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[LSNN] Political Reporting Policy - Updated March 2022


Sal

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**The following appears on the LSNN website as an announcement. As a static webpage, comments are naturally disabled. **

 

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LSNN Political Reporting Policy

By Allegra Nixon

 

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This document aims to clearly set forth LSNN’s approach and stance to political coverage in San Andreas, for the sake of ensuring full transparency and accountability where necessary.


The topics covered are:

  • LSNN’s stance on political coverage
  • Bias and favor
  • Public interest
  • Frequency, volume and equal opportunities
  • Additional measures of transparency
  • Advertising
  • Complaints and issues

 

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LSNN’s Stance on Political Coverage
We believe that the media plays an incredibly important role in informing the citizens of what’s going on politically in San Andreas, and how this affects them. This often involves distilling otherwise complicated political information and jargon in a manner which is digestible and comprehendible.


The network, while committed to stamping out bias at every possible juncture, believes that misinformation should be avoided at all costs. As such, every effort will be made to ensure that reporting is as factual as possible.


LSNN still retains its right to investigative journalism. We believe it is our journalistic duty to publish topics of public interest, and that in some cases, this may result in certain parties coming under critique and scrutiny. 


We also wish to reiterate that we are not a court of law, and that we are permitted and indeed encouraged, as a media organisation, to publish topics of public interest even while investigations may be ongoing and conclusions yet to be reached in the eyes of the law. Where hard evidence is of course preferred, we still value personal testimony provided it is from credible and reliable sources - which are deemed as such entirely at our own discretion. 


It is the belief of the network that this is indeed the nature of the political beast, and that anyone in a position of responsibility should be prepared to answer to the people. We serve as the medium – connecting the politicians to the people – and reserve the right to embody any questions or concerns they may have, and to provide commentary and critique where necessary.


We want our audience to find value in our political reporting, and to feel that we are providing useful and relevant information which could otherwise be overlooked or remain un-investigated. It is our duty to ensure that such reports are entertaining as well as informative, which is reflected in our reporting style. 

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Bias and favor

LSNN retains a firm commitment to political neutrality, as is stated in the above. 

 

As part of this commitment, any employees at LSNN who are charged with covering political stories are in no way permitted to allow their own political stances to affect their reporting style. Every American citizen has the right to vote, however we require that our political correspondents do not share their own political voting intentions through their reporting. 


This can easily be misinterpreted, however, so for full clarity: our journalists are still permitted and encouraged to provide critique and critical thinking when dealing with political matters. Doing so does not mean that a journalist is biased: far from it, it means they’re doing their job.

 

It should also be noted that, whilst rooted in the pursuit of truth, journalistic styles can also venture into the sensational, dramatic and overly critical. This again is not an example of bias or misrepresentation, but rather necessary tools at any journalist's disposal to ensure that their story is interesting, entertaining and informative. 

 

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Public interest
It should go without saying that anything related to the official political procedures of San Andreas, such as legislature changes and proposals, elections and so on, clearly fall within the public interest and thus LSNN is obliged to provide coverage.


However, for clarity, LSNN also believes that it is not just the policy that the people vote for; it is the individual. Attributes such as trustworthiness and reliability are thus within the public interest. Therefore, any action of a public figure which calls these attributes into question, regardless of whether this is related to their policies, work or their private lives, falls within our remit to cover. 


This has been provided for clarity as we believe that actions such as, for instance, adultery, criminal behaviour and so on, serve to inform the public about the attributes of the individual, and thus we are obliged as a media organisation to cover. 

 

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Frequency, volume and equal opportunities
Of prime concern to all political parties with regards to media coverage, is often the topic of “who gets the most limelight and attention”. This section aims to set the record straight.
Our approach here can be summed up as follows:


“Every politician and political party will be given equal opportunities for media coverage, both during elections and after-the-fact. However, if one individual or party is conducting more newsworthy activities than others, we will absolutely not censor ourselves purely in the name of balance. Coverage will come to those who earn it, and we at LSNN reserve the right as journalists to be the ones who decide that.”


In practise, this could look like the following:
During an election period, all interested parties will be contacted equally and given the same opportunities from the offset. However, if one candidate or party is more active than another, the likelihood of them attaining higher volumes of coverage is naturally increased. Not only does this ensure that hard work is rewarded, it means that we are not over-censoring our news agenda purely to attain “balance”.


Likewise, if a party or individual comes under fire for a certain reason, or is involved in a scandal, it stands to reason that they too will attain higher levels of coverage (albeit with a different lens). This too is unavoidable, and part of the natural flow of the news agenda. 

 

The specific actions being taken by LSNN to ensure equal opportunities from the offset are as follows:

  • A balanced programme of political guests on broadcasts and in articles.
  • Both parties featured in a story or update will receive equal time and opportunity to provide comment. We reserve the right to report even without comment, but will state as such during our reporting.

 

It remains entirely at the discretion of LSNN as to whether or not a story is relevant to LSNN’s audience, and thus, we will not guarantee coverage of every event or comment. 

 

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Additional measures of transparency

The following steps are also being taken by LSNN to ensure neutrality in reporting on political issues:

  • LSNN staff will not accept gifts from any individual associated with a political campaign. 
  • LSNN will regularly meet, in equal measure, with the party leaders and any independents to address transparency concerns.
  • An internal complaints committee is on standby for dealing with official complaints or alleged breaches of the policies outlined here (more on this later)

 

LSNN is not obliged to provide full releases on any informants or tips that are received, as we have an obligation to protect the personal information (and in some cases, anonymity) of our informants. Every effort is made by LSNN employees to ensure that information received is credible and fact-checked whether reasonably possible to do so.

 

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Advertising
As a business, LSNN provides potential advertisers with the opportunity to showcase their services to our audience. Our platforms for doing such include:

  • Banner adverts on articles
  • Facebrowser adverts
  • Pre and post-broadcasting radio announcements

 

Political parties and individuals are permitted to advertise with LSNN even during election periods, though the nature of such communications will clearly be labelled as “ADVERTS” and not as journalism. As such, advertising features which are presented as journalistic features are prohibited for our political advertising partners (also known as advertorials).


It is important to note that LSNN, while happy to work with political parties and individuals on providing a medium for advertising campaigns, will absolutely not allow such arrangements to impede on our duty to provide honest and critical journalism.  Political advertisers therefore have to accept that the arrangement is for advertising alone, and in no way “buys” reporting favor with our employees. 

 

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Complaints and issues
The above policy is in action immediately, and we encourage any concerned parties to get in touch with us if you feel that any of our reporters have breached these guidelines in any way.
We have set up an internal committee to assess all complaints, which consists of the following individuals:

  • Carry Saunders 
  • Allegra Nixon
  • Legal Counsel (As appointed by LSNN)

The findings of these committees will be communicated directly back to the complainant, but we are in no way obliged to publish this beyond direct communication. 


To register a complaint, please email [email protected]

 

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Closing thoughts
We hope that you now better understand LSNN’s approach to political news coverage in San Andreas. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Allegra Nixon directly at [email protected]

 

** Comments are disabled, as this is on a static page **
 

Edited by Sal
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