Why Bangor Daily News made its values public

Being clear about our journalistic and objective roots and having a place for people to refer back to just seemed to be a good grounding practice for us to do in this time.”

Dan MacLeod, Executive Editor, Bangor Daily News

Learn more
about crafing your
CORE VALUES STATEMENT

When Bangor Daily News published a concise statement outlining its core journalistic values, Executive Editor Dan MacLeod wasn't announcing a new philosophy. He was putting into words the principles that had guided the Maine newsroom for decades.

In today's increasingly fractured media environment, however, MacLeod believes simply practicing ethical journalism is no longer enough. News organizations must also explain how they do their work. "I almost felt like, why do we even need to explain?" MacLeod said. "Of course we don't take money from people. Of course we don't distort facts. Of course we don't work for a campaign. Why would we even need to say that?"

The answer became obvious as audiences found themselves navigating an information landscape filled with opinion, advocacy and misinformation. "There are just so many different sources of information out there, partisan or otherwise," MacLeod said. "Being clear about our journalistic and objective roots and having a place for people to refer back to just seemed to be a good grounding practice for us to do in this time."

Bangor Daily News
Core Values Statement 

Bangor Daily News is part of a growing movement among news organizations that believe restoring trust requires more than producing quality journalism. It also requires explaining how that journalism is practiced.

The Center for Integrity in News Reporting (CFINR) is encouraging news organizations and journalism schools across the country to publicly display concise statements explaining the principles behind their reporting.

"Across the country, a growing number of news organizations are recognizing that producing quality news reporting is no longer enough," said Rufus Friday, executive director of CFINR. "Increasingly, they believe they must also explain to readers how they practice news reporting, which is separate from opinion."

Friday believes Bangor Daily News is helping demonstrate what that commitment looks like in practice.

"Your leadership in defining and embracing these principles sends an important message, not only to the community you serve, but to the broader journalism world, that credibility is earned through adhering to truth and impartiality ."

Making the invisible visible

Bangor Daily News' public values statement is intentionally straightforward.

• "Our only agenda is the truth."
• "We follow the facts where they take us."
• "We work for you, our readers."
• "We are independent."
• "We are human."
• "We are accountable."

For McLeod, simplicity was the goal. "I wanted it to be fairly broad, to be inclusive of a lot of big ideas, but not necessarily to be super specific," he said. "The news is so contextual. What is interesting one day may not be another. Whether to use one source in one context might be different in another."

Instead of publishing a lengthy ethics manual, Bangor Daily News chose to communicate the enduring principles that shape every reporting decision regardless of the story.

The statement grew from work already taking place inside the newsroom. "We had all these sort of oral histories of our standards," MacLeod said. "We started writing them down so we're all kind of on the same page."

Eventually, readers began asking whether those standards were available publicly. "We kind of put this together because some people were asking about it, and it seemed like a good idea to have out there."

More than a promise to readers

While the statement was created with the public in mind, MacLeod says it has become equally valuable inside the newsroom. "I think the staff has been supportive of it," he said. "None of us view this as being controversial. We're all like, 'Yeah, obviously. That's what we're doing.'"

Publishing those values reinforces something that can sometimes get lost amid deadlines, pageviews and subscription goals. "I think it's good to put your standards out there and be proud about them," MacLeod said. "We're here for a higher aim than simply to get traffic or to sell subscriptions. The subscriptions support a larger mission that we're all part of."

That mission, he acknowledged, often puts journalists in uncomfortable positions. "We're just out here trying to tell people what's going on and to kind of cut a path to the truth," MacLeod said. "It's often not a popular job. You're often angering powerful people or people with a big megaphone, and they'll use it against you."

For that reason, he believes readers deserve to understand the principles behind editorial decisions. "We're not aligned with any political party," he said. "We're not a conservative paper. We're not a liberal paper. We're just a newspaper. We don't start out with, 'Let's prove this thing.' We talk to people, and we figure out what's going on."

Those are exactly the kinds of commitments CFINR hopes more news organizations will make visible.

For CFINR, the objective extends beyond publishing a statement. It is about helping readers understand the distinction between objective news reporting and opinion while making a newsroom's standards transparent and accessible. By encouraging news organizations to publicly articulate the principles that guide their reporting, CFINR hopes to strengthen transparency and rebuild trust. Bangor Daily News illustrates how a concise public statement can accomplish both.

A small step with a meaningful impact

MacLeod stops short of saying every newsroom should adopt Bangor Daily News' exact approach. "I would never tell another publisher or top editor that there's a thing you must do," he said. "It really depends on your audience, your newsroom and your leadership style."

Still, he believes publicly sharing journalistic values sends an important message. "I think this is a very positive thing for the community to see you doing, and that it will only be celebrated."

That confidence has been reinforced by reader feedback. "We've gotten some reader responses saying, 'We really appreciate this,'" McLeod said. "We haven't gotten anyone who's been critical of it."

For Friday, Bangor Daily News represents something much larger than a single newsroom publishing a statement of principles. "The Bangor Daily News demonstrates that transparency isn't a burden, it's an opportunity to strengthen credibility and deepen reader trust," he said. "As more news organizations publicly display their own statement of core journalistic values, the industry has an opportunity to rebuild confidence one newsroom at a time."

That is precisely the goal of the Center for Integrity in News Reporting's initiative: encouraging every newsroom to make its commitment to objective, impartial and transparent journalism visible to the communities it serves. Bangor Daily News is simply one example of how that journey can begin.

Learn more

Newsrooms looking to follow this example can start today. Reach out to Rufus Friday at the Center for Integrity in News Reporting to request your Core Values Starter Kit at RFriday@CFINR.org or visit CFINR.org to learn more.