An explanation of our editorial policies
GENERAL PRINCIPLES:

As stated in our disclaimer, The Other Side of the Hill is an independent effort to promote a community dialogue on homelessness and poverty issues. In standard journalism, there is a line that may not ever be crossed between making the news and reporting on the news. Although The Other Side of the Hill strives to do factual reporting and independent and critical analysis, a blog does not strictly follow the standard, of say, a newspaper. People who write for The Other Side of the Hill (including myself) are often involved themselves in the Community Initiative to End Homelessness or in other efforts to address this issue. This may very well affect the "objectivity" of this blog, although I personally strive to be as objective as possible.

It is a difficult balancing act and the way I have chosen to address that balancing act is honesty and full disclosure. How successful I or any other author you see here is in being objective, I leave for the reader to judge individually. I'm not going to follow the model of Fox News and make pronouncements about being fair and balanced. Such a pronouncement would only serve to destroy my credibility, just as Fox's claims have destroyed theirs. On a personal note, I am skeptical that anything you read can EVER be truly "objective" since everyone usually filters things through the lens of their own biases, whether they are conscious of those or not. It is always up to the reader to think critically about what is being read and that is the case for this blog just like with anything else.

WHY SOME POSTS ARE REVIEWED:

The Community Initiative includes a wide variety of people, agencies, organizations, and government entities. Many of these organizations have their own internal policies and ethical constraints that they must abide by. Many of these agencies also work directly with clients, which means that there are guidelines and policies they must follow for the protection of the rights of their clients, as well as ethical considerations. What this means is that some information shared in meetings of the Community Initiative and its committees may be sensitive and not technically part of the public domain. In addition, there are also concerns that have to be taken into account when reporting things that are part of an ongoing process where final decisions have not been made.

For these reasons, certain posts on The Other Side of the Hill may be reviewed by staff members of the Community Initiative to End Homelessness or its participating agencies. The reason this is done is to ensure factual accuracy as well as to ensure that no information is made public which would violate privacy standards or ethics or impair the ability of the Community Initiative to work with participating agencies. This review is not done with the intention of censoring anything. I can personally assure our readers that what I write is in fact my honest views and there is no pressure to write anything or leave out anything. Posts that are reviewed are reviewed for the purposes I've described and not with the intent of censoring unfavorable information or opinions. In addition, every post that is reviewed will be clearly marked as such with a link back to this policy.

Editorial discretion is pretty common in the larger media as well. For instance, most major newspapers and media outlets have policies against naming victims of rape or hate crimes. Certain information may not be reported in the mainstream media because it is proprietary, unconfirmed, a matter of personal privacy or national security, or because there are any number of other considerations that might outweigh "the public's right to know". In that respect, The Other Side of the Hill is not that different after all. But again, I encourage the reader to think critically and to make up their own mind.

If there are any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions about this policy, please email them to Michael McGee, editor of The Other Side of the Hill at rm.mcgee@gmail.com
-# posted by Michael McGee @ 2:42 PM 0 comments