Explore Our History. Bearing Witness. Explore Bearing Witness. Changing History. Fearless journalism can hold power to account and spur change. Explore Changing History. Improving Lives. Explore Improving Lives. Your Tracker Settings We use cookies and similar methods to recognize visitors and remember their preferences. Staff members may keep for their own collections — but may not sell or copy — books, recordings, tapes, compact discs and computer programs sent to them for review. Such submissions are considered press releases.
Recorded or digital media, such as tapes or disks, must be destroyed or returned to the provider if not retained by the journalist; they may not be copied, given away or left where they could be carried off for illicit copying or reuse. Staff members may not collaborate in ventures involving individuals or organizations that figure or are likely to figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise.
Among other things, this prohibition applies to collaborating in writing books, pamphlets, reports, scripts, scores or any other material and in making photographs or creating artwork of any sort. Except in reviews or columns published in The Times or on its website or appropriately voiced in authorized public appearances, staff members may not offer endorsements, testimonials or promotional blurbs for books, films, television programs or any other programs, products or ventures.
Masthead editors may authorize rare exceptions for instance, when a staff member has become expert in a field unrelated to his or her Times duties. This restriction does not apply when permission is given to reprint Times material. Staff members of The Times are family members and responsible citizens as well as journalists. The Times respects their educating their children, exercising their religion, voting in elections and taking active part in community affairs. Nothing in this policy is meant to infringe upon those rights.
But even in the best of causes, Times staff members have a duty to avoid the appearance of a conflict. Certain of these requirements apply to all newsroom and editorial page employees, journalists and support staff alike.
In particular, no one may wear campaign buttons or display any other sign of political partisanship while on the job. Journalists have no place on the playing fields of politics. Staff members are entitled to vote, but they must do nothing that might raise questions about their professional neutrality or that of The Times.
In particular, they may not campaign for, demonstrate for, or endorse candidates, ballot causes or efforts to enact legislation. They may not wear campaign buttons or themselves display any other insignia of partisan politics. They should recognize that a bumper sticker on the family car or a campaign sign on the lawn may be misread as theirs, no matter who in their household actually placed the sticker or the sign.
Staff members may not themselves give money to, or raise money for, any political candidate or election cause. Given the ease of Internet access to public records of campaign contributors, any political giving by a Times staff member would carry a great risk of feeding a false impression that the paper is taking sides. No staff member may seek public office anywhere. Seeking or serving in public office plainly violates the professional detachment expected of a journalist.
Staff members must keep in mind that neighbors and other observers commonly see them as representatives of The Times. Staff members may appear from time to time on radio and television programs devoted to public affairs, but they should avoid expressing views that go beyond what they would be allowed to say in the paper.
Op-Ed columnists and editorial writers enjoy more leeway than others in speaking publicly because their business is expressing opinions. The Times nevertheless expects them to consider carefully the forums in which they appear and to protect the standards and impartiality of the newspaper as a whole.
Staff members must be sensitive that perfectly proper political activity by their spouses, family or companions may nevertheless create conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict. When such a possibility arises, the staff member should advise his or her department head and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Depending on circumstances, the staff member may have to recuse himself or herself from certain coverage or even move to a job unrelated to the activities in question.
A staff member with any doubts about a proposed political activity should consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. These restrictions protect the heart of our mission as journalists. Though The Times will consider matters case by case, it will be exceedingly cautious before permitting an exception.
Staff members may not serve on government boards or commissions, paid or unpaid. They may not join boards of trustees, advisory committees or similar groups except those serving journalistic organizations or otherwise promoting journalism education. Those in doubt about such activities should consult their supervisors and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor.
The Times has no wish to impede good community citizenship. Normally the restriction on joining trustee boards or advisory committees will not apply to organizations that are highly unlikely to generate news of interest to The Times and that do not generally seek to shape public policy. These typically include houses of worship, community charities, local libraries, fine arts groups, hobby groups, youth athletic leagues, country clubs and alumni groups.
Within reason staff members may help such groups with relatively modest fundraising. They should not play a leading role or ever lead a donor to expect a favor in return. They should never solicit anyone with whom they or The Times has professional dealings. Those in any doubt about what is permissible should consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor.
Staff members may not solicit funds for political, social, religious, educational, philanthropic or other causes that reach beyond the sorts of groups described in the preceding paragraph. Doing so could create an expectation of a favor in return. Staff members should think carefully about their own contributions to various causes, bearing in mind the need for neutrality on divisive issues.
Those in doubt about contributions should consult their supervisors and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. The Times treats advertisers as fairly and openly as it treats readers and news sources. The relationship between The Times and advertisers rests on the understanding, long observed in all departments, that news and advertising are strictly separate — that those who deal with either one have distinct obligations and interests and neither group will try to influence the other.
Members of the news department should maintain their disinterest and objectivity by avoiding discussions of advertising needs, goals and problems except where those needs or problems are directly related to the business of the news department. In many instances, for example, the news and advertising departments may properly confer on the layout and configuration of the paper or the timing of special sections.
When authorized by the executive editor, members of the news staff may take part in interdepartmental committees on problems that affect several departments, including news. As far as possible they should leave advertising issues to colleagues from the business side. From time to time, when authorized by the executive editor or the editorial page editor, staff members may take part in events organized by The Times for marketing or promotion.
But they should stick to their expertise and refrain from saying anything that sounds like a sales pitch. No one in the news department below the masthead level except when authorized by the executive editor may exchange information with the advertising department or with advertisers about the timing or content of advertising, the timing or content of articles or the assignment of staff or freelance writers, editors, artists, designers or photographers.
No one has a right to expropriate it for private purposes. Staff members may not use Times identification cards for purposes not connected with Times employment. Staff members may not use Times stationery, business cards, forms or other materials for any purpose except the business of the newspaper. Staff members must not disclose confidential information about the operations, policies or plans of The Times or its corporate affiliates.
If staff members are approached by other media or other outsiders to discuss Times content or policy, they should refer the questioners to a masthead executive or the corporate communications department. Staff members are free to discuss their own activities in public, provided their comments do not create an impression that they lack journalistic impartiality or speak for The Times. If a reader asks for a correction, that request should be passed promptly to a supervisor.
If the request threatens legal action or appears to be from a lawyer, the complaint should be promptly referred to the legal department through a department head. Any staff member intending to write or assemble a nonfiction book based on material that derives from his or her assignment or beat must notify The Times in advance, so The Times can decide whether to make a competitive bid to publish the work.
In this regard, staff members cannot accept or entertain any sort of preemptory bid from an outside publisher before allowing The Times to consider the project.
Staff members are required to inform The Times of any such project or proposal, in writing, by sending a letter or email to their department head, as well as to the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. The notification should include any information about the anticipated time frame of the project, including if applicable the time frame that an outside publisher has set for bidding on the project.
Within a reasonable period, taking into account the time frame for the project, The Times will inform the staff member in writing whether it wants to compete for the project. If it does, The Times will provide the staff member with a competitive bid. This process is intended to assure The Times a seat at the table in any negotiations, including auctions, involving books based on materials derived from a Times assignment or beat. These guidelines do not apply to book proposals or projects that involve the reproduction of articles, columns, photographs, artwork or other material created by staff members and published in The Times or on nytimes.
Staff members are often approached by agents, producers, studios or others seeking rights to Times material.
Such inquiries must be forwarded immediately to the standards editor or to the deputy editorial page editor and to the legal department. In contemplating book projects — or other outside endeavors — staff members must never give an impression they might benefit financially from the outcome of news events.
Staff members may not negotiate with any outside person or entity for any rights to an article or story idea before the article has run in The Times. Staff members involved in covering a running story may not negotiate over books, articles, films, programs or media projects of any sort based on that coverage until that news has played out, unless they have written permission in advance from the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. No staff member may serve as a ghost writer or co-author for individuals who figure or are likely to figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise.
No staff member will be given a leave of absence, paid or unpaid, to write a book without the explicit permission of the executive editor or the editorial page editor. Ideally, a staff member who feels he or she will need to leave to complete a book project should inform The Times of the intention to seek a leave at the same time he or she first makes the book project available for consideration by The Times.
At no time may a staff member turn over notes, interviews documents or other working materials to any third party, including agents, producers, studios or outside production agencies, or share those materials with them unless legally compelled to do so.
Those represented by the Guild should refer to their collective bargaining agreement for the parameters of that assistance. As a matter of policy, The Times will not give commercial producers or publishers access to working materials any more than it would turn them over to government prosecutors for use in court. No staff member may serve as a consultant to a film or program that he or she knows in advance is tendentious or clearly distorts the underlying facts. In no case should a consulting role be described in a way that invokes The Times or implies its endorsement or participation.
Normally, work for competitors will not be permitted. When allowed in rare instances, permission will be limited to cases in which The Times is not interested in assigning the staff member a similar piece or project. The Times competes in a far larger arena today than in the past. The printed paper remains our flagship, as does The International Herald Tribune internationally, but we reach an audience of millions through The New York Times on the web.
We are learning to translate our journalism into outstanding television. We publish numerous books, both original and drawn from past articles; we offer archival photos of museum quality.
We deliver The New York Times in its complete form via the web. Our bedrock mission is to serve a high-quality audience that values Times journalism, relying on any appropriate medium. Competitors include any newspaper, magazine or other media of publication, regardless of form, with an editorial focus on either New York City or general-interest news and information.
If the competitive status of a publication, website or TV production is unclear, a staff member should consult with the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor.
Staff members are encouraged but not required to offer their freelance work to The Times or, in the case of a website, to The New York Times on the web before trying to sell it elsewhere.
The Times offers a number of outlets for work for which a staff member is paid extra, including the Times Magazine, the Book Review and special sections. Any freelance material that derives from a Times assignment or beat must first be offered to The Times before a staff member offers it elsewhere. Staff members must ensure that their freelance work does not interfere with their responsibilities to The Times and that it is consistent with these policies and guidelines. If any doubt exists, they must consult their supervisors and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor before accepting outside assignments.
Before accepting a freelance assignment, a staff member should make sure that the tone and content of the publication, website or program are in keeping with the standards of The Times. An outside publication, program or website may identify staff members by their Times positions but only in a routine way. Because their primary identification is with The Times, staff members who accept freelance assignments should adhere to these guidelines in carrying out those assignments.
For example, a staff member on freelance assignment may not accept compensation, expenses, discounts, gifts or other inducements from a news source. Similarly, staff members who establish their own sites online must insure that their online conduct conforms to these guidelines. Frequency matters. Freelance work might create a conflict of interest if it is pursued with such regularity that it interferes with Times assignments or compromises the integrity or independence of The Times.
Freelancing might also create a conflict if it identifies a staff member as closely with another publication or website as with The Times. A business reporter who wrote a column in every issue of a trade magazine might soon become more identified with that magazine than with The Times. A critic writing regularly for an arts magazine might foster the impression that The Times was not his or her prime responsibility. The use of a pseudonym does not alter the obligation to comply with this provision.
A regular contribution to an outside enterprise is permissible if it does not interfere with or flow from Times responsibilities or involve intellectual matter owed to The Times and its readers. Examples of acceptable affiliations might be a foreign desk copy editor who writes a monthly column on stamp-collecting or a mapmaker working as a freelance illustrator.
Staff members considering such continuing ventures should confer with their supervisors and with the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Staff members may participate in radio, television or Internet interviews or discussions, paid or unpaid, that deal with articles they have written or subjects that figure in the coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise.
Such occasional appearances must not imply that they carry the sponsorship or endorsement of The Times unless they do. Staff members should be careful about the use of their names and that of the newspaper in materials promoting the appearances. As a courtesy, they should let their department head know about their plans to appear.
In deciding whether to make a radio, television or Internet appearance, a staff member should consider its probable tone and content to make sure they are consistent with Times standards.
Staff members should avoid strident, theatrical forums that emphasize punditry and reckless opinion-mongering. Instead, we should offer thoughtful and retrospective analysis. Generally a staff member should not say anything on radio, television or the Internet that could not appear under his or her byline in The Times. As the paper moves further into these new fields, its direct competitors and clients or potential clients will undoubtedly grow in number.
A staff member who has any doubt about the status of a particular program should consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Appearances might create a conflict of interest if they come so regularly that they interfere with Times assignments or compromise the integrity or independence of The Times. They might also create a conflict if they identify a staff member as closely with a radio or television program or a website as with The Times. A Washington reporter who appeared weekly on a television program might soon become more known for that program than for work done for The Times.
Occasional appearances on the same program would not run that risk. In a day when most families balance two careers, the legitimate activities of companions, spouses and other relatives can sometimes create journalistic conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts.
They can crop up in civic or political life, professional pursuits and financial activity. A spouse or companion who runs for public office would obviously create the appearance of conflict for a political reporter or an editor involved in election coverage. A brother or a daughter in a high-profile job on Wall Street might produce the appearance of conflict for a business reporter or editor. To avoid such conflicts, staff members may not write about people to whom they are related by blood or marriage or with whom they have close personal relationships, or edit material about such people or make news judgments about them.
For similar reasons, staff members should not recruit or directly supervise family members or close friends. Some exceptions are permissible — in a foreign bureau, for instance, where a married couple form a team, or in the case of an article by a food writer profiling her brother the Yankee star, where the kinship is of genuine news interest. Staff members must be sensitive to these possibilities.
In some cases, disclosure is enough. But if The Times considers the problem serious, the staff member may have to withdraw from certain coverage. Sometimes an assignment may have to be modified or a beat changed. In a few instances, a staff member may have to move to a different department — from business and financial news, say, to the culture desk — to avoid the appearance of conflict. Although this policy necessarily imposes restraints, The Times has no wish to intrude upon the private lives of its staff members and their families.
Nothing in this document seeks to prohibit a companion, spouse or other relative of a Times staff member from taking part in any political, financial, commercial, religious or civic activity. The Times understands that friends and relatives of its staff have every right to pursue full and active lives, personally and professionally.
If restrictions are necessary, they fall on the Times employee. In all cases The Times depends on staff members to disclose potential problems in a timely fashion so that we can work together to prevent embarrassment for staff members and The Times.
Every member of the Times staff must be constantly vigilant against any appearance that he or she is abusing nonpublic information for financial gain. That imperative applies to all departments. Though staff members must necessarily accept certain limits on their freedom to invest, this policy leaves a broad range of investments open to them.
Any staff member, regardless of assignment, is free to own diversified mutual funds, money market funds and other diversified investments that the reporter or editor cannot control. Any member also may own treasury bills, investment-grade municipal bonds, debt securities other than speculative bonds, and securities issued by the New York Times Company. And staff members are of course free to own stocks entirely unrelated to their Times assignment. No staff member may own stock or have any other financial interest in a company, enterprise or industry that figures or is likely to figure in coverage that he or she provides, edits, packages or supervises regularly.
A book editor, for example, may not invest in a publishing house, a health writer in a pharmaceutical company or a Pentagon reporter in a mutual fund specializing in defense stocks.
For this purpose an industry is defined broadly; for example, a reporter responsible for any segment of media coverage may not own any media stock.
Staff members may not buy or sell securities or make other investments in anticipation of forthcoming articles that originate with The Times. In general, staff members must refrain from acting on such information before noon Eastern time the day of print publication. This restriction does not apply to spot news that first appears on wire services or that originates elsewhere. That information is public.
Staff members in any department will be asked when hired to affirm that they have no investments that would violate the rules above with respect to the assignment they are being given. If a new staff member is unable to make this affirmation, the staff member may choose to sell the conflicting holding. If not, he or she must be given a different assignment where no such conflict exists.
Staff members should be acutely sensitive that the investments and business interests of their spouse, family and companions may create real or apparent conflicts of interest by raising questions of favoritism. Depending on circumstances, the new staff member may have to recuse himself or herself from certain coverage or accept an alternative assignment unrelated to the holdings in question.
The standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor may from time to time ask staff members in any department to affirm that they have no investments in violation of the rules above. Such a request might be expected, for example, when a staff member is about to begin a new assignment or work on a particularly sensitive article.
If and when such conditions come up, the staff member must alert his or her department head and the standards editor. Depending on circumstances, the staff member may have to recuse himself or herself from certain coverage or even to move to a job unrelated to the holdings.
If a reporter who owns stock in a company outside his or her regular beat is assigned to write an article about that company or its industry, the reporter must discuss the investment with the assigning editor before beginning the work. Similarly, editors assigned to major articles or a series about companies or industries in which they have investments must advise their supervisors of potential conflicts before beginning the editing. In many instances it will be perfectly permissible for the work to proceed, but the reporter or editor who works on such an article or series may not buy or sell stock in the company or industry until two weeks after publication.
Staff members in business-financial news regularly work with sensitive information that affects financial prices. Because of that sensitivity, they are subject to additional and stricter requirements. Staff members in technology news and media news are subject to the same rules as those in business-financial news, for the same reason.
Members of these three departments may not play the market. That is, they may not conduct in-and-out trading buying and selling the same security within three months. They may not buy or sell options or futures or sell securities short. Any of these actions could create the appearance that a staff member was speculating by exploiting information not available to the public. In special circumstances — a family financial crisis, for example — the associate managing editor for news administration may waive the three-month holding period.
Supervising editors in business-financial, technology or media news should be especially cautious in investing because they may reasonably expect to become involved in the coverage of virtually any company at any time. Their counterparts in other departments should be equally sensitive to possible conflicts in supervising coverage of companies in their domain. Because of the sensitivity of their assignments, some business financial staff members may not own stock in any company other than the New York Times Company.
These include the Market Place writer, other market columnists, the regular writer of the daily stock market column, reporters regularly assigned to mergers and acquisitions, the daily markets editor, the Sunday investing editor, the Sunday Business editor, the business and financial editor and his or her deputies. Masthead editors and other editors who play a principal part in deciding the display of business and financial news, including its display on Page 1, may not own stock in any company other than the New York Times Company.
The editorial page editor, the deputy editorial page editor and the Op-Ed editor may not own stock in any company other than the New York Times Company. Nor may editorial writers and Op-Ed columnists regularly assigned to write about business, finance or economics. A staff member who owns stock and moves into an assignment where such holdings are not permitted must sell the stock.
Those who are newly barred from owning stock of any sort for example, on being promoted to deputy business and financial editor may dispose of their shares in phases, following a reasonable plan worked out with the associate managing editor for news administration. But the phase-out does not apply to reporters or editors who own shares in specific industries they are newly assigned to cover. For instance, it is manifestly untenable for a new Automobiles editor to own stock in an auto company, so divestiture must be prompt.
Whenever this document requires the sale of stock holdings, a staff member can satisfy the requirement by putting the shares into a blind trust or into an equivalent financial arrangement that meets the same goal: preventing an individual from knowing at any given time the specific holdings in the account and blocking the individual from controlling the timing of transactions in such holdings.
If The Times assigns a staff member to a new job where mandatory divestiture would impose an undue hardship, The Times will reimburse the staff member for the reasonable costs of setting up a blind trust. To avoid an appearance of conflict, certain editors must annually affirm to the chief financial officer of The Times Company that they have no financial holdings in violation of the rules above or any other provision of these guidelines.
They include the executive editor, the managing editor, deputy and assistant managing editors, associate managing editors, the business and financial editor, his or her deputies and the Sunday Business editor. They also include the editorial page editor, the deputy editorial page editor and the Op-Ed editor. To avoid an appearance of bias, no member of the sports department may gamble on any sports event, except for occasional recreational wagering on horse racing or dog racing or jai alai. This exception does not apply to staff members who cover such racing or regularly edit that coverage.
Except for journalists who receive press passes to cover sporting events, members of the sports department may not accept tickets, travel expenses, meals, gifts or any other benefit from teams or promoters. Sports reporters assigned to cover games may not serve as scorers. Members of the sports department may not take part in voting for the Heisman Trophy, most valuable player and rookie of the year awards, entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame or similar honors.
The Times has exceptional influence in such fields as theater, music, art, dance, publishing, fashion and the restaurant industry. We are constantly scrutinized for the slightest whiff of favoritism. Therefore staff members working in those areas have a special duty to guard against conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict. Reporters, reviewers, critics and their editors in the Book Review, the Times Magazine and the cultural news, media news and styles departments, beyond abiding by the other provisions of this document, may not help others develop, market or promote artistic, literary or other creative endeavors.
They may not suggest agents, publishers, producers or galleries to aspiring authors, playwrights, composers or artists. They may not suggest chefs to restaurant owners or designers to clothing manufacturers. They may not recommend authors, playwrights, composers or other artists to agents, publishers, producers or galleries. They may not offer suggestions or ideas to people who figure or are likely to figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise.
They may not invest in productions that figure or are likely to figure in their coverage. Food writers and editors may not invest in restaurants. They may not comment, even informally, on works in progress before those works are reviewed. They may not serve on advisory boards, awards juries, study committees or other panels organized by the people they cover or whose coverage they supervise.
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