The WyoFile chief executive and editor — hired by and serving at the pleasure of the WyoFile board of directors — shall have complete independence regarding the content that appears on WyoFile.com and associated platforms.
WyoFile is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that depends upon donor and foundation support. Donations in no way influence editorial direction.
WyoFile board members are available to advise or assist the CEE and staff as requested by the CEE but have no authority to direct news coverage or news content.
The board expects all WyoFile staff to represent the organization in a professional manner. That means being well-mannered, fair and ethical in their dealings with other people. The board expects all journalists to work according to best ethical practices as outlined in the precepts of the Society of Professional Journalists:
Preamble: Public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity.
The Society declares these four principles as the foundation of ethical journalism and encourages their use in its practice by all people in all media.
- Seek truth and report it;
- Minimize harm;
- Act independently;
- Be accountable and transparent.
Donor Policy
WyoFile recognizes that conflicts of interest — both real and perceived — can arise between a news organization’s pursuit of financial viability and its dedication to editorial independence. This is true both in not-for-profit outlets, such as ours, that rely on donor, foundation and underwriter support; and in for-profits which rely on advertisers, investors and other resources.
To enhance transparency and avoid editorial compromise WyoFile:
- Cedes no right to assign, write, edit, review or otherwise influence our content to anyone outside of our editorial team.
- Does not accept financial support from government entities, political parties or political campaigns; exceptions may be allowed for support from organizations that receive government funding for work involving education, humanities or the arts.
- Reserves the right to refuse donations from anyone, including groups and individuals advocating for specific coverage or seeking to influence political or policy decisions though their donation.
- Complies with all state and federal regulations, including those requiring donor disclosure.
- Considers accepting financial support earmarked for the coverage of particular topics, but does not accept input from funders on how such topics will be approached or otherwise cede the right to assign, write, edit, review or influence resulting reports.
- Aims to maintain a broad and diverse base of support composed primarily of individual member donations.
- Explains relationships with major donors and any other WyoFile stakeholder (former and current board members, former and current staff, etc.) whenever they are referenced in our stories.
- Appreciates that our supporters, like our board and staff, expect and are invested in unbiased, unflinching, nonpartisan independent journalism — no matter where it leads.
Corrections
WyoFile strives to bring you accurate and thorough news reporting. While our journalists work hard to fact-check and copy edit all of our reporting, regretfully we are not immune to mistakes. We’re grateful to our readers who bring errors to our attention, and when a mistake is discovered, we issue a correction. We believe corrections serve the public record and readers’ trust in our commitment to journalistic ethics, and mostly importantly, the truth.
We are accountable to both ourselves and our readers for the accuracy of the information we publish on WyoFile.com be that in stories, headlines, photo captions or data visualizations. When a correction is required, we make clear to readers the context of the mistake.
We fix typos, grammatical errors and misspellings without issuing corrections, but when we misspell proper names we will issue a correction.
If you believe WyoFile has made a factual error in its reporting, we encourage you to contact us at editor@wyofile.com with the location and nature of the mistake. Please use “correction” in the subject line. Our editorial staff will review the information and issue a correction if necessary as soon as possible.
Example Correction
Whenever we issue a correction, you will find an editor’s note at the bottom of the article containing the the context surrounding the mistake:
Correction: This story has been updated to correct where funding came from for U.S. House race polls. —Ed.
We also issue clarifications when we’ve added information post-publication to make factual reporting more clear:
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify details regarding Priorities USA Action. —Ed.