With Curbing Cars now a fully funded journalism project, we need to assure that we meet the high expectations of our backers and followers regarding what we post under the Curbing Cars rubric.
We will follow the best practices of major news organizations. When in doubt about whether material meets this standard, writers should consult with a fellow editor on the project.
Here are some thoughts that should serve as guidance:
- Whose interest is being served by the material to be posted? If it is not the public interest, it doesn’t belong on the site.
- Where does the information come from? If it is not from a reliable news organization, governmental or academic entity, it doesn’t belong on the site. An exception: if our audience would benefit by reading the information in its original form, as with a major announcement.
- What is the significance of the material? If it does not rise to the level of what a reliable news organization would disseminate to the general reader, it doesn’t belong on the site.
These guidelines should help filter out the barrage of incremental developments that publicists, business entities and so-called public interest groups with their own agendas will be offering us, sometimes under the guise of “exclusives.”
These guidelines are admittedly restrictive, but they have prevailed from the days of hot type to embedded links at the very highest level of the media profession. We should practice nothing less at Curbing Cars.
Claudia Payne
Senior Editor
Curbing Cars