The Midwest Newsroom

Midwest Newsroom seeks to hold those in power accountable for their action and inaction; reveal systemic flaws and abuse; explore and highlight solutions, and provide context and insight for radio and digital audiences through diverse voices and perspectives.

The coverage priorities include:

• climate adaption
• education
• housing
• immigration
• public health
• policing

The newsroom aims to adhere to a guiding philosophy of reporting on the world as it is, rather than as one might wish it to be.

Its reporting principles emphasize completeness, accuracy, transparency, respect and independence. The newsroom seeks to ensure its work and conduct reflect a steadfast commitment to these values.

The organization acknowledges that individual perspectives are shaped by diverse influences, including background, family histories and lived experiences, and approaches coverage with an awareness of these factors.

The Midwest Newsroom is a public radio collaboration based at KCUR 89.3. KCUR’s Federal Communications Commission FM Broadcast Station License is held by the Curators of the University of Missouri. The Board of Curators is KCUR’s governing body. KCUR has a Community Advisory Board.

The Midwest Newsroom is editorially independent and covers state institutions with the same rigor and fairness as any other entities. KCUR and The Midwest Newsroom are under no editorial obligations to the Curators of the University of Missouri or any partner license holders.

The Midwest Newsroom strives to include diverse voices and experiences, especially from outside dominant cultural perspectives.

Corrections are typically placed at the bottom of articles, unless the error fundamentally alters the story, in which case the correction may be more prominently displayed.

Corrections include the time and date of the change. For minor errors, such as a misspelled name or incorrect date, the newsroom avoids repeating the mistake when drafting the correction. Reporters can make small corrections to their own work but are expected to inform an editor of any changes.

For more significant errors, such as factual inaccuracies or misattributions, corrections provide context and acknowledge the mistake. Serious issues are escalated to an editor, and updates may be moved to the top of the story to reflect the newsroom’s commitment to accuracy and transparency.

The Midwest Newsroom says before they rely on information from anonymous sources, they press them hard on exactly what they know and how they know it — and they press them hard for as detailed a description as possible of who they are and their motivation (if any) to use in our reports. The goal is to tell listeners and readers as much as we can about why this person is being quoted.