Professional standards and ethics
The Tribune strives to ensure that its reporting methods are fair and thorough, and its reports accurate and transparent.
All Tribune employees follow the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics as well as additional internal standards outlined in The Tribune Professional Standards Guide.
Commenting and moderation policy
Purpose
The purpose of comments on Salt Lake Tribune stories is to support discussion and conversation among our readers, yet another way readers can engage with the stories that matter to them.
Moderation
We do not allow comments that include personal attacks, threats, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by characters), commercial promotion, spam, fake profiles, multiple accounts, incoherence and SHOUTING.
A comment may be removed if it is deemed to be uncivil, inappropriate, racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, blatant “trolling” or is not related to the topic at hand. While moderation decisions are subjective, our moderators try to be as consistent as possible. Generally, we will not allow comments to become bogged down with discussions of our moderation policy and activity.
We encourage opinions and criticisms of our work, however, those criticisms must relate to the articles in question. Personal attacks against Tribune staff will not be permitted and comments of that nature will be deleted.
The Tribune does not edit comments but it may respond to comments that contain factual inaccuracies.
For the entire commenting policy, click here.
Our Social Media Policy
The Tribune must be where readers are, presenting a consistent voice on a variety of social media channels. The Tribune requires all individual editorial employees to be active on at least one social media platform. This not only promotes our quality work, but also gives readers a direct link to those in the newsroom.
That said, journalists should proceed with caution:
• We do not share or create any posts, stories or pictures in social media circles which could be considered advocacy. Also, we refrain from praising or criticizing businesses or institutions.
• Employees should be cautious to avoid comments, posts, likes, shares, etc., that could call into question their personal credibility and objectivity or the credibility of The Tribune. This includes posts that can be perceived as offensive, partisan, racially insensitive, sexist, etc. or posts that appear to take sides on issues.
• Everything presented on social media is public. As a representative of The Tribune, our professional and personal lives will intersect. Our posts on a personal blog or social media platform must comply with our journalistic standards. This includes text, photographs and video.
• If we “friend” people or join online groups as a reporting tool, we make sure to also join opposing groups. If asked, we make clear our role is observational rather than participatory. We seek to be transparent about our intentions and identity when seeking information.
• We don’t disclose internal Tribune discussions publicly and seek to navigate disagreements with colleagues offline.
• We take care when sharing posts and be aware that sharing could imply we’ve confirmed the information. Breaking news sweeps rapidly across social platforms, and we need to proceed with caution and hold close to our standards of fact-checking and verification. Fake accounts under a false name are not an acceptable way to source stories.
• We seek to be mindful of what you share from other sites or news organizations. When sharing articles, we ask: Are we sharing stories from a handful of the same sites? Would a reasonable person be able to draw conclusions about our personal beliefs based on the articles you share? A sentence in our bio disclaiming your posts as opinion doesn’t sway readers if the pattern of your posting says otherwise.
• On occasion, criticism can cross a line, and we take threats against our journalists seriously. If we feel threatened by someone on social media, we speak with our editor immediately.
• Making offensive or disparaging remarks on social media about individuals, groups, organizations, or protected classes violates The Salt Lake Tribune’s Ethics Guidelines and the organization’s policies. This includes comments and posts made on social media by an employee before joining The Tribune. Employees who violate this policy can be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Hiring managers will search past and present social media posts of prospective employees before bringing them on board — and encourage the prospective employees to do the same.
Terms of Service
For more information about comments, user contributions and submissions, as well as how The Salt Lake Tribune can use your contributions, read our full Terms of Service.
Contact us
If you have questions about the Tribune’s commenting policy, email comments@sltrib.com.
Corrections and clarifications
Transparency is a core value at The Tribune and it’s our duty to correct mistakes when an error is discovered.
If a mistake in a story is the result of erroneous material provided by a news source or if the mistake occurred in the course of reporting, writing or editing, those instances will be corrected immediately within the story as well as in a note at the bottom of the story or, if it’s in the print paper, on A2 the next day. If you feel a correction is warranted, contact the reporter who wrote the story.