Welcome to the Daily Bruin Community Guide. We developed this resource to help our readers navigate the policies, values and goals that inform our work as a newspaper.
The Daily Bruin exists to provide a service to the UCLA community and future Bruins. That relationship, between a paper and its readers, is a two-way street. On our end, that means bringing you the most up-to-date, accurate information possible in a fair and respectful manner. We have a responsibility, both as a facilitator of information and training ground for future professional journalists, to constantly examine ourselves and find ways to improve.
Our readership’s earned trust is paramount. We hope this guide gives you a decent picture of where we’re at so that you can let us know where there’s room for growth. Thank you for joining us as we push the Daily Bruin forward.
New issues of the Daily Bruin print edition are delivered every Monday, Wednesday and Friday onto UCLA Student Media newsstands. Use the interactive map below to see where you can find newsstands at UCLA. Click on a pin to get the exact address, and follow the key in the bottom right corner to see what category the newsstand falls under.
Interactive by Junwon Choi, Data editor.
Column vs. op-ed vs. editorial
Update vs. correction vs. editor’s note
PRIME vs. Enterprise vs. The Quad
Equity, diversity and inclusion reforms
As a member publication of UCLA Student Media, the Daily Bruin’s finances are governed by the Associated Students UCLA Communications Board. Budgetary reports are made public on a monthly basis. Records are available from the 1989-90 academic year through the present.
The Daily Bruin is funded in part by student fees. In 2016, students approved the Daily Bruin and Bruinwalk.com referendum. The $3 student fee helps fund the Daily Bruin, Bruinwalk.com, the BruinLife yearbook, UCLA Radio and the seven community newsmagazines, Al-Talib, FEM, Ha’Am, La Gente, NOMMO, OutWrite and Pacific Ties.
The Daily Bruin publishes an annual Diversity Report, which aims to provide a holistic view of the Daily Bruin’s demographics and to show the areas in which we need change.
Factors analyzed include ethnicity, gender, financial aid qualifications and whether students were in-state, out-of-state or international students. Every staffer has a chance to participate anonymously.
The Bruin is focused on expanding the diversity report and improving data collection every year. The 2022-2023 report can be found here.
The Daily Bruin is committed to reforming its hiring and retention efforts to foster a staff that better reflects UCLA’s student population. The Bruin is implementing several diversity and inclusion measures, which can be viewed in this guide’s Progress Tracker.
Behind the Bruin is a series that aims to shed light on the inner workings of the Daily Bruin, from explanations of when and why we use anonymous sources, to how we redesigned our main website for a more digital-forward, user-friendly experience. It also contains articles from the Copy Shop and Press Pass series. The Copy Shop is a series written by our copy editors that focuses on the minutiae of the Daily Bruin’s copy-editing process. Our editors explain why we use certain language, how we address issues of sensitivity or why you’ll never see the Oxford comma in our content. Press Pass provides our readers with an inside look at the Daily Bruin’s institutions, traditions and practices. From details about our recruitment processes to explanations of our editor in chief selection process, this series hopes to humanize the people behind the publication.
The Daily Bruin Editorial Board About Page explains the purpose of our editorial board and what it hopes to accomplish, as well as specifics about the members of the board and the selection process for board members.
Subscribe to our newsletter for regular news updates throughout the year.
Feel free to reach out via email or social media – our contact information is at the bottom of the Community Guide!
Media Ethics for Readers
The Daily Bruin, like most journalistic publications, holds its members to a rigorous code of ethics in addition to established media law. As journalists, this is our way of upholding the mission of the Daily Bruin.
Mission Statement
The fundamental mission of the Daily Bruin is to keep a record of the history of UCLA.
The Daily Bruin promises to report what it believes is the truth, and would never intentionally lie. In addition, representation is of utmost importance. The Daily Bruin promises to be fair and just to the best of its ability and to represent people of all backgrounds as they wish to be seen.
We’ve spotlighted some key standards of Daily Bruin media ethics below in an effort to clarify the metrics we use for internal decision-making.
Anonymity
A source offers information for an article, but requests for their name to be withheld from publication.
Our policies:
Why is this our policy?
The Daily Bruin strongly limits the use of anonymous sources to prevent harm to The Bruin’s credibility in the eyes of readers. We use anonymity only when it is truly warranted to protect at-risk sources.
Balance
Articles in The Bruin should fairly present all possible sides of an issue.
Our Policies:
Why is this our policy?
Balance and fairness are essential to maintaining credibility. The Bruin does not seek to make decisions on relevant issues. Our role is to inform readers.
*Note: If campus-affiliated individuals/groups/entities feel they have not been covered with adequate balance in The Bruin, they are invited to contact us. The best means to reach us are listed at the bottom of this guide.
Conflicts of Interest
If a journalist is affiliated with an interest group, club or business they seek to report on, their resulting work is more likely to be biased or perceived as biased by our readership.
Our policies:
Why is this our policy?
Corrections
Please refer to “Corrections” under the Jargon Glossary.
Image Manipulation
Image manipulation is the digital alteration of an image that fundamentally alters the tone, context or subject of the image. It also refers to the overt staging of a photo of a person or event. It does not include basic edits made for color, exposure, contrast or clarity.
Our policies:
The Daily Bruin must avoid image manipulation unless it is using it to illustrate a certain concept or idea. The Daily Bruin avoids usage of AI-generated images, but when they are used, The Bruin must explicitly state that the image has been created by AI and must attribute the AI generator engine that created it.
To maintain transparency about image manipulation as well as to avoid inappropriate editorial impacts of manipulated images, the Daily Bruin must:
Why is this our policy?
The role of a photojournalist is to document an event, person or place as it is. Manipulating images betrays this value by potentially influencing the ways people digest news information. Digital manipulation, as well as engaging in staged opportunities, can be used to falsify or alter the perception of the subject of the image.
Impact, Timeliness, Audience
The Daily Bruin makes a determination on every story on whether it is newsworthy and fair to publish.
Our policies:
The Daily Bruin must consider the following three aspects in its determination of if and when to publish information.
Why is this our policy?
The Daily Bruin strives to publish timely news that is relevant to the UCLA community. Our duty as a campus newspaper is to inform our readership on matters that directly affect students, faculty and/or affiliated individuals. We are not a national outlet, and we don’t try to take the place of one.
Minors
Our policies:
Why is this our policy?
The goal of having narrower rules around minors is to reduce any potential harm to minors that may come with publicity.
On the Record, Off the Record
Our policies:
Why is this our policy?
The Daily Bruin aims to provide its readers with accurate and attributable information whenever possible. However, the Bruin has a duty to protect its sources; it is bound to the principle to do no harm. Providing clear guidelines on reporting standards is crucial to maintaining trust.
Retractions
A source asks The Bruin to remove their name from an article or to remove the article from our archives entirely, at any point from immediately following publication to years later.
Our policies:
Why is this our policy?
The Daily Bruin serves as a record-keeper for UCLA’s history. Altering published, true information would be a disservice to our current and future readers, who rely on our reporting as an independent and stable record of events. This policy is in line with those of other credible journalistic outlets. UCLA Student Media’s policies can be found here, under “retractions.”
Reviewing content before publication
Between the interview stage and publication, a source may ask the reporter to see the draft version of an article or media content to make sure they like and/or want to be affiliated with the final product.
Our policies:
Why is this our policy?
We want to make sure that our work accurately reflects what our sources tell us. However, we do not want individual sources to attempt to dictate the direction of a piece, which is drawn from a combination of several sources’ views and information, as a matter of journalistic integrity.
Sensitivity Guide
Writers and editors at the Daily Bruin go to great lengths to ensure that we are doing our best to cover sensitive topics with compassion and respect. Our sensitivity guide is a document we constantly update to keep as a reference for when we write on sensitive subjects, including race, gender, sexuality, homelessness and disability status, to name a few. It is compiled from guidelines from professional news organizations, such as the Associated Press, as well as from the firsthand experiences of our staff.
While all writers and editors are responsible for handling sensitive topics respectfully, our Copy section is tasked with being the most discerning on these matters. If a copy editor ever comes across an instance in which a subject is discussed improperly, they will bring it to the attention of other editors. We then work together to come to the best solution, and any new insight we gain is added to our sensitivity guide.
Columns are sourced argumentative pieces that reflect on, challenge, critique and analyze topics pertinent to the UCLA community, the Westwood community and the overall University of California system. The views expressed in a column belong to the columnist alone.
Editorials are short argumentative pieces from the Daily Bruin Editorial Board. Members of the Editorial Board meet regularly to discuss issues relevant to the UCLA community and deliberate on which stances to take as a collective board. The views expressed in an editorial reflect the majority opinion of the board.
Letters to the Editor are submissions from members of the UCLA community that directly respond to a Daily Bruin article. These letters serve to clarify information in or to criticize the given article. The views expressed in a Letter to the Editor belong to the submitting individual or group alone.
Op-eds are submissions from members of the UCLA community. They are structured like columns in that they make an argument about a certain topic or situation that the writer might have a vested interest in or specialize in. The views expressed in an op-ed belong to the submitting individual or group alone.
Corrections provide a record of inaccuracies in the Daily Bruin’s published content. Corrections are issued only in the case of inaccurate information. When a correction is issued, the correction text is displayed at the top of an article, and the incorrect information is changed to reflect accurate information. Any online post with a correction will also include information about when the post was updated. When the Daily Bruin is printing regularly, corrections are included in our print product for the record.
Updates are issued when new information is added or when portions of the article are changed for clarification purposes. Information is never removed when an update is issued, and updates will not be issued to correct incorrect information. When a post is updated, the update text is displayed at the top of the article with details about what information was changed or added.
Editor’s Notes are issued when an article uses harmful stereotypes, racism, sexism, ableism, ageism or other discriminatory language. Editor’s Notes do not refer to incorrect information in an article. When an Editor’s Note is issued, the discriminatory language is removed from the original text of the article but is reflected in the Editor’s Note for transparency purposes. An editor’s note is also used when it is necessary to provide context to an article that contains sensitive content. Examples could include a preface for articles that quote discriminatory language, or a content warning for articles that reference graphic content. These types of editor’s notes are written by the editor in chief, unless otherwise stated.
The Quad is the explanatory journalism hub of the Daily Bruin, meaning the section contextualizes current events to create comprehensive, digestible pieces for readers. A vehicle for news analysis and the campus scene, The Quad publishes stories on a weekly basis, with topics ranging from lighthearted cultural trends to the interrogation of large social or political issues.
Enterprise is the long-term investigative section of the Daily Bruin. Enterprise allocates resources to deep dives into institutional practices and trends of importance to the UCLA community.
PRIME is the Daily Bruin’s quarterly magazine. Contributors throughout Daily Bruin, from writers to photographers to designers, team up to deliver a printed collection of UCLA happenings and tales from the community. Their content usually consists of long-term features, profiles, personal columns, photo essays or mini graphic novels.
As a public forum, the Daily Bruin is committed to free and open discussion on our platforms. However, we reserve the right to moderate comments on our online platforms. All moderated comments, including those which are removed outright, will be identified through a response from an official Daily Bruin account with our policy-based reasoning for the decision.
A sample response: “Comments by readers have been removed for [justification], which violates the community guidelines of the Daily Bruin.”
We reserve the right to moderate comments that:
Additional comments may be moderated at the discretion of the Daily Bruin editor in chief. A justification for any such moderation will be provided from an official Daily Bruin account.
Progress Tracker
The Daily Bruin aims to provide accurate, fair and well-rounded news to our readers. Our coverage inherently falls short of this mission when our newsroom lacks diverse perspectives to see stories in their entireties. The Bruin’s current demographics and organizational structure show room for improvement in at least three key areas: staff training, job accessibility and communication with readers. Our team aims to lay the groundwork for reforms in all of these areas to begin the necessary work of creating a more inclusive and equitable institution.
If you have feedback on anything in this tracker or anything that is not included but should be, we want to hear from you. Our team can be reached via email, social media or op-ed submission.
Feedback and ideas:
Submit an op-ed at https://dailybruin.com/submit
Send a pitch:
Arts pitch: [email protected]
Quad pitch: [email protected]
News pitch: [email protected]
Opinion pitch: [email protected]
Sports pitch: [email protected]
Other points of contact:
Contact a writer directly through their email listed at the bottom of every article.
We are on:
Facebook – facebook.com/dailybruin
Instagram – @dailybruin
X, formerly known as Twitter – @dailybruin
Youtube – youtube.com/UCLAdailybruin
Advertising:
Find more details https://dailybruin.com/advertise.
Email our advertising team at [email protected].
Call our advertising team at (310) 825-2161.
Errors, flags and bugs:
Report an error in our coverage: [email protected]
Flag a comment
On our social media: Comment with an “@dailybruin” or follow the social media platform’s normal flagging protocols.
On dailybruin.com: Email [email protected].
On Bruinwalk: Hit the “Flag as Inappropriate” button on any given review or email [email protected].
Report a bug:
On dailybruin.com: Email [email protected] or click the blue button in the bottom right corner of the dailybruin.com homepage.
On BruinWalk: Email [email protected].
Miscellaneous:
To send a fully anonymous and encrypted message to the Daily Bruin, please contact +1 626 833 6697 (username: Daily Bruin) on the Signal app.
Front office phone: 310-825-9898
Please be advised that we are limiting time in our physical office at Kerckhoff 118, where this landline is located, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Staff organization:
The Daily Bruin editorial staff list can be found here.
This page last updated: March 3, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
This page last updated: March 4, 2024 13:51