For over 30 years, since August 1, 1992, VicNews (The Victorian News) has served the Victorian community.
We have gone to great lengths and overcome great obstacles – and often, made great sacrifices – to ensure the news we report is reported quickly, accurately and honestly, in a balanced and impartial way.
Our efforts have been rewarded with the explicit trust of people like the late Father Robert ‘Bob’ Maguire, OAM, the Kinglake community and others.
We abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions. VicNews will never knowingly introduce rumours, hearsay, innuendo or false information into material intended for publication or broadcast; nor will we distort visual content.
Our quotations must be accurate and precise and maintain the appropriate professional distance from the subjects and topics we report on.
All contributors to VicNews must not be members of political parties, activist groups, members of religious faiths, or other groups, such as Freemasons, churches or other groups, nor social media content creators. Any such relationship, whether a conflict of interest arises or not, must be fully disclosed in all reporting.
VicNews strives to always identify all sources used in our reporting. We will shield them with anonymity only when they insist upon it for a valid reason and when they provide vital information, not opinion, hearsay or speculation and when there is no other way to obtain that information, when we are confident the source is reliable and in a position to know.
We do not plagiarise. We respect copyright and the work of other journalists, and we attribute the work of other journalists and media outlets where we have used their work in our reporting with direct links to the original source(s), journalist(s) and publisher(s).
VicNews does not misidentify or misrepresent ourselves to get a story. When we seek an interview, we always identify ourselves as VicNews journalists.
VicNews does not pay newsmakers, directly or indirectly, with kickbacks or by any other means, for interviews, to take their photographs or to film or record them.
We do not provide questions in advance or allow interview subjects to approve our text or images before publication. We must be fair.
Whenever we portray someone in a negative light, we make a bona fide effort to obtain a response from that person.
When mistakes are made, they must be corrected – fully, quickly, transparently and ungrudgingly without hesitation.
Corrections must – at all times – be published at the top of the original article(s) that are being corrected and also on the VicNews home page under ‘errata’ with a link to the corrected article(s). No exceptions.
VicNews does not use artificial intelligence (AI) in any way, shape or form in our reporting, images, video or audio reporting. AI has no place in the VicNews newsroom. We expect our journalists to do the work of journalists without the use of AI to generate content.
VicNews journalists must not ask news sources or others they meet in a professional capacity to extend jobs, ‘kickbacks,’ ‘favours’ ‘back scratching’ or any other benefits, such as a ‘free beer’ a ‘counter meal’ or any likewise gift to anyone. Any such gifts, in all circumstances, must be disclosed transparently in reporting. No exceptions.
VicNews journalists may accept free tickets to concerts, sporting events only in a professional capacity if assigned to report on that concert or sporting event. Tickets must not be resold to other parties via any means and must only be used in a professional capacity.
When we’re wrong, we must say so at the first opportunity.
Corrections must always be labelled as a correction. No exceptions. We do not use euphemisms such as “recasts,” “fixes,” “clarifies,” “minor edits,” “updates” or “changes” when correcting factual errors. We admit we made an error, how the error occurred, why the error occurred, and correct the record. No exceptions.
All VicNews journalists are expected to both correct errors and explain how the error occurred and the information that has been corrected, and why the information has been corrected. No exceptions.
Photographs should not be altered except for minor adjustments such as cropping, dodging and burning, conversion into grayscale, elimination of dust on camera sensors and scratches on scanned negatives or scanned prints and normal toning and colour adjustments.
All VicNews journalists must keep the original photograph, as taken, in the RAW format or film. The original, unedited image must be kept and archived exactly how the image was taken. No exceptions. Original RAW images should not be edited but converted to JPEG or PNG format before any editing takes place. RAW images must not be edited, cropped or altered in any way.
These should be limited to those minimally necessary for clear and accurate reproduction and that restore the authentic nature of the photograph.
Changes in density, contrast, colour and saturation levels that substantially alter the original scene are not acceptable. The removal of “red eye” from photographs is not permissible.
The MEAA Journalist’s Code of Ethics must be followed at all times.
Where amateur ‘ham’ radio operators are used as sources, their name and callsign should both be confirmed as accurate and be published in reporting, as well as details of how that information was obtained.
We do not identify, in text or images, those who have been sexually assaulted or subjected to extreme abuse. We may identify victims of sexual assault or extreme abuse when victims publicly identify themselves or wish to be identified.
VicNews does not identify minors who are accused of crimes or who are witnesses to them or matters currently before a Children’s Court unless considerations such as public safety, or the youth is the subject of a manhunt and police or the courts have published the information, or the juvenile suspect’s name is widely known, making the identity de facto public knowledge.
VicNews journalists are expected to make significant and ongoing efforts to reach anyone who may be portrayed negatively in reporting.
We must give them a reasonable amount of time to respond before publishing. What is “reasonable” may depend on the urgency and competitiveness of the story. If we can not reach the parties involved, we must explain in detail what efforts were made to provide them the opportunity to respond and why we have published without a response.
If a party that has not responded to earlier requests does respond later on, it is expected that journalists will urgently update the report(s) with the latest response(s) provided as soon as a response is provided.
We do not alter quotations, even to correct grammatical errors to Australian English or word usage. If a quotation is flawed because of grammar or lack of clarity, it may be paraphrased only in a way that is completely true to the original quote and does not alter the context or meaning of the quote.
Where journalists are providing an opinion on an issue, topic or subjects, it must be made clear that the article is not news, but is an editorial, opinion or opinion-editorial in all circumstances. VicNews journalists must not, under any circumstances, publish reports that appear to be news when they are actually opinions. No exceptions.
