep a dated copy of each one.
2. We write down every claim. Each name, date, dollar figure and quote goes into a claim list with the page it came from.
3. A second check confirms each claim. It works from the documents alone, recomputes every number and checks the spelling of every name.
4. It passes every check before it runs. Nothing is published until each claim matches its source. A story about a crime, an allegation or a private person goes to an editor first.
5. We check again. When minutes are amended or a vote happens, we update the story and say so.

How we use AI

We use AI tools to help us source information, because there is so much of it: public records, meeting videos and agency notices. Every fact is checked against the documents before a story runs, and an editor decides what runs about crimes, allegations and private people.

What counts as a source

• Primary document: an agenda, minutes, an official release on a government site, a court docket, a filing. One is enough for the facts it states, and the story says which document.
• An official's statement on the record: from a release or a recording, labeled as their words.
• Another newsroom's reporting: linked and credited, never the only basis for a fact.

Reporting from a distance

Our newsroom works remotely. We say so on our About page, and our stories never claim or suggest that we saw something in person when we did not. Times in our stories are Central time, the time Porter County keeps.

Bylines

Our stories are bylined to the PC360 desk whose beat they cover. We never invent a reporter or a byline.

The other side

When a story involves a dispute, we quote each side's own documents. If we have not heard from one side, the story says so.

Words we choose

We write charges as charges and use people's names and titles as their own documents give them. We do not use slurs or loaded labels, even when an agency's release does.

Police and courts

We report arrests, court cases, fires and crashes from public records: department statements, prosecutor releases and court records. When a record is not yet available, a fact runs only if two independent newsrooms each attribute it to an official on the record, and we name both.

Charged is not guilty. We write "charged with," "police said" and "pleaded not guilty." We describe each charge as it was filed. Every story that names a person who is charged but not convicted says the person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Who we do not name. We do not name juveniles accused of crimes, child victims, victims of sexual assault or abuse, or people who are suspected but not charged. We do not name witnesses or people who call police unless they agree. We do not name a person who died until officials release the name. In domestic cases we leave out details that could identify the victim, including the street.

Bookings and booking photos. Names, charges and booking photos run only as a police department or the sheriff's office itself posts them, credited to that agency and used as posted. We never take them from third-party mugshot sites, and we never publish one of a juvenile.

Outcomes. When charges are dismissed or dropped, or a person is found not guilty, we report it at least as prominently as we reported the arrest, and we add the outcome to the top of the original story.

Same rules for everyone. We use the same words and the same rules for every person, whatever their party, side, town or group.

Corrections and requests. We correct errors on the story and note them under our corrections policy. We do not delete stories on request. If a case was dismissed, not prosecuted, ended in a not guilty verdict, or was sealed or expunged, the person may send us proof and ask us to take their name off the story and its headline. Write to news@southcoast360.com.

Conflicts of interest

Our owner runs other businesses. A story that touches one of them, or a client or partner of one, either discloses the connection in the story or does not run.

What we never do

• Copy another outlet's words, photos or video.
• Run a press release as news without labeling it.
• Publish an anonymous tip as fact.
• Invent a reporter or a byline.
• Identify minors, or victims of sexual assault or domestic violence.