At Patch, we believe that in order to make the best decisions about our safety and well-being — and those of our families, friends and neighbors — we need access to reliable, objective information about what’s happening in our communities.
That’s especially true in uncertain times. So we’d like to take a moment to reaffirm our commitment to providing you with accurate and timely coverage about how coronavirus is affecting your community, and to provide transparency on the steps we are taking to cover this subject responsibly.
- Patch employs more than 100 full-time reporters, most of whom live in or near the communities they cover. We strive for objectivity, even when we ourselves are affected by the news. As we do every day, we will make sure our coverage is about facts, not opinions. We will be clear and transparent about sourcing and will call out disinformation when we see it.
- We’ve taken steps to block advertisers who seek to profit from anxiety over the coronavirus. This is an ongoing effort; some persistent advertisers will try to circumvent our filters. If you see such ads on Patch, please let us know at moderation@patch.com.
- Similarly, we are redoubling our efforts to curb misinformation and rumors in Patch’s Neighbor Posts sections and article reply sections. Neighbor Posts and replies are a great resource for community members to connect with each other and share valuable local information, and we’d like to keep the spirit of that intact. If you see a post or reply that raises concerns, however, you can flag it for review by clicking the flag icon in the bottom right corner of the post or reply.
Finally, we strongly believe that everyone in the communities we cover should have access to local news and information, particularly about matters of public health and safety. So we don’t ever charge our readers to view our content.
We’ll be working especially hard in the coming weeks to continue to be worthy of your support and readership. In the meantime, we urge all of our readers to stay safe by following these suggestions for keeping yourself healthy, including advice from the CDC.
Alison Bernstein, CEO
