Our Commitment
California Black Media holds our entire news organization — including our management, entire editorial team, operations staff, employees and affiliated freelancers — to the highest standards of ethical, legal and professional conduct in journalism. We are committed to providing quality, relevant, truthful, fair, objective, and responsible public affairs and public interest journalism to African Americans living in California. Our journalism is both rooted in and guided by the values and interests of the local community we serve. In line with our dedication to remain the local publication of record, and the most trusted and dependable news source for our community, we encourage our audience to hold us accountable to the standards it expects from us as well.
Our Mission
The mission of California Black Media is to provide news and information that educates, inspires, informs, engages, entertains, and affirms the African American community in California, contributing to a higher quality of life for all people in our coverage area and motivating our audience to become more engaged in the civic life of their communities.
Our Values
Truth and Transparency – Our news reporting is, without exception, fact-based. We ensure that all of our sources are credible and trustworthy, and we give proper citation and attribution whenever we quote people or gather information from second-hand sources. We also issue corrections to errors that are clearly explained, swift, thorough, and visible to our readers.
Fairness and Balance – We thoroughly fact check our reporting and the data we include in our stories. We include all the prevailing perspectives about any given topic we cover to ensure that we have opposing points of views, countering each other, and removing biases in our reporting. This is the proven way to get to the heart of the truth of about any issue we cover. Our writers are not allowed to insert personal opinions that influence or skew their news reports, and whenever there is direct criticism about any person or institution, we reach out to them for a response.
Civil Rights and Equality – We approach our journalism with the understanding that our news reports fill in a specific public information gap: unreported and under-reported news of relevance to the African American community and other people interested in the Black American experience. This understanding influences our editorial decisions about the stories we prioritize; the contexts in which we frame them; the history and data we rely on for background and insights; and the commitment to truth, civil rights, justice, and equality that underpins and anchors each story.
Diversity and Anti-Discrimination – While the focus of our news coverage is African Americans in California, we remain fully committed to the values of diversity in our operations, relationships, and news reporting. We have a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other category in any form in our workplace and our journalism. We understand that diversity is the bedrock of our democracy and the cornerstone of civic life here in California and around the country.
Integrity – Any content that includes personal opinions or particular arguments are either labeled “opinion” or “commentary.” We limit the use of confidential sources to situations where the only possible way to obtain relevant information or a particular point of view is from someone who must remain anonymous for a credible reason. We prohibit our journalists and other employees from engaging third parties where there are conflicts of interest and we provide full disclosure when including the words, thoughts or likeness of a person, or persons, or institutions in our reporting where there are also conflicts of interest. Any content that is sponsored or paid for directly by a third party is either labeled an advertorial or the sponsoring party is disclosed. We reserve the right to withhold information that could be harmful to the wellbeing of individuals or public life in our community.
Freedom – Our commitment to freedom aligns with the protections of the American constitution and cherished ideals of the country: freedom of speech and religion; equality; justice for fall; a free market economy; and the pursuit of happiness.