Madison365 produces excellent community journalism focused on the issues important to communities of color and their allies. Our journalism must be beyond reproach and worthy of the full faith of our readers. To that end:
- We recognize that some sources must remain anonymous in order to protect themselves, their families and their jobs. We use anonymous sources only when absolutely necessary, and only when the information they provide can be fully corroborated. We always disclose the reasons we grant anonymity.
- We join our colleagues in the press in honoring embargoes. If a source wishes to supply information to be published at a later time, we will agree to gather and develop the information, write the story, and only publish at that later and agreed-to time. If, however, we see the same information published elsewhere, we will publish it.
- We will make every effort to corroborate any information given to us. We will not publish potentially slanderous or libelous allegations without full confidence in our corroboration of the allegations.
- We do not offer article approval. The editorial staff of Madison365 has full and final authority to approve all content posted on Madison365. We strive for accuracy but in order to maintain our editorial integrity and independence, sources will not be allowed to review or approve articles before they are published. To do so would turn an objective and independent news piece into a de facto advertisement for the source.
- We do not offer pre-approval of interview questions. While we will happily provide most sources with a general sense of the scope and purpose of an interview, and we are generally not in the business of “gotcha” journalism, we recognize that an interview is a dynamic conversation that rarely sticks to a script.
- We do not offer favorable coverage of donors or advertisers, nor will we decide not to publish unfavorable coverage of donors or advertisers, based solely on their financial relationship with us. We do offer custom and sponsored content, but it is always clearly labelled as such.
- When our stories contain inaccuracies, we will correct them as quickly as possible.
- We accept submissions, subject to the editorial policies listed above. We reserve the right to refuse to publish any submission, and further reserve the right to edit any submission for grammar, spelling, accuracy or any other reason, before publication.
Any questions regarding this policy can be sent to [email protected].