Last updated: October 9, 2026. This Code of Ethics governs everyone who reports, edits or produces journalism for GlobeNews9, including staff, contributors and producers working under the GlobeNews9 name.
1. Our first obligation
GlobeNews9 exists to publish accurate, fair and useful journalism. Our first obligation is to the reader and to the public record — not to any advertiser, source, government, sponsor or owner. Where those interests conflict with the truth of a story, the story wins.
2. Accuracy and verification
- We publish only what we have verified against a primary source or at least two independent, reliable reports. A claim circulating widely is not thereby verified.
- We identify sources wherever possible. Anonymous sources are used only when the information is important, cannot be obtained on the record, and the source’s position to know and motive have been weighed by a senior editor; the reason for anonymity is explained to readers in general terms.
- Figures, quotations and documents are checked against the original where one exists. We do not lift copy from other outlets; agency and partner material is credited in the text.
- Headlines, summaries, captions and social posts are held to the same factual standard as the article beneath them.
3. Fairness and the right of reply
People and organisations facing significant adverse claims in our reporting are given a fair opportunity to respond before publication wherever practicable, and their response is carried honestly. We do not select quotations to change a speaker’s meaning, and we distinguish clearly between what a source said, what we observed and what we inferred.
4. Independence and conflicts of interest
- No journalist at GlobeNews9 accepts gifts, payments, hospitality or favours that could reasonably be seen to buy coverage or soften it. Token courtesies of nominal value are declared to the desk editor.
- Journalists disclose financial, personal or political interests that bear on their assignments; where a conflict cannot be managed, the story is reassigned.
- Advertisers and commercial clients receive no preview of, and no influence over, news coverage. Commercial and sponsored material is produced under newsroom factual standards and labelled; see our Advertise and Services pages.
- Political activity by journalists is disclosed to the standards function, and journalists do not report on campaigns or causes in which they are participants.
5. Separation of news, analysis and opinion
News reports are written neutrally and without advocacy. Analysis — reporting that weighs causes and consequences — is labelled as analysis. Opinion is labelled as opinion and carries its author’s name. Sponsored content is labelled as sponsored. A reader should never have to guess which of these they are reading.
6. Treatment of sources and subjects
We do not pay for news in ways that reward invention; any exception requires standards approval and disclosure. We identify ourselves as journalists when reporting, except where undercover methods are the only way to expose serious wrongdoing of clear public importance — authorised at the highest level, used sparingly and explained to readers afterwards. Particular care is taken with children, victims of crime and trauma, and people in grief: we minimise harm, avoid gratuitous detail and respect refusals to speak.
7. Images, audio and video
We do not stage, fabricate or materially alter news imagery. Cropping and technical adjustment must not change what the picture shows. Archive and illustrative images are labelled as such where confusion is possible. Video supplied by agencies, officials and the public is verified for place, date and authenticity before use, and credited.
8. Artificial intelligence and automated tools
Automated tools may assist transcription, translation, search and data handling under human supervision. Published reporting and writing are the responsibility of named human editors; machine-generated material is never passed off as eyewitness reporting, and synthetic imagery is not used as news photography.
9. Plagiarism and attribution
Plagiarism — passing off another’s work, words or images as our own — is a dismissible offence. Reporting that builds on another organisation’s work credits it and links to it. Facts we did not gather ourselves carry their source in the text.
10. Corrections and accountability
Errors are corrected promptly and openly under our Corrections policy, with a note of what changed. Readers may challenge any story through the Contact page; challenges are assessed by an editor who did not produce the story. Staff who breach this Code face measures up to removal from journalism duties, and serious breaches are recorded by the 24World Media standards function, which oversees this Code across the network.
11. Privacy and data
We collect and hold personal information only as described in our Privacy Policy. Sources’ confidential material is protected; we do not reveal a confidential source’s identity except where the law leaves no choice and the standards function has authorised the disclosure.
12. Contact
Ethics concerns about any GlobeNews9 story go through the Contact page addressed to the standards desk, or by post to the publisher’s office: 1411 N Sterling Ave, Palatine, IL 60067, United States.
