View this email in your browser

Today's trust tip: Disclose stimulus funds and explain the ethics involved

Hi there. Lynn here.

Like many businesses, news organizations are struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial creativity and cutbacks might be required, and new revenue streams can help keep the lights on. But news organizations are in a situation that other businesses are not: While they might need and qualify for outside financial support, they are also expected to fairly cover the business impact of the virus.

As a journalist in a newsroom, you likely don't have control over whether your newsroom accepts a loan from the government or applies for grants from a foundation or company. What journalists CAN control (or at least advocate for) is being transparent about any funds received.

The Seattle Times wrote about receiving a loan through the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) last week.

Writing about having received the funds is a great first step. People have a lot of questions about how journalists make money. But their questions do not stop there. People also want to know IF and HOW money influences news decisions.

The money raises a basic question: Will you cover the federal relief program differently now that you've benefited from it? And if we don't explain the answer, they are unlikely to give us the benefit of the doubt. Instead, they will just assume that the loan through the Small Business Administration (or the grant from Google or the or the advertising money from the local car dealership) will influence how you cover those entities. They may assume it impacts your story selection or your ability to be fair and balanced.

The good news is, by disclosing and explaining the acceptance of any of these funds, you are providing information to your users before they have a chance to make those assumptions. So, write about receiving money. That is step one.

Step two: When you write about receiving money, include an explanation about how it impacts your news coverage. If you disclose the money but do not tie it back to your values or address how it will not impact your ability to be fair and accurate, you are still leaving your users left wondering. That could then lead to negative misassumptions.

You can do this by adding a line similar to what WITF wrote in an editor's note while providing a link to their fundraising policy: “We maintain independence between editorial decisions and funding..."

And that is an important third step: Try to link back to a longer explanation anytime you add an editor's note or other forms of disclosure like this. That allows users who want to know an opportunity to read about your values and policies more in-depth.

As Kelly McBride wrote recently for The Poynter Institute when discussing federal money to support journalism: "I’ve done ethics in journalism for 20 years and here’s what I’ve learned: All money is dirty. There is nothing purer about donated money, foundation money, advertising money, sponsorship money or government money. That’s why we need ethics."

Yes. And that's why we need to drag our ethics into the daylight every chance we get.

TRY THIS: Explain any funding, grants or loans you are receiving by writing a story, going live on social media or doing a short story on air. Explain (as long as you can do it honestly) how you are maintaining editorial independence despite receiving the funding. Then make sure to include a brief note that links back to the longer explainer any time you cover something related to that company, foundation or loan program.

— Lynn Walsh, Trusting News assistant director

More advice on money and COVID-19: It's vitally important that your community trust your work these days, especially if you're asking for their financial support. Read about why and how you should be talking about your funding. And get language you can copy and paste when talking to your audience.

Trusting News aims to demystify trust in news and empower journalists to take responsibility for actively demonstrating credibility and earning trust. It is a project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Press Institute.