Ethics and standards
These are the standards The Maumee Current follows. We will expand them as we grow, and we will update the date at the top of this page whenever they change.
Ethics policy
We follow the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, which asks journalists to seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent.
Accuracy and verification
We verify facts against primary sources before we publish. When we report on a public meeting, we check names, motions, and votes against the recording and, once they are available, the official minutes. A transcript can help us find a moment in a meeting, but the recording and the minutes are the record.
We keep proposals, adopted decisions, public comments, and our own analysis clearly separate, and we say so when something has not been confirmed.
Corrections policy
When we make an error of fact, we fix it in the story and add a dated correction at the end that explains what was wrong. When a story is accurate but unclear, we add a clarification. We do not quietly change published facts.
We do not issue corrections for disagreements over opinion or news judgment. Every story includes a corrections section, so you can see whether it has changed since it was published.
News, analysis, and opinion
Every story carries one label:
- Reporting
- What happened, verified against the record. Reporting does not take sides.
- Analysis
- Context and explanation: how a process works, what the numbers mean, and what the options are.
- Meeting
- A record of a public meeting, with timestamps, documents, and votes.
- Opinion
- Arguments for specific changes in city policy. Opinion is published under the byline “The Maumee Current Opinion” and is designed to look different from our news stories. Our news coverage of the same topics does not take a side.
Sources and documents
We link to the public records we cite, including agendas, meeting packets, recordings, ordinances, and budget documents, and we note the date we retrieved each one. Each story lists its sources at the end.
Community posts and social media
We treat posts and comments on social media as leads, not as facts, and we verify them before we report. We don’t treat a handful of comments as the view of the whole city, and we don’t quote people’s social media posts without their permission.
Editorial independence
The Maumee Current is not affiliated with the City of Maumee government. We make our own editorial decisions. We do not carry advertising or sponsored content at launch.
Use of AI
We use artificial intelligence tools to help streamline our work, including transcribing meeting recordings, searching and organizing public documents, and preparing drafts. These tools help us follow more meetings and records than we could otherwise.
AI tools do not replace verification. Every factual claim we publish is checked against the original record and cited, with a link to its source, so readers can confirm it for themselves. A transcript or summary produced by software is never treated as the record.
We are responsible for everything we publish, regardless of the tools used to produce it. If an error reaches a published story, we correct it under our corrections policy.
Privacy
We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand how readers use this site: which pages are read, how visitors arrive, what kinds of devices they use, and how quickly pages load. Cloudflare Web Analytics does not use cookies. We use this information to improve our coverage and the site, and we do not sell it.
We also use PostHog, an analytics service, to understand in more detail how readers use the site. PostHog sets a cookie and stores an identifier in your browser so it can recognize return visits. It records page views, clicks, scrolling, and recordings of how pages are used (session recordings), along with general information such as your browser, device type, and approximate location based on your IP address. Session recordings do not capture anything typed into a form.
You can block these cookies and analytics through your browser’s privacy settings or a content blocker, and the site will still work.
We do not ask readers for personal information on this site. If we add other measurement tools or cookies, we will describe them on this page before they are used.