SALT LAKE CITY — standards launched Saturday, July 4 — the 250th anniversary of American independence — as a newspaper of record: free to read, neutral by methodology, independent by architecture, and built for the public.
Trust in U.S. mass media has fallen to 28 percent, the lowest Gallup has recorded in five decades of asking. There are more publications than ever, yet a shared, factual record any citizen can reach no longer exists. standards is being built to fill that role.
The commitments are structural. Reading is free: no paywall, no metering, no registration. Neutrality is a method, not an assertion. Independence is architecture: a binding Editorial Charter — published at launch in plain-language summary — is being adopted to govern the institution, with an Independent Editorial Board to audit its compliance. Readers don’t become the product in exchange: no tracking, no profiling, nothing about anyone for sale…