Edition 07 · filed (sprint Day 7, filed early)
This is a desk draft. It is not the decree. It is not a finding that the board has adopted anything.
A public code the five could steal
The 21 September board is supposed to write guiding principles from CNN’s and CBS News’s existing language on accuracy, independence, fairness, and integrity. Until that document is public, staff have nothing to file against. This page is a model. Steal it. Improve it. Do not pretend it is law.
1. Accuracy
A fact that can be checked is checked before it airs or it is labeled unverified. Corrections are dated on the same URL or in the same broadcast slate. A model may sort. A human signs the lede.
2. No owner prior restraint
The holding company, its shareholders, and its officers do not see a story for political or commercial comfort before the newsroom does. If they do, that fact is disclosed in the piece or the piece does not claim independence.
3. Conflicts
Money, access, family holdings, and pending deals next to a story are named. Tips do not buy a brief. A seat on the independence board is a conflict for covering the board.
4. How to file
Staff at CNN and CBS News can file without routing the complaint through the manager named in it. The form is public even if the name of the filer is not.
5. Clock
The board acknowledges a filing in writing inside five working days and issues a result inside thirty, or it publishes why it cannot. A quiet seat is a vacancy.
6. Public result
Every result is posted: staff wins, management wins, or dismissed. A private memo to a compliance officer is not a ruling.
7. Party cap, defined
“Affiliated with the same political party” is written down: registration, donation threshold, employment, or endorsement — pick one and print it. A soft cap is not a cap.
8. Force majeure
Strikes, disasters, and recessions may pause production. They do not erase an open file. The file returns when the building does.
9. Scope
U.S. news and editorial content intended for U.S. distribution, as the coverage of the decree described. If the board later claims more, it says so.
10. Removal
Good-cause removal is defined before the first fight. “Lost the owner’s confidence” is not cause.
What this draft refuses to do: pick the five, score candidates, or declare the company already in breach. Principles without names are still more than adjectives. Adjectives are what the settlement already has.
If the official principles arrive and they are weaker than this list, this URL will say so, line by line. If they are stronger, this URL will say that too.
Sources
- Decree terms as reported in Editions 01–06 (Deadline, CJR, Hollywood Reporter, CNN Business, WGA).
- This code is the desk’s. It is not quoted from a PDF this desk does not have.
Reader question
Which line would management delete first?
Corrections
None on this URL. A correction will be dated in this section. The address of the page will not change to hide the first version.