Code of Ethics

Overview

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization. Our mission is to provide our readers with impartial, informative reporting, and with an outlet for civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government and other matters of statewide concern. This mission drives the values and guidelines set out in our code of ethics, which borrows generously from the policies set by other fine nonprofit news organizations like ProPublica, NPR and the Center for Investigative Reporting. Exceptional circumstances may require exceptions to these rules; as our industry and the technology surrounding it evolve, we will continue to revise this code.

The Tribune is financially supported by a diversified business model that includes membership, major donations from individuals and foundations, corporate sponsorships, events, subscriptions and other revenue streams. The model may be new and innovative, but our commitment to journalistic ethics is not:

Accuracy and Attribution

Our reporting on all platforms will be truthful, transparent and respectful; our facts will be accurate, complete and fairly presented. Our analysis will represent our best independent judgment, not our preferences or those of our sources. There will be no hidden agendas in our endeavors.
When we make a mistake — and from time to time, we will — we will work quickly to fully address the error, correcting it within the story, detailing the error on the story page and adding it to a running list of Tribune corrections. If you find an error, email corrections@texastribune.org.
Tribune journalists will not republish stories, images or other content from outside sources without permission and credit. Plagiarism, fabrication and misappropriation of intellectual property are all grounds for immediate termination.
Tribune photo editors and video producers may improve the technical quality of photos and video or audio recordings, but may not alter the substance of that media. All photo illustrations, graphics or animations will be clearly labeled as such.

Sourcing

We will try our best to identify all of our sources, granting individuals anonymity only when the information is critical to the story, we are certain the source is reliable and there is no other way to obtain the information. We will not say that a person declined comment if they are already quoted anonymously. As much as possible, we will identify in our reporting any bias we know our sources have. Anonymous sources should know that the reporter will share their identity with a senior editor, who will also keep that information confidential.
Our journalists will never misrepresent themselves or mislead a source to get an interview or a story, and they will always identify themselves as journalists. They do not use hidden cameras or microphones, go undercover or pay for interviews.
Multiple efforts will be made to contact the primary subjects and sources of criticism in our stories.

Impartiality and Conflicts of Interest

At The Texas Tribune, there are no sacred cows; we aggressively pursue all stories we deem newsworthy. Editorial decisions are made by journalists alone.
Those who contribute to the Tribune do so with the understanding that we are only beholden to great journalism. Our fundraisers inform all potential donors —individuals, foundations, corporate sponsors, underwriters — that their contributions to the Tribune do not entitle them to preferential treatment or to relationships with newsroom staff, and in no way protect them from investigations or scrutiny. All contributions are listed by year and by amount, and are published here.
Our reporters play no role in cultivating financial relationships with major donors or corporate sponsors. Starting Feb. 28, 2014, stories that reference or quote a Tribune donor or corporate sponsor who has contributed $1,000 or more will include a written disclosure that conveys when those stories are picked up by other news organizations.
Journalists may not work on stories or projects in which they have a vested interest, financial or personal. They should avoid investment in companies or industries they regularly cover.
Journalists seeking secondary employment or freelance work to supplement their income must be cleared by an editor to ensure the work does not conflict with their responsibilities at the Tribune.
Top editors at the Tribune work with other divisions of the organization — including marketing, sponsorship and development — to help support, promote and enhance editorial efforts. From time to time, editorial employees may promote Tribune membership drives or fundraising initiatives on their personal social media profiles or be featured in Tribune marketing materials. They do this at their own discretion and are under no obligation to do so.
Editorial employees may moderate panels or speak at Tribune events underwritten by corporate sponsors, so long as their role is purely journalistic; sponsors do not determine the panelists, the subject matter or the line of questioning. Tribune journalists may speak at events hosted by other companies or institutions. Any honoraria must be paid to the Tribune — not to the journalist — in the form of a tax-deductible donation.
Tribune employees, contractors and interns will not accept any gift with more than a nominal value from any company, individual or institution that could have an interest in the Tribune’s reporting. We always pay our own way when traveling for editorial or business purposes.
All employees, contractors and interns with any responsibility for reporting or editing the news will refrain from partisan political activity of any kind, including making political contributions or displaying partisan signage.

Sponsorships and Advertising

The Tribune accepts corporate sponsorships, underwriting and, within permissible limits, advertising that does not compromise its editorial integrity. All such support, including “sponsor content” — the digital equivalent of “advertorials” in newspapers and magazines — must be clearly and obviously distinguished from editorial content. Any sponsor or advertiser messages that contain false or unlawful content, or that the Tribune believes undermines its integrity, mission or brand, may be removed at the Tribune’s discretion. All corporate support will be solicited by the Tribune’s business staff, and no sponsored content will be produced by Texas Tribune employees. Present and past corporate sponsors are listed by amount and by year here.

TribTalk

The Texas Tribune previously published TribTalk, an opinion and commentary section that posted columns solicited from and authored by thought leaders across the political and policy spectrum. No Tribune reporters or editors wrote for or contributed to TribTalk. TribTalk editors had the sole discretion to choose which submitted columns were accepted for publication; Tribune sponsors and donors played no role whatsoever in determining the editorial content of TribTalk or influencing the choices made by its editors.
TribTalk included columns clearly labeled as “paid placement,” and visually differentiated to prevent readers from confusing them with independent editorial content. These columns were produced by corporate supporters of the Tribune who contracted with its business staff to post them on TribTalk.

AI Policy

This policy is designed to guide the Tribune’s decision-making about AI tools and transparently communicate how we consider using such tools in our journalistic processes. It was developed in early 2024 in consultation with Tribune staff and following in the footsteps of The Associated Press and other newsrooms. We will regularly review and update the policy to ensure that our approach to AI technologies remains rooted in our values and communicated to our audiences.

AI requires journalistic oversight.

The Texas Tribune will not use AI to replace our journalists, who do essential, original and intensive work gathering and reporting news on politics and policy.
We will not publish text generated by AI tools unless it has gone through a rigorous verification and editing process. And our journalists will not use information from generative tools as a primary source of information.
Journalists will disclose to their editors if they used tools such as ChatGPT in the reporting process. They will be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of generative AI tools, including how AI introduces uncertainty about where information comes from. They will disclose how they independently confirmed any information they learned by using AI tools.

Cautious experimentation with AI tools is encouraged in the newsroom.

Tribune journalists may experiment with AI tools for tasks such as data analysis, transcription, headline/SEO and social platform writing, but they must be critical of the tools. They will treat AI-generated output as unverified information and work to independently verify it.
Journalists will avoid putting confidential information such as anonymous source names or privately obtained documents into third-party AI tools.

We will disclose how we use AI.

When AI tools play a role in developing key findings in a story, such as through a data analysis, we will clearly disclose how the tools were used.
If we build journalism products that rely on AI tools to generate published information for readers, such as a chatbot or interactive module, we will disclose the usage of these tools and add context to clarify the role of AI in the product.

We will not use AI to generate images for news stories.

We do not alter any elements of photos, video or audio. This means we do not publish news photographs created by or manipulated by generative AI. In cases where AI-generated images are the newsworthy subject of a story, we will clearly label them as such with a watermark and caption.

Our journalism is not always AI source material.

The Tribune may selectively block some AI technologies from “scraping” the Tribune website to add training data for their models. We will review these tools on a case-by-case basis to determine the benefits and drawbacks of preventing these agents from using our journalism in their products.

AI tools may be used for production of non-journalistic content.

Tribune staff on the marketing, communications, product, revenue, operations and other non-editorial teams are encouraged to experiment with AI tools for tasks such as copywriting assistance, automation of workflows and business efficiency.
Before utilizing a new AI tool, individuals should openly discuss and disclose their usage with their manager. And everyone should have a close eye on the security and accuracy of information.