Premise

Always attentive to respect for people and laws, with this document The Eastern Herald has an ethical code, in which it reaffirms its principles, its moral and social objectives, its trust in the institutions of our democracy. This document underlines the commitment of journalists, managers and employees to carry out their profession correctly and in full transparency. We are aware that all our behavior will be judged in the name of the law and our public.

The Mission

The Eastern Herald’s mission is to create an informed, active public, encouraged to participate in public life thanks to a better and more in-depth understanding of events, ideas, culture in India and all around the world. To this end, The Eastern Herald collects, verifies, reports, produces and distributes information and other contents that serve the public interest and help maintain a healthy collective living environment.

The Objectives

The Eastern Herald is a secular news organization that carefully looks at respect for civil rights from all latitudes and from all governments. It works for inclusion, the valorization of differences, against any obscurantist and anti-scientific drift. The Eastern Herald is a point of reference for those who ask the authorities for their work, for those who demand transparency, for all those who are left on the margins of society. And at the same time, it reflects and anticipates changes in lifestyles, cultural curiosities, trends of a society in continuous and rapid evolution.

Credibility and Trust

The key to this work is the exchange relationship with readers, which requires continuous attention and mutual collaboration and is based on the credibility of the journalistic work and the ambition to win the trust of the reading community, every day as if it were the first day. The Eastern Herald adheres to the Trust Project, an international newspaper trust project (www.thetrustproject.org), believing that the adoption of ethical rules can protect and increase the reputation of the collective of The Eastern Herald, its individual components and its journalistic product. In order to best return this commitment, its journalists, technicians and all those who work in The Eastern Herald adhere to these ethical principles based on maximum transparency and responsibility. The principles are not only made to meet needs but also and above all to raise new ones. The continuous dialogue on how to apply these principles in our daily work will allow us to produce journalism worthy of the name of The Eastern Herald and the public it serves.

Values of The Eastern Herald

1. ACCURACY
   Our intent is the search for truth. Thorough verification is the priority. What we report must be correct and contextualized. We do not really assume everything we are told and we do not let ourselves be influenced by our personal beliefs.
2. COMPLETENESS
   As far as possible we tell our stories with completeness and context clarity. If for any reason we are unable to insert all the information we have available, the editorial work must be accurate in order not to omit or sacrifice aspects of the story that distort the truth as we have ascertained it.
3. HONESTY
   Those who do journalistic work honestly prove that they deserve the public’s trust. In our work, we operate with authenticity and transparency. We clearly cite and attribute the sources of our information. We avoid hyperbole and sensationalistic hypotheses. We do not use fantasy reconstructions. Only on rare occasions – where there are security implications for us or for third parties – can we act without declaring our identity. Once the time has come to bring the story back, we reveal why we didn’t claim to be journalists. The use of anonymous sources must be limited to the bare minimum and must be explained.
4. INDEPENDENCE
   The Eastern Herald rejects political constraints and corruption: nobody can ask for money or other advantages to perform undue services. To guarantee this, every decision taken must be adequately verified and in any case verifiable. Conflicts of interest must be reported and sanctioned. Any potential conflict of interest must be communicated and evaluated together with the newspaper’s governing bodies. The editorial decisions are totally independent of the ownership of The Eastern Herald.
5. IMPARTIALITY
   Those who work in The Eastern Herald naturally have opinions, beliefs, personal beliefs that make the environment from which our products come from richer. But the public deserves a fair, impartial view, not influenced by personal points of view. The comment spaces are clearly separated and identifiable within The Eastern Herald editorial products.
6. TRANSPARENCY
   The Eastern Herald’s credibility also passes through the clarity of its decision-making and production processes, within the limits of the normal internal life dynamics of the workplace. We strive to communicate externally everything that can help explain how we got to the final product, especially when our choices were difficult. We make public any relationship with partners or financiers who may appear to have an influence on our work.
7. SOCIAL MEDIA
   The Eastern Herald regulates the use of social media with a code of conduct that its journalists are required to respect.
8. RESPONSIBILITY
   We take full responsibility for our work and we must always be ready to respond to it. Just as we emphasize our sources, we attach as much importance to the contributions and criticisms of readers and, as far as possible, we try to respond. Mistakes are inevitable. When they do, we correct them immediately.
9. RESPECT
   All those who are involved in any role by our journalism deserve respect and consideration. We maintain civil tones and attitudes, both in the exercise of the journalistic function and in the formulation of our contents. We listen and look for interlocution, never confrontation. We hold in great consideration the different attitudes and cultures. We guarantee all subjects of our journalism respect for privacy.
10. QUALITY
    The Eastern Herald journalism takes on its maximum value when it manages to combine the search for truth with an engaging narrative. We take the utmost care in the correct use of the language and audiovisual languages ​​and in the final packaging of our products to ensure that the quality of our product stands out from the others. But we do not allow the form to prevail over the substance, that the search for sensationalism obscures or distorts the essence of the pure informative spirit that guides us.
11. CHECK
    The Eastern Herald undertakes to promote and disseminate these guidelines, to update them regularly, also through dialogue with the public, and to ensure their application. Any infringements – which will be assessed and sanctioned – can be reported to the following email address: [email protected]

Correction Policy

The Eastern Herald website undertakes to correct the errors and imperfections contained in the articles. Corrections are highlighted inside or at the bottom of the article, specifying the date and time. Letters and requests for clarification are also published.

Fact-checking and verification of sources

There is no difference between paper and digital newspapers. The Eastern Herald applies the sacred rules of the profession in all its contents. Each article is subject to verification, through the use and consultation of various sources: the most authoritative press agencies, social networks, the information collected by the journalist herself/himself. However, every news must be checked, in a philosophy shared by an editorial group.

Anonymous sources

The Eastern Herald grants the guarantee of anonymity to sources – identified, deemed authoritative and whose declarations have been at least partially found -, which can run judicial or material risks. Anonymous documents are used for the realization of the articles only when the contents have been found.