Newsroom Guidelines - Sport Relay

(Adapted from Newsroom Guidelines established by the Southern California News Group)

Mission statement

Founded on July 5, 2022, we serve baseball fans, reporting and writing accurately and fairly, educating the fans with as much relevant information as possible so they can create informed opinions. Our journalists are fans of baseball, reporting on breaking news and analyzing the performances around the league. The beat writers live and work in the cities of the teams they cover, reporting on breaking news, stories of interest, and the games the teams play while analyzing on-field performances and making sense of roster moves.

Editorial ethics

Sport Relay is committed to the highest ethical standards. Fairness and accuracy are among our core values. But nothing stands above the need to maintain our integrity. The public’s trust — our most important asset — depends on it.

Sport Relay’s ethics policy covers fairness and accuracy in reporting; use of unidentified sources; quotations and attribution; bylines, datelines, and credit lines; meals, tickets, and travel; and gifts and sample products.

The ethics policy also addresses credibility and conflicts of interest. Staff members should avoid online and real-world activities that could conflict with their jobs.

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Policy on sources

Unidentified sources

We attribute information to unnamed sources only when news value warrants and it cannot be obtained any other way.

When forced to rely on unnamed sources, we try to avoid letting them be the sole basis for a story. We do not allow unnamed sources to make personal attacks.

We describe the unnamed source in as much detail as possible to indicate the source’s credibility. Simply attributing a comment to “a source” is inadequate.

Additionally, whenever possible, readers are told the reason the source requested or was given anonymity.

A reporter must identify any unnamed source to his or her editor, and the editor must bring the story to a senior editor for discussion and approval.

To the extent possible, we apply our own standards regarding unnamed sources when we publish stories produced by other news organizations, wire services, blogs, or independent journalists. If these stories conflict with our policy on unattributed sources, we try to contact the originating news agency for more information. When we rely on information distributed via social media, we verify the identity of the poster.

Quotations and attribution

Quotations are always to be the exact words that someone spoke except for minor corrections in grammar and syntax. Parentheses and ellipses within quotations are rarely appropriate and can almost always be avoided.

We generally explain when a quote was received in a manner other than an interview: via e-mail, in a prepared statement, in a televised press conference. If we conduct an interview through a translator, we identify quotes received in that manner.

We do not make it sound as if a source made a statement to our reporter if it came to us through a third party.

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Verification and fact-checking standards

Sport Relay commits to do its best to publish accurate information across all its content. We take many steps to ensure accuracy:

We investigate claims with skepticism; question assumptions; challenge conventional wisdom; confirm information with subject-matter experts; and seek to corroborate what sources tell us by talking with other informed people or consulting documents. We verify content, such as technical terms and statistics, against source documents or make clear who is providing the information. We may share relevant components of a story with a primary source or an outside expert to verify them.

We stand by the information as accurate, and if it’s not, we will change it as quickly as possible and be transparent with our readers about the magnitude of the error.

We welcome feedback from our readers and sources regarding the information that we publish. If you would like to reach our editors regarding coverage, you can find their contact information on our Contact Us page. To report an error, please email mlb@sportrelay.com.

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Corrections Policy

Sport Relay corrects all significant errors that are brought to the attention of the editors.

Updating stories

Stories will be fixed immediately after an error has been found. This includes fixes of minor errors such as misspellings. As a story develops, we do not note updates unless there is a particular reason to note the addition of new information or other change. Each story includes the time stamp of original publication and the time stamp when it was last updated. A story’s time stamp will signal to readers that they are reading a developing story.

Stories that contain a material error — an error that would significantly affect a reader’s understanding of a story — and have been published for a significant period of time will have a correction appended as soon as the correction is approved by editors.

Corrections & clarifications

Sport Relay strives to have accurate information. Significant factual errors will be corrected and noted in the article.

To report an error, please email mlb@sportrelay.com, and submit what needs to be corrected, where the error was found (the URL to the story, followed by the section and paragraph) and any other additional information.

Articles significantly corrected after publication will have a comment affixed to the top with a footnote describing the changes made.

Legal demands for corrections must be in writing and sent to mlb@sportrelay.com.

“Unpublishing” stories

Sport Relay generally does not “unpublish” content or remove details such as names from our websites and archives. On a case-by-case basis, a committee of editors will review individual requests to remove, redact or de-index published content, considering whether circumstances have changed since publication. Email mlb@sportrelay.com with the URL and reason for the request.

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Reader engagement and feedback

Our readers are a frontline witness to the game, and your insights can contribute to baseball as a whole. We invite your comments and complaints on articles. We believe that news organizations have a responsibility to engage with the public on the values and issues of the game, and that we have much to gain in return.

Commenting on a story

At the bottom of most articles, we provide a space for community reactions and discussion of the topics covered. We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about our work.

Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

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Byline policy

Bylines, datelines, and credit lines should accurately convey to readers the source of reporting. All stories, including briefs, should have a byline and contact information for the writer so readers know whom to contact if there is an error or issue.

In multiple bylines, the first name generally should be that of the reporter who wrote the article, or if different, of the largest contributor. Any reporter who contributed substantively to a story should be included in the byline. Contributor lines should be reserved for those who provided small slices of reporting, such as a single quote or two, for a story.

We should treat material from our baseball colleagues just as the work of our own staff. When a reporter writes an article based in part on wire service reports and in part on the reporter’s own work, the article should carry the reporter’s byline and a credit to the wire service in a tagline. If the reporter independently reports the facts of the story, the byline can stand alone. If the reporter simply inserts some local material, the byline should be the originating source with a reporter’s credit at the end.

When adding a readily available quote to a story, particularly if it is exclusive information or an anonymous quote, indicate the source: “Albert Pujols to retire,” a Cardinals official told MLB Network.

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What we publish

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Analysis: Based on factual reporting, although it incorporates the expertise of the author and may offer interpretations and conclusions.

Investigative: In-depth examination of a single subject requiring extensive research.

Explainer: Provides context, definition, and detail on a specific topic.

Obituary: Reports the death of an individual, providing an account of the person’s life including their achievements, any controversies in which they were involved, and reminiscences by people who knew them.

On the rare occasion where we publish opinion, it will clearly be labeled as such.

We do not publish political pieces or TMZ-style gossip.