Updated ethics guidelines released

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Times Editor Russ Stanton sent the following note to the newsroom, announcing the release of the Los Angeles Times’ updated ethics guidelines:

Colleagues:

Attached please find an updated version of The Times’ ethics guidelines, the result of a thorough review by our Standards & Practices Committee. This document, which was last revised in 2006, reflects the fact that we are a multimedia operation, delivering our first-class work via a newspaper, a website, mobile devices and the airwaves, and through an array of social media.

The environment in which we publish will continue to evolve, but the underlying principles of our mission are unchanged, starting with the opening passage of these guidelines:

The goal of the Los Angeles Times Media Group is to publish news and information of the highest quality. This requires The Times, across its entire portfolio of editorial products, to be, above all else, a principled news organization. Making it so is the responsibility of every staff member.

On a daily basis, you do that with great skill and energy, and with the highest standards. Please read these updated guidelines, particularly the passages on sources, corrections and clarifications, and our place in the community. In these areas, we must remain diligent about meeting our high standards and serving our readers fully and forthrightly.

These guidelines are posted publicly elsewhere on this blog.