Last updated: October 9, 2026. This Code of Ethics binds everyone who reports, edits, films or produces journalism for NewsWibe — staff, stringers and contributors alike.
1. Who we answer to
NewsWibe’s first loyalty is to the reader and to the accuracy of the public record. Not to advertisers. Not to sources. Not to any government, campaign or owner. When those interests collide with the facts of a story, the facts get published.
2. Verification is the job
- Nothing runs on a single unverified say-so. A claim is published when a primary source or two independent reliable reports stand behind it. Trending is not a source.
- We name sources whenever we can. Anonymous sourcing needs an important story, no on-record route, and a senior editor’s judgement on the source’s knowledge and motive — and the reader is told, in general terms, why the name is withheld.
- Documents, figures and quotes are checked against originals where originals exist. Material from agencies and partners is credited where it is used; other outlets’ reporting is linked and credited, never lifted.
- Headlines, summaries, captions, alerts and social posts meet the same factual bar as the article. A true story under a false headline is a false story.
3. Fairness
Anyone facing a significant adverse claim gets a fair chance to answer before publication where practicable, and the answer runs honestly. We quote people in ways that keep their meaning. We keep what a source said, what we saw ourselves and what we concluded visibly separate in the text.
4. Independence
- No gifts, payments, trips or favours that could be read as buying coverage — or buying silence. Nominal courtesies are declared to the desk editor.
- Journalists declare interests that touch their beat. If a conflict cannot be managed, the story moves to somebody else.
- Advertisers and clients never preview news, never shape it and never learn about it early. Sponsored work is labelled and fact-checked to newsroom standards.
- Journalists who take part in campaigns or causes tell the standards function and do not cover them.
5. Labels the reader can trust
News is neutral. Analysis is labelled analysis. Opinion is labelled opinion and signed. Sponsored content is labelled sponsored. If a reader has to ask which one they are reading, we have failed.
6. People before stories
We identify ourselves as journalists. Covert methods need serious wrongdoing, clear public interest, no honest alternative, top-level authorisation — and an explanation to readers afterwards. Children, victims and the bereaved get particular care: minimum harm, no gratuitous detail, refusals respected. Payment for news that would reward invention is prohibited; any exception needs standards approval and disclosure.
7. Images and video
News imagery is never staged, fabricated or altered beyond technical adjustment that leaves its meaning intact. File and illustrative pictures are labelled where confusion is possible. Supplied video is checked for authenticity, place and date, and credited to its maker.
8. Machines in the newsroom
Software may transcribe, translate, search and sort under human supervision. By-lined and desk journalism is the work and responsibility of human editors. Machine-generated material is never presented as eyewitness reporting, and synthetic images are never used as news photographs.
9. Credit and plagiarism
Passing off another’s reporting, words or pictures as ours is plagiarism and a dismissible offence. Work that builds on another newsroom’s reporting says so and links to it. Facts we did not establish carry their source in the sentence.
10. Putting it right
Mistakes are corrected quickly and visibly under our Corrections policy, with a dated note of what changed. Complaints are judged by an editor who did not make the item. Breaches of this Code attract sanctions up to removal from journalism duties; serious breaches are recorded by the 24World Media standards function, which owns this Code across the network.
11. Confidentiality and data
Confidential sources are protected; their identity is disclosed only where the law ultimately compels it and the standards function has authorised it. Personal information is handled exactly as our Privacy Policy states.
12. Raise a concern
Ethics concerns about any NewsWibe item: the Contact page, addressed to the standards desk, or by post to 1411 N Sterling Ave, Palatine, IL 60067, United States.
13. Corrections to this Code
This Code itself is corrected in the open: revisions are dated at the top, and the standards function records what changed and why. A code that cannot admit its own errors would deserve no trust when it corrects everyone else’s.
