Editorial independence is at the heart of everything we do at Richmondside. Without it, we lose the trust of our readers, which is critical not only to our survival, but to our ability to do the independent community journalism that is core to our mission.
To ensure we maintain that independence, we retain full authority over editorial content to best serve the communities we report on and to protect the journalistic and business interests of our organization. We’re not alone among nonprofit news outlets in striving to protect our independence. Just like its hundreds of other newsroom members, we subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Our community and the newsroom
Richmondside’s primary mission is to produce original reporting for Richmond based on facts and seeking the truth. We strive for editorial excellence with journalism that is inclusive and representative. Our journalism is built on a high level of community engagement and rooted in community needs. We rely on our readers to let us know what is going on in the community and encourage them to submit story ideas.. However, members of the community do not make the call on what we cover. All editorial decisions are made by editors and journalists alone.
Leadership and board of directors
We are committed to transparency so you can learn about our organization’s’ leadership, our values and how we approach aspects of our work, and we strive to be as open as possible about their operational and ethical policies.
Richmondside is published by Cityside Journalism Initiative which, like all nonprofit organizations, has an independent board of directors.
The board of directors is a group of individuals that governs and oversees Cityside’s operations. The board members have a legal and ethical duty to act in the best interests of Cityside. They must make decisions that benefit the organization, and they need to carefully manage the organization’s assets and resources.
The board is responsible for setting the organization’s mission, strategy and goals, and ensuring that we operate in compliance with legal and ethical standards. Board members have no input into, or influence on, any aspect of the editorial work at Richmondside or its sister publications, The Oaklandside and Berkeleyside.
Revenue and independence
Richmondside pledges to be transparent about the funding of our news operations and to maintain editorial independence from all revenue sources to ensure news judgments are made in the interest of the communities we serve.
Richmondside, through its parent organization Cityside, has four sources of revenue: Membership contributions, major individual donors, institutional philanthropy, and sponsorship and advertising. We maintain a strict firewall between news coverage decisions and those revenue sources. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or our products, services or opinions.
We accept donations, 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. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.
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.
Anyone relying on a nonprofit news site’s reporting should be able to easily learn the major financial supporters of the news outlet, and about its values and leadership. That’s why we make public all one-time donations of $1,000 or more. As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from government entities, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. If our board of directors deems a donation presents a conflict of interest with our work or will compromise our independence, we will not accept that donation.
