Consensus-based KEPW News Council to set newsroom policy

by John Quetzalcoatl Murray

The KEPW Steering Committee on Sept. 3 confirmed its long-standing preference for using consensus on its news team.

Newsroom policy will not be set by a news director, but by the members of the news team themselves. Because KEPW is a community radio station, this effectively means all community members are invited to participate.

Participants on the KEPW News Council will set newsroom policies and procedures, relating to such areas as:

• Roles and responsibilities, such as fact-checking, legal review, and proofreading
• Newsroom workflow
• Rules when on-site at the station
• When is it appropriate to allow anonymous sources
• When is it appropriate to share questions in advance of the interview
• When is it appropriate to share stories before broadcast/publication

The KEPW News Council will also review recent corrections and retractions, share recommendations for newsroom onboarding, and supplement the AP Stylebook with a KEPW News Stylebook.  

Online tools enable participation at the time most convenient for you. KEPW can recognize your volunteer time for the KEPW News Council with payments in a local time bank. To get started, click on any of these links:

• Submit an item for discussion by the KEPW News Council 
• Join a discussion of the KEPW News Council
• See the status of all discussions on the KEPW News Council Kanban board  
• Learn more about the group consensus process and tools

According to its mission statement, “KEPW 97.3 FM PeaceWorks Community Radio provides an independent, listener-supported, on-air forum for artists, activists, and other members of our community whose voices have been marginalized or otherwise left unheard. We value peace, justice, integrity, and community. We showcase music from the Northwest, focus on solution-based news, and share diverse content from throughout our local listening area and beyond.”