Content produced by the News Literacy Project reflects our mission, which is to advance the development and teaching of news literacy in K-12 education. It must also reflect our commitment to the standards and ideals of credibility that we teach students to look for in information they trust, including meticulous accuracy, transparency, independence and fairness. The policies below are meant to guide the organization in the material we present in our classroom lessons, newsletters, communications, social media and more.
Nonpartisan
NLP is rigorously nonpartisan. Our newsletters, resources and social media posts tackle topics across the political spectrum. We do not shy away from polarizing issues and strive to describe them accurately and fairly. When the facts are clear about a topic, we say so, without resorting to false balance.
A belief in standards-based journalism
We believe that the practices and guidelines of ethical, standards-based journalism are an ideal yardstick for measuring the credibility of news and other information. These standards include processes that promote accuracy, fairness, independence and accountability. However, we also examine legitimate criticism of news practices and coverage. An important part of ethical journalism is the role of news organizations in holding themselves — and each other — accountable. We recognize the importance of covering these missteps and debates for our audiences.
Commitment to accuracy
We care about getting the facts right. Content is carefully edited and fact-checked to verify the information we publish or disseminate is correct at the time of release. Our team brings deep experience in editing, reporting and teaching to the topics we cover. Accuracy is one of our most important core values.
We take factual inaccuracies seriously and correct errors quickly and prominently. Whenever possible, we also provide clear explanations for corrections or clarifications.
Our goal is to inform and educate, with careful attention to bias and errors. We welcome any feedback about our classroom resources and social media content. Send suggestions and questions to standards@newslit.org.
Editorial independence
We maintain strict editorial independence in our educational materials and guard against undue influence — from funders and from NLP’s strategic and marketing interests — in deciding what to publish or post. We choose topics based on their news literacy relevance and their potential to reinforce key news literacy concepts and skills. To that end, we monitor the latest headlines and viral rumors with an eye on teachable moments and put our educators’ interests first.
Transparency
We aim to be transparent in our information-gathering and give credit to our news and photo sources through careful attribution. We strive to be fair in how we describe our sources’ reporting on complex topics and to represent diverse viewpoints accurately. If content or links include disturbing language or images, we let our audience know in the form of clear notes and warnings.
Conflicts of interest
We avoid conflicts of interest and disclose any potential conflicts involving people or organizations that might affect our work.
Funding transparency
NLP is committed to transparency and accountability in all aspects of how our organization is funded. Acceptance of financial support does not imply endorsement of any donor, or of any donor’s products, services, positions or opinions.
We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, corporations, foundations and other organizations to support our general operations, educational programs, coverage of specific topics and special projects. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating in the public interest, we are exempt from certain taxes and may receive funds from standard government programs available to nonprofit organizations or similar entities.
All editorial and educational decisions are made independently and are not based on, or influenced by, donors or any other revenue source. Financial supporters do not have the right to assign, review, approve or edit content, curricula, research or other materials produced by the News Literacy Project. We follow our Gift Acceptance Policy in maintaining independence and credibility.
Use of artificial intelligence tools
The following core values will guide our work.
Transparency
When generative AI tools are used that influence audience-facing content, we will tell the audience in ways that both disclose and educate. We work with editors and designers to create disclosures that are precise in language without being onerous to our audience. This may be a short tagline, a caption or credit or, for something more substantial, an editor’s note.
Communication and disclosure ideally create opportunities to get feedback from the audience, as well as educate news consumers. Part of our job is to empower the audience with news literacy skills. AI literacy — understanding how generative AI works, how it impacts the information ecosystem and how to avoid AI-generated misinformation — is a part of news literacy.
We do not use AI to create original content. However, we may use AI in the following ways:
- To research a topic. However, we independently verify every fact, since AI can produce false information.
- To adapt content for different reading levels.
- To brainstorm alt text and descriptive text for accessibility.
- To generate initial drafts of video transcripts.
- To translate text from one language to another. Translated text is always verified by a native speaker.
Accuracy and human verification
All information generated by AI requires human verification. Everything we publish will live up to our standards of verification. In all of our work, it is important to be explicit about how we know facts are accurate. This is particularly important when using AI.
Privacy and security
Our relationship with our audience is rooted in trust and respect. Our privacy policies forbid entering sensitive or identifying information about users, sources or even our own staff into any generative AI tools.
Social media
The News Literacy Project is committed to fostering respectful and constructive dialogue across our platforms. We maintain community guidelines to ensure a safe online environment for all participants. We reserve the right to report harassment and hide or delete comments that violate these guidelines.
Examples of unacceptable posts and comments include but are not limited to spamming, offensive language, hate speech, sexually explicit speech, harassment or personal attacks directed toward others, derogatory comments about NLP or others, and/or any threats or violence. Repeat violators may be banned from engaging in discussions on our social media platforms.
In addition, our social media team follows these practices:
- We clearly label any examples of misinformation we share in NLP social media posts. When possible, we also watermark misinformation examples to prevent them from being shared out of context.
- We do not use or share images, photos or videos from the internet without verifying their authenticity.
- When sharing examples of misinformation taken from the internet, we blur out social media handles and names unless they belong to public figures and it is important for viewers to know that the public figure shared the falsehood or for other educational reasons, such as pointing out that an account name has “ai” in the handle.
- We do not ask accounts to take down or remove content and are in no way involved in censoring others’ original content.