Ethics Policy

The Rocky Mountain PBS ethics policy is adapted from the standards set by the Public Broadcasting Service. The core principles of those standards are: Independence, Accuracy, Fairness, Transparency, Inclusiveness and Accountability.

Independence

Conflicts of interest

Journalists should not accept a gift, favor, fee, or special treatment from a source. A source offering journalists something like a glass of water is reasonable, but journalists should use their best judgment and decline anything that could be perceived as special treatment in exchange for coverage.

When possible, journalists should avoid reporting on their own family or friends, or using people close to them as a source. If the journalist has a personal relationship with a source/subject, that should be disclosed to an editor, who will determine if that relationship is a conflict of interest.

Journalists should not report on people and/or organizations that they have personal ties to. For example, if a journalist volunteers for an animal shelter, they would not be permitted to report a story about that shelter.

Rocky Mountain PBS receives funding from many businesses and organizations across Colorado. When we report on any of these businesses or organizations, we must disclose our relationship with them, and assure our audience that our journalism is free of undue influence from third-party funders, political interests, and other outside forces.

Pre-screening journalism
Journalists are not permitted to share questions with a source before the interview takes place.

Journalists are not permitted to share drafts of their work with sources before publishing. An exception can be made if the journalist is sharing an excerpt of their work with a source as part of the fact-checking/clarification process.

Co-production with other journalism outlets

Journalism partnerships are key to our sustainability at Rocky Mountain PBS. Every week, we publish journalism from other outlets across the state. These partnerships should bolster, not detract from, our credibility. Journalists and editors at Rocky Mountain PBS should ensure the outlets we are working with are also operating in transparent, ethical ways. We will not publish journalism from partisan outlets. This is a list of our local journalism partners at the Colorado News Collaborative.

Rocky Mountain PBS will also consult the PBS co-production guidelines when considering editorial partnerships

Reporting on Rocky Mountain Public Media

Rocky Mountain Public Media is the largest statewide, member-supported, media organization in Colorado. Sometimes, the happenings at this organization are newsworthy. The journalism team is permitted to report on Rocky Mountain Public Media and any of its specific stations, like KUVO JAZZ or THE DROP. The journalist’s work will not be reviewed by anyone outside of the journalism team. When the work is published, it will come with an editor’s note explaining the journalism team’s relationship with RMPM, and reassure readers that RMPM leadership had no influence on the reporting or editing of their work.

Accuracy

Fact-checking
Rocky Mountain PBS’ fact-checking is rooted in the Digital Inquiry Group's Civic Online Reasoning curriculum, which boils down to three questions: Who’s behind the information? What’s the evidence? What do other sources say?

Rocky Mountain PBS journalists will be the primary fact-checkers for their own work. Every piece of journalism — whether it’s an article, video for broadcast, etc. — will be reviewed by at least one editor. However, these editors are not responsible for fact-checking every piece of the journalist’s article, video, etc.; that responsibility belongs to the journalist(s) who produced the work.

Rocky Mountain PBS journalists should approach all claims with skepticism, no matter the source. They should fact-check their sources and corroborate what sources tell them by speaking with other sources or referring to experts. Rocky Mountain PBS will not publish single-source pieces.

Journalists should verify data and statistics shared by sources before including the figures in their journalism. The source of the data should also be disclosed.

If a journalist refers to other reporting to support their work, the mentioned media outlet should be a trusted, nonpartisan news outlet. Here is a list of some of our local journalism partners whose work Rocky Mountain PBS may reference. When it comes to national journalism partners, our journalists will most commonly reference our partners at PBS News and NPR, as well as the Associated Press.

We will stand by our journalists’ information as accurate. If it’s not, we will change it or clarify it as quickly as possible and be transparent with our readers about what changes we made. Every piece of journalism we publish will include the author(s) name and contact information.

If a reader/viewer believes we published false information, they can email us at journalism@rmpbs.org.

Corrections

Mistakes happen. If an article or video contains a factual error, we will edit the piece to remove, update or clarify the information in question. When we edit an article to address an error, we will also include a correction at the bottom of the article that includes:

- The correct information

- A reference to the originally published, incorrect information

- When the edits were made

If an error is made on social media, Rocky Mountain PBS will correct the error and include a note in the same post. If a social media platform does not allow a user to edit posts, we delta the inaccurate post and make a separate post acknowledging the deletion, and including the correct information.

If a video is edited to address a factual error, we will include a correction in the description of the video.

Rocky Mountain PBS will not issue corrections for edits made to address mistakes in grammar, punctuation or spelling unless those mistakes affected the factual information in the piece (e.g., not including a decimal point when sharing a statistic).

Articles or videos that include a correction are aggregated on a corrections page on the Rocky Mountain PBS website.

In the rare instance in which an article or video contains so many errors that it can’t be corrected, or the central premise of the piece is discovered to be false, the journalism leadership team will discuss whether or not to remove the piece from our website and/or social media platforms. If the leadership team decides to remove a piece of journalism, we will publish an update on the corrections page explaining the decision.

Sourcing

Journalists should be aware of their source diversity. Diversity in sourcing is key to our mission as a newsroom. Journalists should work to ensure that the sources in their stories reflect the diversity of the communities Rocky Mountain PBS is serving. Journalists should resist the temptation to return to the same source(s) of information time and time again, and should challenge themselves to find sources of different ethnicities, races, religions, genders, sexual orientations, cultures, ages, socio-economic backgrounds and abilities.

Named sources are integral to transparent journalism. Rocky Mountain PBS journalists should press their sources for on-the-record interviews. If the interviewee is not comfortable being a named source, Rocky Mountain PBS journalists should try to find the information from a different named source before discussing the possibility of anonymity.

If a source is only willing to provide information on the condition of anonymity, Rocky Mountain PBS journalists must receive approval from an editor before agreeing to those terms. At least one editor must know the identity of the anonymous source so that the editor(s) can determine if using an anonymous source is vital to the story.

Unnamed sources should never be the only source in a piece of Rocky Mountain PBS journalism. Moreover, we will not publish unnamed sources who use the afforded anonymity to participate in speculation or defamation.

Rocky Mountain PBS journalists will be responsible for setting ground rules with their sources before an interview in which anonymity is offered or expected. Our journalists will use the Associated Press’ definitions for these ground rules and will communicate them with sources.

The AP’s definitions are:

On the record
The information can be used with no caveats, quoting the source by name.

Off the record
The information cannot be used for publication.

Background
The information can be published but only under conditions negotiated with the source. Generally, the sources do not want their names published but will agree to a description of their position. AP reporters should object vigorously when a source wants to brief a group of reporters on background and try to persuade the source to put the briefing on the record.

Deep background
The information can be used but without attribution. The source does not want to be identified in any way, even on condition of anonymity.

There are instances when Rocky Mountain PBS will refer to a source only by their first name. This will not happen frequently, and will only occur in instances when publishing the source’s full name will risk their safety. If a source tells a Rocky Mountain PBS journalist that using their full name will put the source at risk, the journalist should seek another source before offering this level of anonymity to the source.

When Rocky Mountain PBS publishes work featuring a source without a last name, we will explain our reasoning in the piece. We will not use pseudonyms.

Fairness

Our goal is to strengthen the civic fabric of Colorado. Fairness is key to that. However, we will not present all viewpoints as equal in the face of the facts.

It is important for Rocky Mountain PBS journalists to remember that their job is to report the truth. The truth, depending on the issue at hand, will be full of nuance and, in many cases, disagreement. It is our job as journalists to explore that nuance and contextualize that disagreement in such a way that informs and enriches our audience.

Journalists should report multiple sides and perspectives around issues that are important to the public, but they must also be cautious about platforming disinformation and misinformation. As Marcia Apperson writes for the PBS Standards & Practices team, “fairness to ‘both sides’ should not lead to false equivalence.”

Transparency

Content should be produced in a way that allows the audience to evaluate the credibility of the work and determine whether it is trustworthy.

Conflicts of interest

See above under “Independence.”

Attribution

Rocky Mountain PBS journalists should be transparent in where their media comes from. All photos published on our site — new or archival — should include a photography credit. The same goes for graphics, charts and other multimedia elements. We will not use AI in photography included in our journalism.

Reporting trail

Our journalists should produce their work in such a way that our audience can follow the reporting trail. Sources should be named except in rare circumstances approved by the journalism leadership. When referencing previous coverage, data and statistics or another outlet’s journalism, Rocky Mountain PBS journalists should always link to those sources.

In instances where we can’t verify information reported by another journalism outlet, we will credit and link to that outlet’s reporting.

Anonymous sources

See above under “Sourcing.”

Inclusiveness

At Rocky Mountain PBS, we are working to create a Colorado where everyone feels seen and heard. Inclusiveness isn’t just our goal — it’s what drives our storytelling. We’re committed to reflecting the rich diversity of our state, elevating voices across ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, culture, age, socio-economic background, and ability.

By uplifting underrepresented voices and breaking down harmful stereotypes, we’re reinventing public media to better serve and connect with every Coloradan, ensuring that everyone — from our rural communities to our city streets — feels a sense of belonging and shared purpose.

Accountability

Producers must respond to substantive inquiries about their work. They also must adhere to the highest professional standards of content.

Corrections

See “Corrections” under the Accuracy section.

Feedback

We have a saying at Rocky Mountain PBS that “feedback is a gift.” We believe that, and we take steps to ensure our audience understands how important their feedback is to our work.

If you have questions, comments or news tips, we want to hear from you. Our email is journalism@rmpbs.org. If you want to reach a specific journalist directly, our contact information is available on our staff page and in the byline of each story we produce.

If you’d like to visit us in person, our main office is the Buell Public Media Center, located at 2101 Arapahoe St. Denver, CO 80205.