We’d like to think so, but to improve the transparency of our reporting, The Highlands Current has joined The Trust Project, a consortium of news outlets that adopts standards to allow readers to more easily assess the credibility of their journalism.
The 200 other outlets in the project include The Washington Post, The Economist, The Denver Post, Frontline (PBS), the BBC and publications in Canada, Europe, Hong Kong and South America. Along with The Current, the outlets that joined the project on Wednesday (Sept. 16) were inewsource (San Diego), YES! Magazine (U.S.), El Comercio (Peru), La Nación (Argentina) and Pocket-lint (U.K.).
The Trust Project is funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Democracy Fund, Facebook, Google and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
As a member, The Current will share more information about our standards and policies, the expertise of our journalists, the sources we use and how readers can provide feedback, including to correct errors.
The goal, says Sally Lehrman, a journalist who founded the project in 2014, is to “slow the spread of false and misleading news and amplify integrity-based journalism.” You can read more at thetrustproject.org. Digital platforms such as Google and Facebook give weight to members as sources of trustworthy news.
To join the project, The Current completed a five-month compliance review and added the following elements to our website:
■ An editorial standards document that outlines our ethics policies, commitment to diverse voices, verification and corrections procedures, funding and ownership structure and other elements.
■ Professional biographies and contact information for each journalist who appears on the masthead, as well as a list of all of his or her stories.
■ Labels indicating if a story is news or opinion.
■ When applicable, links with each story to the sources and references used by the journalist during his or her reporting.
Reader feedback is always welcome. Email me at [email protected].
I trust The Highlands Current.