Editor’s Note: This mission statement continues to be developed.

Mission

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.

Definitions

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 on ethics rather than profitability

Viewing journalism as a service, rather than a product.