Hearst Communications

WTAE

WTAE 4 News

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United StatesFounded in 1958

WTAE 4 News is an ABC television affiliate for the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area, covering local, national and international news.

It focuses on politics, weather, sports, crime, investigative, education and human interest stories that impact the communities it covers. WTAE-TV was founded in 1958 by Television City Inc., a partnership between the Hearst Corporation and the KQV group as a compromise between several competing ownership interests. Hearst purchased the remaining 50% interest in the station in 1962. WTAE has been Pittsburgh's ABC affiliate since its sign-on. WTAE Action News 4 has won several awards for journalism, including Edward R. Murrow, Emmy, Peabody, and Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters awards as well as a Freedom of Information Award and an IRE Medal from the Investigative Reporters and Editors for its coverage of financial misconduct in the state-run student loan agency.

Best Practices Policies

WTAE inherits best practices policies from its parent news organization Hearst Television.

Go to the Best Practices page

Mission

Hearst Television's purpose is based on service, with an aim to provide quality news and information to the local television markets that it serves. Hearst Television says it is passionate about truthful, independent, fair and non-biased reporting of stories and issues that impact the communities it serves. Hearst Television stations work to be leaders in the markets they serve.

Ethics

Hearst Television news platforms strive to find the truth, maintain independence, ensure accuracy and report with ethics. As part of its ethics policy, the news platforms of Hearst are committed  to checking facts, questioning information, providing context and remaining transparent with its reporting, affiliations and potential conflicts of interest. It operates independently and without influence of outside organizations or internal pressures.

Ownership & Funding

Hearst Television, and its parent organization Hearst Corporation, is privately owned by the Hearst family and managed by a board of trustees. It is a multinational corporation, diversified into television, magazines, newspapers, trade publications, online media, real estate, finance and more. Hearst Television affiliates operate with editorial independence.

Diverse Voices

Hearst Television does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or disabilities. Hearst Television says it believes differences among its teams allow those teams to offer relevant, reflective and meaningful news coverage to the communities they serve in its 26 different local television markets.

Corrections

Hearst Television says its platforms are committed to accuracy and transparency in reporting. Once mistakes are identified, the policy states changes are quickly made to acknowledge and address errors. Stories published to their platform websites note when a correction has been made.

Unnamed Sources

Hearst Television says it does not rely single sources and avoids using unnamed sources unless necessary to protect the source from the threat of retaliation.

The Trust Project

The Trust Project is an international consortium of news organizations building standards of transparency and working with technology platforms to affirm and amplify journalism’s commitment to transparency, accuracy, inclusion and fairness so that the public can make informed news choices. It was founded and is led by award-winning journalist Sally Lehrman.

Our Funders

Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist, was our original funder, through the Trustworthy Journalism Initiative of Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Google followed with their financial support. Our funders also have included Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Facebook. Funders. Trust Project policies and the Trust Indicators are shaped and enforced independently from our funding sources.

Awards & Recognitions

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