Southwest Texas LIVE! Statement of Editorial Policy

The manner of your speaking is full as important as the matter, for more people have ears to be tickled than understandings to judge.
--- Lord Chesterfield

Southwest Texas LIVE! has evolved through months of planning, production, and – when all else failed – trial-and-error, striving to create a pioneering climate of valued communications in an unexplored journalism niche in southwest Texas. The overwhelming response from thousands of readers and hundreds of correspondents demonstrates the importance of protecting the integrity of all the partners in this exciting venture.

In posts, blogs, unsolicited testimonials, and privately E-mailed comments, we know with absolute and substantiated certainty that those who take the time to log on, read, think about, and independently evaluate what we’ve set out to do hold this forum in high esteem. And we are more grateful for those expressions than words can express.

To hone and show our respect for that growing appreciation, we at LIVE! have put all threats to continued service and growth in our editorial crosshairs. A few “targets of opportunity” have slipped past our eyes, due in large part to the wide net we’ve cast, an at times daunting schedule, and the uncertainty that comes from not having an agreed-upon policy. We have redoubled our effort to screen comments and our own articles, and, to that end, will request certain information from everyone signing in to create posts and comments.

Each commenter may continue to use a pseudonym, if they wish, to maintain their anonymity with readers, but we will ask for the commenter’s real name, any and all pseudonyms to be used, a verifiable street address and a phone number. Participants may easily provide this information in their online User Profile available under the “Edit” tab that is visible after clicking on the “view account” link at the top right hand corner of every page on swtexaslive.com. This information will not be made public by Southwest Texas LIVE!

In addition to that opportunity for us to know our readers better, we have identified several problem areas that occasionally crop up in comments.Triggers that may get a comment zapped during our increased attention to what goes out to the world include:

1. Unsubstantiated claims that a named or identified individual has lied, deliberately mislead, or obtained benefit from being in a position of responsibility.
   
   
2. Profanity, graphic sexual language, and anything that promotes the use, sale or procurement of illicit drugs or other contraband.
   
   
3. Allegations of criminal behavior, malfeasance, or misfeasance unless arrests have been made, charges have been filed by authorities, or corrective action taken to remedy the behavior.
   
   
4. Unsubstantiated opinions about whether an individual is “good” or “bad” for the community. No invitations will be posted to secure such random opinions. The Web site will not serve as a “kangaroo court.”
   
   
5. Flagrant “fishing expeditions” for rumor, innuendo, public perceptions, or so-called facts. In short, the cities and towns in the Southwest Texas LIVE! service area are small communities wherein collaboration, cooperation and an ethic of what’s best for all is promoted by understanding what may come from such synergy. Divisiveness for the sake of entertainment or the pursuit of personal agendas is an unfortunate tradition in some locales, and LIVE! will strive to deflate it, rather than feed it.

Editorial policies are never perfect and we expect to have dissent about decisions we will be forced to make along the path to better discourse. In light of this, we are also instituting a mechanism of reader control that provides an interactive way for participants on our Web site to police themselves.

Every comment or posting will have a “Report Abuse” link visible to members who are logged in that allows anyone to report an objectionable comment or post for review by the editorial board. We will also accept public criticisms of editorial decisions, viewable to all. When appropriate, we will respond to criticisms of our decisions to provide insight into our subjectivity. Our aim is to provide reasonable transparency into our decisions.

Those of us who write for LIVE! will continue to use our real names for articles, features, photographs, comments and posts, and invite our readers to do the same.

In reader comments and posts, we solicit ideas and concepts, and will report in similar fashion, striving for facts and varying points of view that illustrate and provoke broader thought.

Respectfully ---

Southwest Texas LIVE! Editorial Board

Joe Hyde, Publisher

Bill Sontag, Feature Writer

Chuck Dent, Contributing Writer

Angela Prather, Creative Director

Rowland Garza, Account Executive

Manessa Ochoa, Account Executive

Matt Wittie, Account Executive