KQED's Standards and Practices for Fair MediaKQED's Standards and Practices for Fair Media
Introduction
There are thousands of information and news sources available to you. How do you decide who to trust?
A 2017 Gallup-Knight Foundation survey of more than 19,000 U.S. adults “shows that Americans believe that the media have an important role to play in our democracy — yet they don’t see that role being fulfilled.”
You can read about the survey methodology and key findings (at knightfoundation.org). (Note that the Knight Foundation is a funder of KQED.)
Nearly two-thirds of those survey respondents said it is harder, not easier, to be informed today “due to the plethora of information and news sources available.” And indeed, there are thousands of media companies, and they’re all different. So what’s different about us?
First, KQED’s mission is public service. We serve the Bay Area and its diverse population by delivering fact-based news and information about the issues and events that shape the lives of our community.
Second, KQED is committed to being nonpartisan. We’re driven by our journalistic standards, not ideology. The sources we speak to for stories and the guests we invite onto the air have many different viewpoints from across the political spectrum. So do you, our audiences.
Third, what we share with you is factual and accurate. Most Americans consider accuracy the most important factor when choosing a news source.1 Accuracy is paramount to us. And when we’re not accurate for any reason, we’ll correct it and tell you.
Fourth, KQED is nonprofit, noncommercial, and member-supported, and we have been since we first went on air in 1954. KQED’s individual donors provide more than half of our annual budget. That’s over $40 million a year, donated by people who give because they value what we create — and everything we create is available to you, and everyone, for free.
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We’re proud of what makes us different. And we know these are turbulent times in which it’s not always easy to have confidence in what you’re watching, listening to and reading. In this Standards and Practices section of our website, we explain our most important policies and practices so that you know what you can expect from us. Our goal is to deliver the news and information you need to make good decisions, and to help all of us have benchmarks with which to evaluate any news source. To that end, please know that this is a work in progress — we’ll continue to update it with the information you need.
KQED has never been more committed to bringing you fair, fact-based and independent reporting, and high-quality programming that adds value to your life.
Table of Contents
An introduction to KQED’s standards and practices
Who is KQED, and what do we do?
What are our editorial policies and practices?
What do we ask of you, our audience?
How does KQED stay connected to our audiences?
1 When the Media Insight Project, an initiative of the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted a nationally representative survey asking American adults what drove them to trust a news source, an overwhelming percentage of the respondents (85 percent) said accuracy.