Our policies: editorial independence at a glance • The Mendocino Voice

The Mendocino Voice is an independently owned and operated local news outlet, part of the nonprofit Bay City News Foundation, a 501(c)3 charity.

Editorial independence and donor transparency policies

Our outlet follows the highest ethical and professional standards outlined by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics and the editorial independence policy developed by the Institute for Nonprofit News. We are also proud members of the Local Independent Online News Publishers, and our staff belong to the Society of Professional Journalists and other professional associations.

In short:

Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.

Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.

We have received grant funding of $5,000 and above from the following funders and donors, listed below. We adhere to the guiding principles outlined by the American Press Institute in our funding partnerships.