Editorial Ethics & Standards

Santanero Media Group, LLC. d.b.a. Santanero Media Group, LLC, The Santanero and KSNG-DB “Santanero Radio”

Effective July 1, 2026

1. Overview

Santanero Media Group, LLC ("Santanero Media Group," "we," "our," or "us") owns and operates The Santanero, KSNG-DB "Santanero Radio," Santanero.org, and related media properties.

Unless otherwise stated, this policy applies to all publications, broadcasts, websites, newsletters, podcasts, social media accounts, and other media properties owned or operated by Santanero Media Group, LLC.

We are committed to producing accurate, fair, independent, and responsible journalism.

Our editorial decisions are guided by accuracy, transparency, accountability, independence, public service, and respect for the communities we serve.

2. Our Mission

Our mission is to connect the people of Santa Ana with the information that shapes their daily lives.

Through independent local journalism, public-interest reporting, civic engagement, and community storytelling, we strive to bridge the gap between residents and local institutions while helping our community stay informed about important events, decisions, and issues affecting Santa Ana.

We seek to provide accurate, accessible, and understandable information that enables residents to make informed decisions, participate in civic life, and remain connected to their community.

3. Accuracy and Verification

Accuracy is fundamental to public trust.

Whenever practical, we seek to verify information through:

Official records;
Public documents;
Firsthand observation;
Public meetings;
Interviews;
Credible sources;
Original reporting; and
Other reliable forms of verification.

We do not knowingly publish false, fabricated, misleading, or deceptive information.

Because reporting often involves developing events, information may change after publication. When significant factual errors are identified, we will take appropriate corrective action consistent with our Corrections Policy.

4. Corrections, Clarifications, and Updates

Accountability requires transparency.

When factual errors, omissions, misleading statements, or inaccuracies are identified, we may review the matter and take corrective action when warranted.

Corrective actions may include:

Corrections;
Clarifications;
Updates;
Editor's notes; and
Retractions in extraordinary circumstances.

Significant factual corrections will generally be disclosed within the affected content.

Minor typographical, formatting, grammatical, stylistic, or technical edits may be made without formal notice.

Our correction procedures are described in our Corrections Policy.

We encourage readers, listeners, contributors, and community members to notify us of potential inaccuracies.

5. Fairness and Independence

We strive to present information fairly and without intentional bias.

Editorial decisions are made independently and are not controlled by:

Advertisers;
Sponsors;
Donors;
Political organizations;
Government agencies;
Businesses;
Advocacy groups; or
Other outside interests.

We do not permit financial relationships, advertising purchases, sponsorship arrangements, or outside pressure to determine newsroom coverage, story selection, correction decisions, publication decisions, or editorial judgment.

6. Separation of Editorial and Advertising

We maintain a clear separation between editorial content and advertising.

Advertising, sponsorships, underwriting acknowledgments, and promotional content do not determine:

Editorial coverage;
Publication decisions;
Newsroom priorities;
Story placement;
Corrections;
Investigations; or
Editorial judgment.

Sponsored content, when accepted, may be identified through labels, disclosures, sponsor acknowledgments, or other reasonable methods.

Advertising does not constitute endorsement by Santanero Media Group, LLC.

7. Political Activity, Gifts, Favors, and Press Credentials

Santanero Media Group, LLC is committed to maintaining editorial independence and avoiding actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

This section applies to employees, editors, reporters, correspondents, contractors, contributors, volunteers, interns, and other persons acting on behalf of, representing, or using credentials issued by Santanero Media Group, LLC or any of its media properties.

Political Endorsements and Activity

While acting on behalf of Santanero Media Group, LLC, covered persons may not endorse, campaign for, promote, or otherwise use their position, title, access, credentials, company resources, or affiliation with Santanero Media Group to support or oppose any candidate for public office, political party, political organization, campaign, ballot measure, recall effort, political committee, or similar political cause.

Nothing in this policy is intended to prohibit lawful personal political activity conducted in an individual's private capacity, or to restrict any rights protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Personal political activity must not be represented as an action, endorsement, or position of Santanero Media Group, LLC unless expressly authorized by the company.

Editorials, opinion columns, commentary, interviews, news coverage, analysis, voter information, and other legitimate journalistic activities authorized through the editorial process are not prohibited by this section merely because they concern political candidates, organizations, campaigns, or ballot measures.

Gifts, Money, Donations, and Favors

Covered persons may not solicit, request, accept, or receive money, gifts, donations, gratuities, services, favors, discounts, benefits, preferential treatment, travel, meals, entertainment, tickets, admission, or anything else of material value from a candidate, campaign, political party, political organization, advocacy organization, government official, business, organization, source, or other interested person when the benefit is offered or could reasonably be understood as being offered in exchange for, because of, or for the purpose of influencing:

News coverage or the absence of coverage;
Favorable or unfavorable treatment;
Story selection or placement;
Editorial decisions;
Interviews or access;
Publication or broadcast decisions;
Corrections or retractions;
Confidential or nonpublic information;
Use of company resources or credentials; or
Any other official, editorial, journalistic, promotional, or business action.

No covered person may enter into, request, accept, or participate in any arrangement in which money, a gift, donation, favor, service, benefit, or other consideration is exchanged or expected in return for favorable coverage, suppressed coverage, editorial influence, access, confidential information, or any other action or inaction by Santanero Media Group or its personnel.

Complimentary Admission and Event Access

Covered persons may not seek or accept free admission, complimentary tickets, upgrades, VIP treatment, hospitality, merchandise, or similar benefits for personal use merely because of their employment, affiliation, position, or access to press credentials.

Complimentary admission or access may be accepted when reasonably necessary for a legitimate journalistic assignment, such as reporting on, photographing, recording, interviewing participants at, or otherwise covering an event on behalf of Santanero Media Group.

Access obtained for a legitimate journalistic purpose must not be converted to personal use or used to obtain benefits unrelated to the assignment.

Press Credentials and Media Access

Press badges, media credentials, parking passes, access privileges, press identification, company identification, and other credentials issued to or obtained through Santanero Media Group are company resources and may be used only for legitimate and authorized journalistic or business purposes.

Covered persons may not use or display a press badge or other media credential to obtain an improper personal benefit, avoid a fee or restriction unrelated to legitimate newsgathering, obtain preferential treatment for themselves or another person, gain unauthorized access, misrepresent the existence of a journalistic assignment, or otherwise use media status in a dishonest, unethical, unlawful, or abusive manner.

Press credentials must never be loaned, transferred, duplicated, altered, or provided to an unauthorized person.

Disclosure and Reporting

Any covered person who is offered money, a gift, donation, favor, complimentary admission, special treatment, or another material benefit under circumstances that could create an actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest should decline the benefit and promptly disclose the circumstances when appropriate.

Any covered person who becomes aware of or reasonably suspects a violation of this section, or who experiences or becomes aware of an attempt by an outside person, campaign, organization, business, government official, advocacy group, or other party to improperly influence, reward, pressure, retaliate against, or provide a prohibited benefit to a covered person, must report the matter as soon as reasonably practicable.

Members of the public, sources, organizations, and other persons are also encouraged to report suspected violations of these standards.

Reports and ethics concerns may be directed to:

Daniel Diaz
Santanero Media Group, LLC
ethics@santanero.org

Reports should be made in good faith and, when reasonably available, should include sufficient information to allow the matter to be reviewed, such as the persons or organizations involved, the conduct at issue, relevant dates, and supporting communications or documentation.

A person making a good-faith report is not required to prove that a violation occurred before raising a concern.

Santanero Media Group, LLC will review reported concerns as appropriate under the circumstances. Retaliation against a covered person for making a good-faith report, raising an ethics concern, refusing to participate in prohibited conduct, or cooperating with an authorized review is prohibited.

Nothing in this policy is intended to prevent or discourage any person from reporting suspected unlawful conduct to law enforcement, a government agency, regulatory authority, or other entity where protected or permitted by applicable law.

Enforcement

Santanero Media Group, LLC takes violations of its editorial ethics standards seriously.

Violations may result in appropriate corrective or disciplinary action, depending on the nature and circumstances of the conduct. Such action may include removal from an assignment, suspension or revocation of press or media credentials, termination of a contributor or contractor relationship, termination of employment, or other appropriate action consistent with applicable law.

Santanero Media Group may also require the return, reimbursement, surrender, or other appropriate disposition of improperly accepted money, gifts, favors, benefits, or other items of value when lawful and appropriate.

Santanero Media Group reserves the right to review alleged violations and determine an appropriate response based on the facts and circumstances of each matter.

Nothing in this policy is intended to restrict rights or activities protected by applicable federal, California, or local law.

8. Coverage Scope

Our primary coverage area is the City of Santa Ana.

We prioritize reporting concerning:

Local government;
Education;
Public safety;
Community organizations;
Civic affairs;
Housing;
Business;
Arts and culture;
Public policy; and
Issues affecting Santa Ana residents.

We may report on matters outside Santa Ana when there is a meaningful connection to the community or when broader issues substantially affect local residents.

9. Opinion, Commentary, and Analysis

Opinion content serves an important role in public discussion.

Opinion pieces, editorials, guest columns, commentary, analysis, and similar content may express viewpoints, criticism, advocacy, or interpretation.

Such content should not be interpreted as straight news reporting.

Whenever practical, opinion content will be identified or presented in a manner that distinguishes it from news reporting.

Publication of opinion content does not necessarily reflect the views of Santanero Media Group, LLC, its editors, contributors, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or affiliates.

10. Clarity Over Style

We prioritize clarity, accessibility, and public understanding.

While we may follow commonly accepted journalism standards, including Associated Press style when appropriate, we reserve the right to depart from external style guides when doing so improves accuracy, readability, accessibility or community understanding.

Our responsibility is to inform readers and listeners rather than adhere rigidly to any particular style manual.

11. Sources and Attribution

We strive to rely upon credible and reliable sources.

Whenever practical, we attribute information to its source and provide sufficient context to allow audiences to evaluate information independently.

In limited circumstances, source identities may be withheld to protect safety, privacy. confidentiality or public interests.

Anonymous or confidential sources may be used when editorial staff determine that the information is credible, newsworthy, cannot reasonably be obtained through other means and publication serves the public interest.

12. Community Contributions

Community participation strengthens local journalism.

We welcome contributions including opinion submissions, letters to the editor, event announcements, news tips, photographs, videos, story ideas and other community submissions.

Community submissions may be edited for accuracy, clarity, length, style, legal compliance and consistency with editorial standards.

Acceptance of a submission does not constitute endorsement of the contributor's views.

Submission standards are described in our Community Contributions Policy.

13. Artificial Intelligence and Authenticity

We believe readers and listeners should be able to trust that our journalism reflects authentic reporting, genuine community participation, and responsible editorial oversight.

Artificial intelligence may be covered as a newsworthy subject and discussed in reporting, interviews, commentary, and public affairs programming.

However, we generally do not accept substantially AI-generated articles, opinion submissions, guest columns, letters to the editor, photographs, or similar contributed materials where audiences would reasonably expect human authorship or authentic visual representation.

Additional standards governing artificial intelligence, synthetic media, and authenticity are described in our Artificial Intelligence & Authenticity Policy.

14. Transparency and Disclosure

Transparency strengthens public trust.

When relevant, we may disclose:

Conflicts of interest;
Financial relationships;
Sponsorship arrangements;
Organizational affiliations;
Campaign involvement;
Material relationships; or
Other circumstances that could affect audience understanding.

We may publish editor's notes, disclosures, explanatory statements, or contextual information when doing so serves the public interest.

15. Editorial Discretion

We reserve the right to determine what content is published, updated, corrected, archived, distributed, or removed.

Editorial decisions may consider newsworthiness, relevance, accuracy, public interest, legal considerations, resource limitations, editorial priorities and compliance with applicable policies.

Submission of information, opinions, photographs, event announcements, story ideas, or other materials does not guarantee publication.

16. Public Interest and Accountability

Our role is to inform the community and promote public understanding of issues affecting Santa Ana.

Nothing in our policies limits our ability to investigate, report on, question, criticize, analyze, or scrutinize:

Public officials;
Government agencies;
Businesses;
Organizations;
Institutions;
Advocacy groups;
Campaigns; or
Individuals involved in matters of public concern.

We remain committed to fairness, accuracy, accountability, transparency, and responsible journalism.

17. Relationship to Other Policies

This policy should be read together with our other policies published by Santanero Media Group, LLC.

Contact

Questions, corrections, editorial concerns, ethics inquiries, or feedback regarding this policy may be directed to:

Daniel Diaz, Santanero Media Group, LLC.
Email: ethics@santanero.org