Principles to guide how the Bangor Daily News works with funders and donors

Investigative reporter Callie Ferguson works on a story. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik

In our work with individual donors and community and institutional funders who support journalism at the BDN, the following principles guide our conduct:

• Local news is a public good that is under financial stress and must be protected. By supporting the Bangor Daily News, funders and donors are helping to sustain a local and locally accountable information source — and by extension, supporting Maine communities.
• Funders and donors do not have any input into the reporting and writing of stories or into any specific content that will emerge from initiatives funded directly by businesses, organizations or individual contributors (community funders).
• Funders and donors are not aware of specific stories the Bangor Daily News is working on and do not review them before publication.
• Funders and donors do not have special access to reporters, editors or any newsroom staff.
• We commit to uphold high reporting standards, and we will follow the story wherever it may lead, regardless of who helped to fund our journalism.

From time to time we may gather financial support from funders for specific areas of coverage. When we do so, these additional principles apply:

• We are proud of our funders and readers know who they are: We name funders on every story funded in whole or in part by community and institutional funders.
• We commit to share any evidence of impact of funded work with the funder of that work.