How we report
Facts from named sources. Our own words. Corrections in the open.
These are the rules every Garrett County News story follows.
Facts from named sources
Every story says where its facts come from. We name the source near the start, such as the sheriff's office, a police department, the National Weather Service or the county government, and we name it again when a different source speaks or when we report charges and allegations. We don't add details, dialogue or behavior that our sources didn't report.
How we label stories
Most stories on this site carry a label just under the headline, so you can tell how we got it:
- Original reporting: GCN gathered the information itself, by contacting people and agencies directly.
- From an official release: based on information released by a public agency, such as a sheriff's office, police department, town or the National Weather Service, and rewritten in our own words. The agency is named in the story.
- Feature: a background or history story drawn from the named sources.
Much of our daily news starts with an official release. When we add our own reporting, such as a statement we requested or a call to an agency, the story is labeled Original reporting.
In our own words
We rewrite every story in our own words. We don't copy a press release or another outlet's sentences.
Arrests and charges
When we report an arrest, we name each person charged with their age, town and the charges, as released by the agency. When the sheriff's arrest log has a booking photo, we may use it, credited to the agency. An arrest is not a finding of guilt, and our arrest stories say so:
Charges are allegations. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Politics
Political stories stay neutral. We report what officials and public bodies did and said, with attribution, and we don't take sides. Opinion pieces are clearly labeled as opinion.
Photos and graphics
We use real, credited photos of real events whenever we can. When a story doesn't have a photo, we use a Garrett County News graphic, which is credited that way and is never presented as a photo of the event.
Some of our imagery and other visual assets, such as graphics, illustrations and video elements, are created with the help of AI tools. We review them before they're published, credit them as Garrett County News graphics, and don't use them to stand in for photos of real events or real people.
Breaking news
Red on this site is reserved for verified breaking news. Everything else uses our blue.
Updates and corrections
When a story changes, we update it and say what changed at the top. When we get something wrong, we fix it in the open. See our Corrections page.