Redlands News Collective Corporate Charter and Statement of Editorial Principles Preamble

This charter establishes the foundational mission, operational parameters, and ethical boundaries of the Redlands News Collective (hereafter referred to as “the Collective”). These principles govern all current volunteer operations and serve as the binding framework for the organization’s transition to a formal corporate entity.

Mission, Purpose, and Structure

Who We Are and Why We Are Here

The Redlands News Collective is an independent, volunteer-driven digital news organization dedicated to public-service journalism. Founded by journalists David James Heiss and Brian Spears, the Collective provides a venue for documenting the events, programs, people, and cultural landscape of our community bypassed by contemporary mainstream outlets.

Mainstream media moves fast, often missing the elements that make a community whole. We exist to tell the stories that define who we are. Our ultimate trajectory is to transition into a formal 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ensuring our journalism remains a permanent public asset.

The Collective Network Framework

The concept behind the “collective” is providing a space where a blend of stories and links to other Redlands-centric sources for independent voices and journalism can be discovered.

Editorial Independence and Governance

Absolute Autonomy

The Redlands News Collective operates with absolute editorial independence. As we actively pursue a nonprofit structure and welcome philanthropic support, our journalism remains independent.

Separation of Funding and Editorial Execution

Financial contributors, future donors, and board members have no authority over our editorial decisions, direction, story selection, or reporting processes.

Professional Standards

We hold our copy to professional standards of accuracy, fairness, and thorough attribution, adhering to Associated Press (AP) Style and editorial guidelines.

Contribution and Publication Policy

Community Representation

We believe a community newsroom should reflect the community it serves. We welcome queries and story contributions from local writers, photographers, and advocates, and we actively consider establishing ties with local columnists, bloggers, podcasters and Substack publishers.

Editorial Inquiries

Submissions and inquiries may be sent directly to redlandsnewscollective@gmail.com.

Absolute Editorial Vetting

The Redlands News Collective retains sole authority over what is published. We do not publish unsigned commentary, unverified press releases, or content designed to advance private commercial or political interests.

Intellectual Property and Asset Protection

Civic Investment Clause

The original reporting, photography, and cultural documentation produced by the Redlands News Collective represents a civic investment. To protect our intellectual property and maintain a direct relationship with our community, we explicitly prohibit the unauthorized scraping, harvesting, or crawling of our digital content by artificial intelligence developers.

Data Mining Prohibition

Our website, archives, and digital assets may not be used to train Large Language Models (LLMs), power generative AI systems, or feed automated summary engines without explicit, written licensing agreements.

Accountability and Public Record

Corrections Policy

Maintaining public trust and faith in our journalism is important to us. Factual errors are corrected promptly upon verification. All corrected articles will feature a transparent errata notice at the bottom of the story, maintaining an honest, permanent record of our copy.

Ratification and Adherence

By order of the founding editors and editorial board, this document stands as the operating manifesto of the Redlands News Collective, effective as of the date of publication.