Editorial Policies

We are guided by the journalism industry’s best practices, such as the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, the Institute for Nonprofit News’ guidelines for Editorial Independence & Donor Transparency, and the American Press Institute’s guiding principles for nonprofit newsrooms and funders of nonprofit media.

Our policies are inspired by other newsrooms that also practice community-centered, solutions-oriented and systems thinking journalism: The Oaklandside and El Tímpano in the Bay Area, LAist, LA Public Press, Outlier Media in Detroit, national newsroom The 19th News, and many others.

Access
We do not enter into nondisclosure agreements or make deals in exchange for access to information or people. We do not pay sources for information. We do not make promises regarding publication, placement or angle of a story.

We can discuss, in general terms, the scope and direction of the coverage we have in mind. However, reporters and editors decide an article’s angle and when it is published.

Anonymous Sources
Readers deserve to know how we get our information, so requests for anonymity must meet strict standards. We only grant anonymity when 1) the source has direct knowledge of the information; 2) the information is factual, not speculative; 3) it’s the only way we can get the information; and 4) the source has a reasonable basis to fear retaliation or harm from speaking with us.

We will explain in our articles why a source was granted anonymity, and we will attribute information to an anonymous source using a description that establishes the source’s credibility. For example, “a state government official who was at the meeting and heard what the president said.” If we use an anonymous source in an article, we cannot quote that same person on the record elsewhere in the story as refusing to comment.

When a source requests anonymity, the journalist will consult his/her editor before agreeing to grant anonymity. We will verify everything anonymous sources tell us using public records, named sources, and by requesting documents or photos from the source requesting anonymity.

Artificial Intelligence
We do not use generative artificial intelligence to write articles or create images for us. We believe that our articles and visuals need to be originated, edited and verified by humans, not computers. We believe in fairly compensating writers and artists for their original work.

We do use AI to help us make mundane processes more efficient (for example, transcribing interviews, as scheduling assistants or adjusting a photo’s lighting). And we sometimes use AI to help us brainstorm questions, ideas or social media teasers, but all work involving AI is checked by a human. We will be monitoring local and national conversations about best practices regarding AI’s use in journalism.

Clarifications and Corrections
We always strive to portray information accurately, clearly and within context. But we’re human and may occasionally make a mistake. Corrections will be made promptly, and a note explaining the changes made will be added at the bottom of the story.

Please note that we will only issue corrections for material that is factually inaccurate. We won’t correct information just because someone believes it portrays them in a negative light.

If information was unclear or misleading, we will clarify the information and add a note to the bottom of the story about how the original information was unclear.

Conflicts of Interest
While our journalists are members of the communities they cover, outside activities by our staff should not compromise the integrity of our journalism. While we may volunteer at community workdays or in other ways, our journalists cannot cover organizations for which they are employed by or serve in an advisory or board of directors role. Journalists must let their editor know if their community service may create a conflict of interest. In general, staff should avoid joining advisory committees, boards of directors or similar groups of newsworthy and government organizations.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Justice
We aim to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve in our staff, contributors, editorial choices and editorial priorities.

We recognize that systemic inequities and racism exist and that we, as journalists, have a responsibility to combat them. We aim to correct our own implicit and explicit biases while also respecting people’s different experiences and needs. And our journalists strive to report more accurate stories by looking at how structures and systems can intentionally or unintentionally harm, oppress or discriminate against people.

Diversity in Sourcing
We seek out diverse voices from the start of our reporting. We recognize that no single voice can always represent an entire community, and we do our best to depart from stereotypes—held by us and others—of various groups. Hawai‘i’s peoples and communities are complex and diverse, and it’s our job to accurately reflect that.

We always want to talk with the people most impacted by the topic at hand. And, when applicable to a story’s context, we ask each source how they prefer to be referred to (such as race/ethnicity, gender identity, pronouns, disability, etc.).

Our journalists are required to talk through sourcing before, during and after each story. And we’re internally tracking who we speak with so we can regularly evaluate our sourcing and identify areas of improvement.

Editorial Independence and Donor and Financial Transparency
We serve our community by reporting news accurately and honestly. We believe that editorial independence and transparency are integral to earning and maintaining the public’s trust.

Editorial Independence

• Overstory’s editor retains full authority over editorial content. Non-journalism staff, board members, supporters and community members may suggest story ideas, but the editor and journalists decide whether and how to cover them.
• We maintain a strict firewall between coverage decisions and revenue sources. We do not allow pre-publication review or influence of editorial content by funders, supporters or non-journalism staff.
• Our journalists prioritize the public’s interest when deciding what stories to cover and how to tell them. We do not promise specific outcomes of our reporting or accept directed conclusions from funders.
• We prefer funding for the general support of our activities, and we have a review process to determine whether to accept and how to handle funds for limited purposes, such as coverage of specific topics.
• Our journalists do not actively cultivate financial relationships with major donors or corporate sponsors.
• Overstory is an editorially independent program of The Kūpa‘a Network, and organizations that participate in The Kūpa‘a Network’s other programs do not receive preferential treatment.

Transparency

• We disclose donors who give $5,000 or more per year and note them in articles where they are subjects.
• We may accept anonymous donations only for general support and will carefully evaluate these donations against our ethical standards.
• We clearly label sponsored and advertising content. Sponsored content is content that is provided by a funder and is not held to our independent journalism’s standards. Our newsroom has no role in the creation of sponsored and advertising content.
• We will publish our ethics policies, mission statements, conflict of interest policies, and federal tax returns on our website as applicable.

Communications with Funders

• We inform funders of our mission and values, emphasizing that support for independent media differs from public relations and advocacy.
• When civic or community engagement is part of a grant, we agree on what it consists of in advance with funders.
• We initiate conversations about journalism we wish to produce when possible, focusing on areas already in our portfolio or planned beats/projects.

Financial Policies

• As a nonprofit organization, The Kūpa‘a Network and its programs abide by all IRS regulations.
• We do not accept funding that compromises our independence, values, ethics or mission.
• We avoid accepting donations from political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office.
• We do not accept advertising or sponsored content that encourages or discourages voting for specific candidates or ballot proposals.

This policy was inspired by those of the Institute for Nonprofit News and American Press Institute’s guiding principles for nonprofit newsrooms and funders of nonprofit media.

Fairness
We strive for accurate and contextual reporting. Our job as journalists is to give readers information. We do not tell them what to think or do. This requires us to be mindful of our own beliefs, values and biases—and not impose them on others.

We report for our readers, not our sources, funders or supporters. Our primary consideration when presenting information is the truth. We aim to be concise, clear and neutral in our language and story framing, and we avoid loaded words.

We seek out a variety of experiences, expertise and perspectives and strive to portray that diversity of views accurately. This, however, does not mean that we will always give all sides equal weight in a story to portray a sense of balance. This is especially the case when the facts are well known, such as the fact that global warming is occurring, or when evidence substantially supports one side of an issue over another.

Fairness Regarding Relationships with Sources
We aim to be fair in how we treat our sources. We will listen with an open mind and do our best to be faithful to what they mean when we paraphrase what they’ve told us. We will be honest with our sources about the angle of our stories and what we’re trying to accomplish, and we will do our best to keep them updated if our story angles change.

Sources should also have a reasonable amount of time to respond to our interview requests and to any accusations. That amount of time will vary depending on the situation and be determined based on a conversation between the journalist and his/her editor. We don’t always know who we’re going to speak with at the beginning of our reporting process. Sometimes, we identify a source as we’re wrapping up our reporting.

When we don’t hear back from a source but still need to proceed with the story, we will diligently search public records to pull out previous comments made by the individual or organization that may help explain their perspectives. We will also search for others who may be able to help represent them or provide context. And we will tell our readers about our attempts to contact sources we don’t hear back from.

Participation in Public Life
Our journalism staff must keep their political views private and may not run for public office while they are employed by Overstory. Our journalists do not participate in rallies or make appearances in support of partisan causes or campaigns. They should not make political contributions, display lawn signs, wear campaign T-shirts or buttons, or display other forms of political partisanship.

Journalists can, however, participate in issue-oriented activities, such as a rally in support of human rights, as long as the rally is not organized by or supporting a political campaign, cause or candidate.

Overstory does not contribute to political campaigns or to political parties or groups raising money for political campaigns or parties. As a nonprofit program, we do not endorse candidates.

No editing of our stories is allowed, except to reflect changes in time and location. For example, “yesterday” can be changed to the actual date, and “here” can be changed to the actual location.

We appreciate being tagged if you reshare any of our stories on your social media accounts. We have official accounts for Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads and Facebook.

Social Media
Overstory is on several social media platforms to introduce our work to new readers, connect with the communities we serve, gather information, cultivate sources and participate in important conversations. Many of the individuals who work for us (both journalist and non-journalist) have their own social media accounts for their personal uses and to share their work.

Overstory employees should be mindful that anything they post reflects on our journalistic integrity, reputation and values. Our team should always identify themselves as being with Overstory in their profiles if they use their accounts for work in any way.

Social media can be a powerful tool to shed light on how our journalists do their work, and we welcome our journalists using these platforms to help readers understand their reporting and how their identity and experiences strengthen their reporting.

Posts and comments should always be fair, thoughtful, respectful and based in fact. Overstory employees should acknowledge when they’ve posted an error or something inappropriate. Inaccurate or misleading information should not be shared unless it is to correct the record.

Overstory employees may not post about internal Overstory or The Kūpa‘a Network discussions or share confidential or proprietary business information.

Our employees should not express partisan opinions, promote political views, endorse candidates or policies, or make offensive comments. And our employees should never use their affiliation with Overstory for personal or private gain. It is not appropriate for our staff to use social media to air personal grievances or endorse products, organizations, policies or political figures.