About Us

Copper Beacon will deliver high-quality journalism featuring diverse voices and deep research to the residents of Houghton County and the surrounding area. With ethics, accessibility, and media education held as core values, we will lead the way for the modernization of news production in the Upper Peninsula.

High-quality – The contextualization and truthfulness of stories come before the speed or volume of content creation.

Diverse – Including multiple voices in stories, selecting from interested parties with varying views and backgrounds, hiring diverse staff to ensure stories that matter to a variety of communities are covered

Deep research – Beyond Wikipedia, Facebook, and Google, using original data, exclusive interviews, community feedback, and primary sources

Ethics – SPJ ethics in short: Seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, be accountable and transparent

Accessibility – Easy-to-navigate, low-cost or free, highly available, closed captioning on video content and transcriptions of audio content whenever possible

Modernization – digital delivery, eschewing “both-siderisms”, engaging more directly with the reading community, realigning to ethics rather than profitability

Viewing journalism as a service, rather than a product.

Copper Beacon was initially launched in January 2021 under the working title of “Late Edition” on Substack by Joshua Vissers.

Shortly thereafter, board members were recruited in order to become a locally-focused nonprofit news source, and the name “Copper Beacon” was chosen to replace “Late Edition.”

Working with New York-based Lawyers for Reporters, the nonprofit corporation and tax-exempt status were completed late in 2022.

Copper Beacon launched this independent website in January 2023, and continues to work toward increasing media literacy and quality local journalism in the Keweenaw area.

Credit to the Media Neutrality Project for the development of this policy. Portions of this policy were adapted from MLive and The Holland Sentinel.

LETTERS TO EDITOR, OPINIONS, and COLUMNS

Length and form. Submissions may be a maximum of 800 words. Longer submissions are dealt with on a case-by-case basis and may be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions should be typed. Handwritten submissions will not be accepted.

STANDARD OF ACCEPTANCE OF SUBMISSIONS

We welcome respectful Letters to the Editor and Guest Columns from all points of view. It is our policy to print a wide range of viewpoints. However, we reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity and AP style, as well as to fact-check them and cut them to fit available space.

We also reserve the right to reject submissions when too many are received or when they do not comply with a basic standard of appropriateness. Submissions that contain personal attacks, racist, sexist, and offensive language, unreasonably delve into divisive cultural positions, promote fear and anger, and contain untruths are inappropriate and will not be accepted for publication. Submissions that have a commercial purpose are also inappropriate.

Letters to the Editor and Guest Columns received from local readers will be favored for publication over those from outside our readership.

How often may letters be published from the same person?

We limit submissions of either Letter or Guest Columns to 1 per month from the same person.

How to submit a letter or guest column?

All submissions can be submitted to the Editor via email (editor@copperbeacon.org) or to this address:

To The Editor
PO BOX 14
Dollar Bay, MI, 49922

Include your name, address, telephone number, and email address for verification.

Copper Beacon purchases our news stories from contracted freelancers and holds exclusive copyright for 90 days after publication.

Copper Beacon’s opinion and editorial columns are the property of the authors.

If you’re interested in republishing one of our articles, please get in touch with us at editor@copperbeacon.org.