Editorial Independence at Tarbell

Editorial independence is a core value for Tarbell. Our grantees and fellows maintain complete autonomy over their reporting, guided by journalistic standards rather than ideological preferences.

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While Tarbell’s staff members and funders may have their own views about AI, we have strict norms and policies in place to ensure the work we support is independent from those views:

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• Structural separation: The journalists and newsrooms we fund have complete control over everything they publish. Tarbell does not tell fellows what to write, nor do we see grant-funded stories before publication. Editorial decisions are made exclusively by journalists and their newsrooms.

• Selection: We evaluate grant and fellowship applications on journalistic excellence and understanding of AI, not ideological alignment. 

• Review process: Our selection panels include distinguished journalists with diverse perspectives on AI development and governance.

• No editorial control: Tarbell does not review or influence the content, conclusions, or framing of reporting it funds.

• Transparency: Fellows and grantees are required to disclose Tarbell’s support for their work.

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Additionally, our donors do not have any involvement in selecting which fellows or stories we fund, and do not review or influence the content, conclusions, or framing of any stories we fund.

 

Our Commitment in Practice:
Tarbell-supported journalists have examined AI from multiple angles, including investigations into company practices, policy analysis across the political spectrum, and pieces that explore both the present-day and future risks of advanced AI systems. This diversity of coverage demonstrates our commitment to independence over agenda.

 

The journalists we support work within established newsrooms that maintain their own rigorous editorial standards. Our role is to provide resources that enable important and high-quality coverage of increasingly advanced artificial intelligence—coverage that serves the public interest through fact-based reporting and diverse perspectives.