At Fresnoland, we don’t believe that all reporters are (or even could be) objective. Everyone’s perspectives are informed by their own life experiences. We strive to be fair, independent, transparent, and aware of how journalism can help balance (or perpetuate) historic imbalances in power. Our commitment to our community is to be transparent about where we’re coming from and why we make the decisions we do about our reporting.
In 2021, we sat down with our team and board to develop our core values as an organization. This is where we’ve landed, for now.
Consistent listening and reporting with the community
We believe journalism is at its best when it starts by listening to the questions that community members have. From our very beginning, we began by sitting around a dining room table with friends and neighbors, asking what they’d like to see out of Fresnoland, what issues they want to see covered, and how we build an organization that helps people imagine a better and more equitable world for all in the central San Joaquin Valley.
Of course, like everyone else, the pandemic changed how we could interact with the community. We’ve put out dozens of online surveys, answered over a hundred community questions in our resource guides, and hosted online forums to build shared understanding on water, tenants rights, and police reform. Last year, many people shared with us that they’d like to see more air quality and climate reporting – and we’ve responded this year with more stories than ever.
Now that we’re able to see people in real life again, we hope to see you all again at a community event and find more ways to make sure our journalism is responding to the needs of all residents.
Not just diversity or equity, but inclusion
We want to build a newsroom and team that is truly reflective of the diversity of cultures and backgrounds of residents across the central San Joaquin Valley.
For us, this goes beyond who we hire: we are also committed to making sure that the stories we report on don’t just highlight the negative experiences or impacts of policy on historically marginalized communities, but that our stories help our community combat stereotypes and portray more of the depth and breadth of experiences that diverse communities have.
Through the Documenters program, we are also committed to training and paying more community members to be involved in the process of bringing transparency and accountability to public agencies.
Context, depth, and accountability
At Fresnoland, our goal is to help residents gain the information they need to make better decisions, from renting an apartment to advocating for their neighborhood to selecting who to vote for at the ballot box. To that end, we strive to make sure our reporting includes in-depth analysis, historical context, and shows residents how different policies impact their lives – and what they can do about it.
On the issues we report on
We often say that while we don’t have an agenda, we do have values. We think it’s important to be transparent about what guides our decisions on how we report on an issue, from water to air quality to housing. This is what matters to us:
- Clean, safe, affordable water for all
- Quality and affordable housing for all
- Clean air
- Access to healthy food
- Self-determination and dignity
- A world without a racial wealth gap
Our corrections policy
- We correct information immediately, when notified a mistake was made. Corrections – when substantive (e.g. changing the meaning of the story) – will be noted at the top of the story.
- Corrections, when substantive, will also be noted on Twitter/X.
- We take care to record all conversations (with consent) to ensure accuracy of quotes.
- We will allow sources to verify if they have been quoted correctly, but we do not allow them to read quotes in context or have further prepublication review.
- Stories are fact-checked by the editorial team prior to publication, a responsibility shared by reporters and editors alike. Consistently reporting inaccurate information, either knowingly or recklessly, will not be tolerated.
- Whenever a person is criticized in a Fresnoland story, or purported to have said something or represent a specific view, we will reach out to this person for comment.
- Fresnoland editorial staff must always obtain consent in recording conversations with sources, obeying California laws. They must also follow other laws to avoid breaking and entering, hacking information, or otherwise obtaining information in a secretive and illegal manner.
- Fresnoland editorial staff must always clearly identify themselves and their affiliation as a journalist when gathering information for their reporting.
- Plagiarism of another person’s work is never acceptable.
- Using AI to generate quotes or replace human writing in stories is not acceptable.
- We do take care to update stories when appropriate, as new information arises.
You can find Fresnoland’s full ethics policy below.