Scripps Social Media Policy

About this policy

This social media policy applies to all employees of The E.W. Scripps Company (referred to in
this document as ‘the company’) and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies. The policy takes
into account the company’s business practices, policies and the law to provide employees with
guidance on appropriate uses of external social media platforms on which they interact with our
audiences and customers.

In crafting this social media policy, the company has tried to balance the First Amendment rights
of its employees to freedom of speech and freedom of expression with the need to adhere to the
tenets of journalism and the striving for fair, accurate and transparent portrayals of the world
around us. To that end, this policy sets forth two sets of guidelines: one for all employees and a
second with further guidelines specific to journalists and other editorial employees, who must
meet a higher standard of impartiality.

This policy applies to both your personal accounts and your professional accounts, which are
further clarified below.

Nothing in this policy prohibits or interferes with or is to be construed as prohibiting employees

from discussing or communicating about wages, benefits or other terms and conditions of
employment or from engaging in other concerted protected activity for the purpose of
addressing terms and conditions of employment or the employees’ mutual aid and protection in
the workplace.

As technologies, products, practices and legal parameters as well as social media outlets,
evolve, so too will this document. The latest version can always be found in the employee
handbook within Compliance Corner on WorkLife. As you review and interpret this policy, you
should consult the company’s Code of Conduct, Scripps Journalism Ethics Guidelines, Social
Media Account Security Guidelines and other workplace policies for additional guidance. The
Social Media Policy should be interpreted in conjunction with these other company policies.
Questions should be addressed to your supervisor or the chief ethics officer.

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 ALL EMPLOYEES

Guard the company’s reputation, your reputation and your personal information while using
social media. Scripps values provide a helpful framework for assessing your social media
interactions. Here are some other guidelines.

1. Take responsibility for your words and assume that anyone, not just friends and contacts, can see
everything you post and with whom you interact. A profile marked as private and content sent via
direct or private messages can be shared with others quickly and easily. There is no privacy on
the internet.

2. Make sure your use of social media follows the Scripps Code of Conduct [link] and upholds the
Scripps values, other workplace policies and applicable laws and regulations.

3. Your communications on social media should always be transparent, accurate and lawful. When
deciding whether to engage on a particular topic, consider how it may put your reputation as well
as the reputation of the company and your colleagues at risk of appearing biased.

4. Always be fair and courteous to colleagues, customers, sources, news subjects, readers and
viewers. Keep the six core values of the Scripps Code of Conduct in mind – respect, integrity,
compassion, fairness, excellence and courage.

5. Be professional. The internet continues to blur the line between public and private, personal and
professional. Just by identifying yourself as a Scripps employee, you are creating perceptions
about your expertise as well as about the company and its business units. In your use of social
media, reinforce the idea that you are reasoned, professional and knowledgeable. Post an
appropriate photo of yourself. Understand and use social media platforms’ privacy settings to
restrict your most private information.

6. Realize that as an employee of a journalism business that strives to be fair, thorough and
balanced in its news reporting, your social media commentary may carry added weight in your
community regardless of your role with the company.

7. Always comply with the terms of use and other requirements and policies of the social media
platforms you are using.

Do not plagiarize or copy the work of others. Do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of
content creators. Do not invade the privacy or publicity rights of others. Attribute the work of
others and consider retweeting or sharing a post so that the authors’ original intention is kept
intact.

8. If you post your professional work product on your personal social media accounts, remember
Scripps still owns all intellectual property rights to that work product.

9. Discriminatory remarks, harassment, threats of violence whether direct or indirect, including

perceived threats of violence, false statements of fact, or similar inappropriate or unlawful conduct
will not be tolerated and may subject you to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
This also applies to reposting, liking or sharing others’ content.

10. Keep Scripps’ cybersecurity and your own privacy top of mind: Take care when posting photos,
addresses and phone numbers, information about where and when you work, personal routines
or anything else that could compromise your safety or that of your co-workers.

11. Your personal accounts are your property even if you leave Scripps. However, if your personal
accounts contain any Scripps branding, all association with Scripps including related brands and

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 content created during your employment must be removed upon leaving Scripps, and you must
make timely updates to your employment status on sites such as LinkedIn.

12. Check your facts and sources before sharing to help combat the spread of misinformation. (Learn
more about this topic via Scripps’ partners at News Literacy project: newslit.org.)

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 JOURNALISTS AND THEIR MANAGERS

To protect our independence as a news company and avoid conflicts of interest, the Code of
Conduct and the Journalism Ethics Guidelines require more of journalists and others who have
a role in creating our news products. A non-exhaustive list of these roles includes anchors,
reporters, producers, photographer/videographers, news promotions staff, news managers,
senior managers at stations and sites, and officers of Scripps or its subsidiaries.

For these employees, the focus should be on covering the news, not making it.

1. Participating in political activities, aligning on one side or another with organizations or

advocacy groups that pursue policy change and other related events creates a conflict of
interest and is therefore prohibited by the Code of Conduct. This applies to all social
media platforms and other methods of digital communication.

Merriam Webster defines the word “political” as “of or relating to government, a

government, or the conduct of government.” For our purposes, a person, organization or
cause is engaging in political activity if it is working to impact government.

The Code of Conduct directly addresses this issue:

Our company recognizes our right to participate in the political process as individuals, and
encourages each of us to exercise that right. Participation in these types of activities must be
on our own time and at our own expense and should not interfere with our job duties. Scripps
journalists and others who work in the newsroom, those involved in news decisions or
policies, department heads and business unit or company executives must adhere to a more
restrictive standard than other employees, given the neutrality from which news organizations
must work and the standards to which they are held. Scripps journalists and others identified
above are prohibited from serving in elected or politically appointed positions. They must not
participate in political fund-raising, organizing or other activities designed to enhance a
candidate, political party or political-interest organization. They must not make contributions
to political campaigns or engage in other such activity that might associate their names with a
political candidate or a particular cause. If you or an immediate family member is engaging in
such activities, notify your supervisor immediately so the issue may be addressed. Scripps
has been—and will—remain independent in all political matters and will not make monetary
contributions, directly or indirectly, to political campaigns or causes or to political parties. To
do so would undermine our neutrality and compromise the trust the public has in the
company.

Editorial employees must determine whether a person or group is engaging in political

activity. For example:
• Your news organization may participate, cover and promote a 5K for breast
cancer awareness. This is not a political cause, and it would be appropriate for
employees to participate and discuss this on social media.
• Participating in a march with or sharing social media content from a group that
is advocating for a public policy change or supporting a political cause or
candidate is not appropriate.

2. To maintain our reputation for fairness, journalists and others involved in the editorial
process should avoid using social media to publicly express views not grounded in
verifiable fact, which could be interpreted as your personal opinion or views.

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 • Be careful of activities that may create conflict with your obligation: Even actions
such as tagging or liking a social media post should be done thoughtfully and
with Scripps’ values in mind.
• Retweeting others’ opinions could be seen as reflecting your own. Instead of
simply retweeting, add context and perspective for your followers when possible.
• Ask yourself: “Is this post helping my journalism, or is it hurting my journalism?”
• Be respectful and circumspect in your behavior, even when the exchange feels
private or anonymous.
• When the mission of a piece of content is to express an opinion (for example,
station editorial boards or online op-eds), we should be transparent and
respectful of differing opinions when posting online and responding to
commenters.

3. Manage your “friends” and “followers” carefully to avoid even the appearance of bias.
For example, if you follow leaders of one political party on Twitter, others may perceive
you as biased if you don’t follow leaders of other political parties. In other words, don’t let
your association with a group, as a fan or otherwise, be misinterpreted. If it is part of
your role to engage with one side or one part of a debate, transparency is key in making
sure your followers and audiences understand this.

4. If you are writing about a product that can be interpreted as an endorsement (sometimes
referred to as “influencer” content) or if you use a testimonial, you must disclose any and
all connections you have with the seller of that product or service. Likewise, if referring to
the findings of research that was conducted at your request, disclose the connection.

Remember that as a representative of a Scripps station or brand, your posts carry extra
weight; thus, please remember:
a. Scripps editorial employees are prohibited from becoming paid “influencers” on
social media.
b. If you are writing about a product that can be interpreted as an endorsement
(sometimes referred to as “influencer” content) or if you use a testimonial, you
must disclose any and all connections you have with the seller of that product or
service.
c. If referring to the findings of research that was conducted at your request,
disclose the connection.
d. Do not air personal grievances on social media. For example, tweeting at an
airline or other brand about a bad experience could be perceived as you, as a
journalist, using your position and the strength of our brands to gain access that
others do not have.
e. Do not promote outside business interests on your professional account. For
instance, if you are a yoga instructor or realtor in addition to your role with
Scripps, it is not appropriate to promote those activities on your professional
account or to use Scripps’ content or branding on your personal accounts to
further your outside business activities.

5. Know how to handle abusive behavior directed at Scripps and our outlets. Any threats
you receive should be directed to your manager, who can help decide whether an
incident should be elevated to our company’s risk management team or local law
enforcement.

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• You do not have to tolerate being personally threatened or attacked because of
gender, race, religion or any other protected category.
• Don’t feed the trolls. If you want to engage, evaluate whether the commenter is
actually interested in a constructive conversation. If the abuse continues, stop
responding.

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FURTHER CLARIFICATION ON USE OF PROFESSIONAL, COMPANY-BRANDED
ACCOUNTS
In this section, you will find additional guidance for accounts that are owned, operated or
overseen by the company or individual business unit.

1. A professional account is intended to promote and expand the company’s brand,

products and activities.

2. Professional accounts must remain public. Please discuss any requests for exceptions
with your manager.

3. Scripps must be the administrator and owner of all professional accounts. Professional
accounts have specific goals set by Scripps, which are assigned to the employee(s)
using the account.

4. Professional accounts are the company’s property, and the name and contents remain
company property if you leave Scripps. Scripps reserves the right to edit, monitor,
promote or cancel a professional account.

5. When using an outside source to create, modify or manage a professional account, you
must obtain prior written consent from your manager.

6. Professional accounts should reflect standards of good taste and judgment. Employees
who maintain professional accounts represent the Scripps brand. Discourse should be
courteous, fair and lawful.

7. Avoid contentious conversations with commenters. While you should defend your work
and the company’s journalistic reputation, take the high road and remain calm in
disagreements. Don’t be baited into saying something you would regret or that would
reflect badly on you or Scripps.

8. Content on a professional account must comply with Scripps policies. Content that is not
lawful or does not comply with Scripps policies will be removed and you may be
disciplined, or your employment terminated.

9. Do not speak on behalf of Scripps unless you are authorized to do so. Additionally, do
not publish anything that compromises the company’s reputation as a reliable news and
information source.

10. Maintain the confidentiality of Scripps’ trade secrets and private or confidential
information. Trade secrets include information regarding the development of systems,
processes, products, know-how and technology. Do not post internal reports, policies,
procedures or other internal business-related confidential communications. Do not reveal
the identity of confidential news sources.

11. Do not use someone else’s intellectual property (including photographs, video and text),
except with a license or other legal basis.

12. All journalistic standards apply. Your posts can remain archived online forever, and your
social media history can be brought to light at any time. Clarify or correct mistakes as

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 necessary. Talk to a manager before deleting old posts.

13. Protect your accounts by following the Social Media Account Security Guidelines, which
provides best practices on setting passwords, monitoring for suspicious logins and who
to alert if an account is compromised.

ENFORCEMENT
When an employee violates the social media policy, the company will determine what action
may be appropriate depending on various factors, such as the seriousness of the offense and
employment history. For example, it may be appropriate in some circumstances to simply obtain
the journalist’s agreement to remove the social media post in question. Depending on the
circumstances, disciplinary action may also occur, up to and including termination of
employment.

RELATED POLICIES AND GUIDELINES

Code of Conduct
Journalism Ethics Guidelines