Statement of Purpose
The Fiscal Times (TFT) is a digital news, opinion and media service devoted to comprehensive quality reporting on vital fiscal, budgetary, health care and international economic issues. TFT strives to become one of the most trusted sources of news, opinion, and research on fiscal policy and its effects on the country at large, including the business and consumers.
The Fiscal Times is an editorially independent journalistic enterprise -- written, edited and produced by experienced professional journalists – providing an array of original reporting and analysis, curated content from other leading on-line publications, and research data important to understanding government policy and economics. The publication is part of a new era of independently supported non-partisan journalism, and emerges in part out of the increased demand for ongoing news coverage of fiscal policy in the wake of one of the worst recessions in history. TFT works to present fair, accurate and balanced reporting and serve as an honest broker in sorting through a broad range of viewpoints.
The senior editors of The Fiscal Times have sole responsibility for the selection, editing and display of articles, graphics, illustrations and video that appear on the site. The editorial staff operates from offices in New York and the National Press Building in Washington, D.C.
The Fiscal Times has been organized as a limited liability company (LLC) and is currently funded by Peter G. Peterson.
The Fiscal Times Statement of News Principles
• We will strive above all to present fair and accurate information in every original news article that we publish.
• We will not rush to publish information without regard to accuracy, bias, or other distortions.
• We will quickly and carefully post corrections on any errors of content.
• We will strive to name our sources of information and exempt only those who may provide essential information and insist on anonymity. We will let readers know whether a source is associated with groups that also lobby.
• All contributors and staff will avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest that could jeopardize the accuracy of the information we publish, or create an impression of bias. This would include accepting free junkets, favors, or financial reward that would compromise the reporting of a story.
• Our staff does not lobby or engage in political activity around the issues we cover. Content contributors must disclose to editors any past and present connections to government and the industries we cover.
• The Fiscal Times does not endorse political candidates.
• We do not declare positions on fiscal issues in editorials as the voice of TFT.
• Our staff does not lobby or engage in political activity around the issues we cover.
• When we share content or resources with other organizations, we will disclose the nature of these relationships and the affiliations of these organizations as best as we are able. We will avoid relationships that would compromise the integrity of the principles laid out here.
• With the exception of minor adjustments like cropping, news photos or video will not be altered in Photoshop or any other application. Similarly no audio or video will be edited in order to distort a story or point of view.
• Excepting news briefs and aggregated content, all stories will be by-lined.
• The use of an alias or pen name is only acceptable under certain conditions, which include potential physical or financial harm to the person or, in the case of whistle blowers who reveal information that could expose nefarious acts, anonymity requested by law enforcement agencies.
• We will not edit reader comments, but we reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our guidelines of obscenity, etc.
• Blog posts must respect the rules of civil discourse in order to be published.
©The Fiscal Times Media Group LLC
Advisory Committee
Our Advisory Committee consisting of leading professional journalists and public policy experts monitors the operations of The Fiscal Times and periodically meets with TFT editors and executives to assess performance and progress in meeting its goals and standards.
1. Robert D. Reischauer, President of the Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office
2. Drew Altman, President and CEO of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services.
3. Jim Brady, President, Digital Strategy, Allbritton Communications and former executive editor of washingtonpost.com
4. Jodie T. Allen, senior editor of the Pew Research Center, former managing editor and political columnist for U.S. News & World Report, and editor of the Washington Post Sunday “Outlook” section
5. G. William Hoagland, CIGNA Corporation’s Public Policy Group director and former policy and budget adviser to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and staff director of the Senate Budget Committee
Editorial Offices
• New York Editor-in-Chief: Jacqueline Leo, former editor-in-chief of Reader’s Digest and Consumer Reports, and former editorial director of ABC’s Good Morning America
• Washington Washington Editor: Eric Pianin, former Washington Post editor and budget reporter
Contributing Reporters:
• Edmund Andrews, former economics reporter for The New York Times
• John Berry, former economics reporter for The Washington Post
• Dan Morgan, former Washington Post investigative and congressional reporter and author
• Ann Dowd, former Washington Bureau Chief for Fortune and Money magazines
• David Ewing Duncan, author, journalist, and television producer who has written extensively on health care and science
• Merrill Goozner, a health care blogger and former Asian correspondent and chief financial writer for the Chicago Tribune
• Bradley Graham, former Pentagon reporter for The Washington Post
• Katherine Reynolds Lewis, former Bloomberg News and Newhouse News Service financial reporter
• William Neikirk, former Chicago Tribune economics and congressional reporter
• Elaine Povich, former congressional and budget reporter for Newsday and the Chicago Tribune
• Eric Schurenberg, editor in Chief of CBS BNET;
• Tom Herman, former tax policy writer for the The Wall Street Journal
Contributing Bloggers:
• Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a noted health care expert
• Joseph Antos, Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
• Stan Collender, author of the blog, Capital Gains and Games and partner at Qorvis Communications LLC
• Lawrence J. Haas, former Communications Director to Vice President Gore; currently a public affairs consultant who writes widely about foreign and domestic affairs, including fiscal policy
• George Hager, member of the USA Today editorial page board and former reporter for Congressional Quarterly Magazine and the Washington Post
• James R. Horney, Director of Federal Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• Scott Lilly, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former clerk and staff director of the House Appropriations Committee
• Brian M. Riedl, senior policy analyst and budget expert at the Heritage Foundation
• Michael D. Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and head of health care reform research
• Joseph White, Ph.D., director of the Center for Policy Studies at Case Western Reserve University and an expert on budget policy and health care
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