Editorial policy

This policy sets out the principles every Saltonstall Media publication works to. It applies to everything the titles publish, from a short news item to a long report, including headlines, captions, fact boxes and pictures.

Accuracy

We publish what we can stand behind. Facts are checked before publication, against the source they come from. Names, figures, dates and quotations are verified. A claim we cannot check is left out, however good the story it would make. When the facts of a story are disputed, we say so and set out what each side says.

We are careful with numbers. A figure is given with its source and, where it matters, with what it is compared to. A rise or a fall is described in proportion to what it is.

Headlines that hold

A headline must be supported by the article beneath it. We do not promise more than the story delivers, and we do not sharpen a quotation or a number to make a better headline. The same applies to the picture we choose and the words beneath it.

News and comment kept apart

Reporting tells the reader what happened and how we know. Assessment and analysis are written as such, so the reader can always tell the difference between what is known and what is judged.

Fairness and the right of reply

A story that criticises a person, a company or an authority carries their side of it. Their answer appears in the article. Where they have not answered or have declined to comment, the article says so. A serious allegation is not published on the word of one source alone.

Independence

Editorial decisions are made by the editorial desk of each publication. Advertisers, partners and owners have no say over what we cover or how. No one outside the newsroom approves a story before it is published, and no one can have a story changed or removed because it is inconvenient.

Privacy and harm

We report on people with care. We name private individuals only when the story requires it. We take particular care with children, with the victims of crime and accidents, with the bereaved and with people in a vulnerable situation. In crime reporting, a suspect is a suspect until a court has ruled, and we report an acquittal as clearly as we reported the charge.

Speed and accuracy

We want to be first with the news, but never at the cost of being right. When a story is developing, we report what is confirmed, say what is not yet known and update the article as the facts become clear. Each update is marked with its time.

National press ethics

Each publication also follows the press ethics principles of its own country. Where national rules ask more of us than this policy does, the national rules apply.