Bill W:
Chad G:
#13 of 21 in a series: Building SOAPSzone
Story Idea #105 – Building SOAPSzone’s Journalistic Standards and Principles
A publication should not invent its standards only after a difficult story creates a problem.
SOAPSzone is building its editorial rules while the newsroom itself is being built.
Some principles are straightforward: distinguish fact from allegation and opinion; use primary sources where practical; give organizations a fair opportunity to answer criticism; correct errors visibly; protect private information; and do not turn an interesting theory into a factual claim before the evidence earns it.
Others require more thought because of the way this project works. We use AI extensively, so readers deserve to know what role it plays and what remains human editorial judgment. We publish source and background material where practical, which creates an obligation to scrub private details without sanitizing the actual reporting trail. We cover companies whose services we may personally use, so firsthand experience has to be identified rather than quietly presented as detached observation.
Humor adds another boundary. Satire should be unmistakably satire. A joke can target corporate absurdity without smuggling an unsupported factual accusation into the punchline.
We are also developing a correction philosophy that treats being wrong as something to repair rather than hide. If new evidence changes the story, the record should show the change clearly enough that readers can understand what happened.
The standards document will evolve as situations expose gaps. That evolution itself can be public. A principle is more credible when readers can see how it was applied to an awkward real case rather than merely displayed on an About page.
The aim is not to claim perfect objectivity.
It is to create a process people can inspect, challenge and reasonably trust even when they disagree with the conclusion.
