KZYX News Editorial Policy

KZYX News is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization and an NPR affiliate. As a member station, we share NPR’s commitment to creating a more informed public. Our mission at Mendocino County Public Broadcasting is to broadly promote community in all its facets. In service of this mission, the KZYX News department reports, produces, acquires, and distributes news that is grounded in truth — verified facts with relevant context — and presented without any other agenda other than to inform and illuminate our audience.

This code of ethics is intended to spell out for our KZYX listeners and supporters how we operate and the standards to which we hold ourselves accountable — and to which we would like you, our audience, to hold us accountable as well.

Independence: 

KZYX News relies on funding from a variety of sources ranging from individual KZYX memberships and donations to underwriting, and foundation grants. Regardless of the source and regardless of the amount of funding, we are committed to keeping KZYX News free from the undue influence of third parties, political interests, and other outside forces.

All editorial decisions are made by newsroom leadership and newsroom personnel. When interacting with funders, we observe a clear boundary line: KZYX journalists seek funding to further our editorial goals, including the infrastructure we need to stay on the air, not to serve the agendas of those who support us.

While we may, from time to time, accept funding for specific news or infrastructure projects, editorial oversight and direction of KZYX News — and specifically any news project funded directly from outside donors — takes place independent of input from donors and will continue to take place independent of input from donors.

Projects funded directly by donors will be identified within the web version of the story published on the KZYX website. Donors who support specific coverage, will be informed of our coverage plans in the form of a project plan, and receive written updates on project progress. These will be available for member review upon request. Donors will not receive previews of a story or a series. In addition, they will not receive favor or slight as a result of their support and may experience editorial scrutiny unrelated to the coverage topic they support.

Gifts and Conflict of Interest:

KZYX News journalists do not accept compensation, including property or benefits of any kind, from people or institutions we cover or put on the air, except gifts of token value (hats, mugs, t-shirts, etc.). We pay our own way, including buying our own coffees, and do not accept gifts. If unsolicited gifts are received by the News Department, we will endeavor to return the gift or donate it to another nonprofit.

Individuals or organizations that wish to donate to Mendocino County Public Broadcasting should work with our membership and development staff.

We seek to avoid reporting on matters in which our immediate family members or close friends have a direct financial or advocacy-related interest. And we do not report on organizations where we volunteer or advocacy groups to which we belong as private citizens. In instances when this policy would prevent the public from accessing relevant information about policies that affect them, we disclose that interest. In the interest of being as transparent as possible, KZYX News employees share this information in their public bios.

Partisanship and Political Interest:

KZYX News reporters must balance active civic and cultural engagement with the need to avoid partisanship. We do not contribute to political candidates or join political organizations. We also do not make public comments or posts on social media, display yard signs or bumper stickers, or participate in political rallies or marches — with one exception. We do advocate on behalf of issues that support the public’s access to information needed for effective self-government. This includes advocating for public records and public support for civic infrastructure, specifically local news.

Accuracy:

We do our best to ensure that everything we report faithfully depicts reality. We do this by vigilantly checking facts before publication and quickly correcting and disclosing errors. We also strive for precision. We seek to avoid statements that are generally correct but can be questioned due to a lack of precision.

When we edit audio actualities, we must ensure that we retain the intended meaning and context.

In breaking news situations, it is our responsibility to tell our audience exactly what we know and how we know it, and to emphasize what is unknown and unverified. In some cases, this may mean relying on one non-official source instead of corroborating a fact with multiple sources. Our policy is to be specific about where information comes from. When unverified rumors spread to the extent that they themselves become news, we report on what is knowable.

Correction Policy:

Listeners and readers are encouraged to send corrections to corrections@kzyx.org or to call in corrections to 707-895-2448. We strive to promptly address all errors in digital content from major errors to typos, as well as points of clarification. In all cases, when a story has been edited, we include an editor’s note at the top of the story that alerts a reader to the fact that a story has changed. We also correct errors in broadcast stories by re-recording the story and uploading the audio version that is linked to web version and by replacing podcasts with erroneous information with corrected podcasts.

Impartiality:

We report for our readers and listeners, not for our sources. We seek to illuminate issues, not to inflame sensibilities. We stick to facts and to language that is clear, compelling, and neutral. We include context and strive for completeness. We will revisit stories as we uncover additional information and highlight this information on the local news page and in section pages devoted to that particular topic.

Transparency:

In Interviews and Actualities

When it is not obvious where an audio quote is from — for example a meeting of the board of supervisors or other governing body — we specify the circumstances. We let our audience know if an interview took place before or after a key event and, if relevant, whether an interview was impromptu or scheduled. We identify archival material, such as excerpts from past interviews.

Bylines

We make clear who has created a work and attribute bylines to primary creators. In cases where reporters have provided an audio piece that is subsequently edited for the web, we will specify that the web story is based on the audio story and attribute the byline to the editor.

All bylines should link to online bios that give our audience information about the journalist’s experience and any activities or interests that could influence their coverage.

####

This Editorial Policy was authored by KZYX News Director Elise Cox. The Editorial Policy of NPR was relied on a source for the creation of this policy, adopted by the Mendocino County Public Broadcasting Board of Directors on March 25, 2025.