Our Policies

Our reporting on all platforms will be truthful, transparent and respectful; our facts will be accurate, complete and fairly presented. 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 this running list of Owen News corrections. If you find an error, email info@theowennews.org.

Issue – Correction

July 2024 – The photo of the property damage associated with the “Disaster declaration made” story about damage related to the June 25 storm and published on July 5 erroneously listed John Strouse as the property owner. The property belongs to Chad and Angela Bainter.

July 2024 – The profile on 911 Director Cherie Anderson published in the July 5 edition erroneously listed her years of service at Indiana University’s Emergency Management Department as five years. Anderson spent three years at IU and moved to Indiana in 2017.

April 2024 – Mike Miller was erroneously listed as the vice president of the Gosport Town Board in “Gosport without utility clerk, again” published on April 5. Ernie Arnold is the vice president of the Gosport Town Board.

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The Owen News is committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.

Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, organizations and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics and special projects. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates as a public trust, we do not pay certain taxes. We may receive funds from standard government programs offered to nonprofits or similar businesses.

Our news judgments are made independently – not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.

We make public all revenue sources and donors who give $5,000 or more per year. As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, government entities, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our board of directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.

2023 Financial Disclosure

$10,000 — Owen County Community Foundation, Large Impact Grant 2022

$1,100 — Phil Eckert / Plywood King, Online sponsorship & donation

$1,000 — Rob Babbs / Babbs Supermarket, Online sponsorship

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The Owen News is committed to editorial independence and transparency in all of our reporting. As such, any collaboration with external partners must align with our mission and uphold our commitment to editorial excellence.

We approach editorial collaborations with the following guidelines in mind:

All collaborations must be disclosed to our readers, including the names of any partners and the nature of the collaboration. This disclosure will be made in a prominent location, such as the top of the story or on a dedicated page on our website, and will be clearly labeled as a collaboration. Any financial support for a collaboration will also be prominently disclosed.

Our editorial staff maintains full control over the content produced by our outlet as part of the collaboration. This includes maintaining control over the reporting, writing, editing, and fact-checking of all content produced as part of the collaboration. If there is disagreement on the final versions of stories any participant has the right to not publish a story that has been created from a collaboration.

We will not enter into collaborations that compromise our ethical, content, and reporting standards or that would give the appearance of a conflict of interest. This includes collaborations with partners that have a financial interest in the outcome of the story or that have a history of attempting to influence our reporting.

In addition to these guidelines, we also have the following proactive measures in place to ensure the integrity of our collaborations:

We will establish clear guidelines and expectations with partners before entering into a collaboration, and pursue only those projects that advance our editorial mission. This includes discussing and agreeing upon the goals and objectives of the collaboration, as well as the roles and responsibilities of each party. Collaboration partners will be expected to fact check their own pieces and to adhere to the highest journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness.

We will review the work produced as part of the collaboration before it is published to ensure that it aligns with our standards and practices.

We will have an open line of communication with partners throughout the collaboration to address any issues or concerns that may arise.

By adhering to these guidelines, we ensure that our collaborations enhance our reporting and serve the public interest.

The Owen News subscribes to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News:

Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.

Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.

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The Owen News welcomes letters to the editor on topics of local relevance. Letters must be original, typed or handwritten. The Owen News will not accept letters that are duplicated, reprinted, copied or otherwise reproduced.

Letters must include the full name, phone number and mailing address of the author. Addresses and telephone numbers will not be printed in the newspaper, but will be used for verification purposes by newspaper editorial staff. Letters must not exceed 300 words.

Letters must be received one week prior to the print date of the monthly edition.

Unsigned or anonymous letters will not be published. Letters must conform to guidelines of civility, with no personal attacks permitted. Only one letter per issue of The Owen News may be submitted, per author. If your letter is selected it will be published one time and you agree to give us the right to publish the letter in print and digital form.

The newspaper reserves the right to edit any letter for space, spelling and grammar, without changing the meaning or intent of the letter, and to decline to publish any letter for any reason.

The Owen News follows an equal opportunity employment policy and employs personnel without regard to race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, physical or mental ability, pregnancy, veteran status, military obligations and marital status. This policy applies to hiring, internal promotions, training, opportunities for advancement and terminations.