How The Village News reports the news, and what to do if you think we got something wrong.
Our promise
The Village News is a free weekly newspaper for the Whale Coast, printed every Thursday and published online. We report the news of our towns accurately, fairly and in context, and we keep news, opinion and advertising apart.
We follow the principles of the South African Press Code of Ethics and Conduct for print and online media.
How we report
- We check facts before we publish, and we name our sources wherever we can.
- We give people who are criticised in a story a fair chance to respond before it is published, and we say so when they did not reply.
- Opinion pieces, columns and letters are clearly marked as opinion. They are the writer’s view, not the newspaper’s.
- Sponsored articles and adverts are labelled “Sponsored” or “Advertisement”. Advertisers do not decide what we report.
- We take special care with stories about children, victims of crime, grief and illness. We do not name children in stories about crime, abuse or harm, or victims of sexual offences.
- Photographs are not changed in a way that misleads. Pictures that were set up or illustrations are marked as such.
Stories about deaths, crime, courts and crashes
We do not place adverts on or beside these stories.
If you want to complain
- Use the “Spotted a mistake in this story? Tell us” form at the end of any story online and choose “A complaint”, or email admin@thevillagenews.co.za, or call 079 408 7722.
- Tell us which story (the headline, and the date or the page), what you think is wrong, and what you think is right.
- The editor reads every complaint and replies within 2 working days.
- If we got it wrong, we correct it as set out in our Corrections and takedown policy.
- If you are not satisfied with the editor’s reply, you can ask for the complaint to be looked at again by the publisher.
Your information
We use your name and email only to reply to your complaint. We never publish them without your permission.
