Editorial standards, ethics and conflicts of interest

Who we are

The East New York Times (ENYT) is an independent community news publication covering East New York, Cypress Hills, City Line, Starrett City and Brownsville, Brooklyn. We report on Brooklyn Community Board 5, housing and NYCHA, transit and development, schools, public safety, benefits access and neighborhood life.

ENYT is published by Urban Version Media LLC, a Brooklyn multimedia production company co-founded by Deric Johnson and Ro Johnson. Deric Johnson is ENYT's editor and reporter and is responsible for everything the publication publishes.

We are privately owned. No newspaper chain, publicly traded company, hedge fund, private equity firm, political organization or religious institution owns any part of this publication or has any say in what we cover.

We can be reached at info@eastnewyorktimes.com.

Editorial independence

Coverage in the East New York Times cannot be bought, traded or promised. Not by an advertiser, not by a sponsor, not by a client of our parent company, not by an elected official, not by a community organization, and not by anyone who does us a favor.

We decide what to cover based on what matters to people who live in East New York. The tests we apply are simple: is it true, is it verifiable, does it affect this neighborhood, and can we report it responsibly.

No one outside the newsroom reviews a story before we publish it. We do not give sources or subjects advance copies of articles for approval. We will read a specific quote or a technical figure back to a source to confirm accuracy — that is fact-checking, not approval, and it does not extend to the framing, the headline or the rest of the story.

The wall between Urban Version Media and the East New York Times

Urban Version Media is a production studio. It is hired to make video, photography, event coverage, social content and websites for clients including businesses, nonprofits, community organizations, developers and political campaigns.

The East New York Times is a newsroom. These are two different businesses that happen to share founders, and we keep them separate on purpose.

We say this to every prospective client in writing before an engagement begins, because we would rather lose a client early than have a reader wonder later whether a story was purchased.

Disclosure and recusal

Because Urban Version Media works in the same neighborhoods the East New York Times covers, overlap is inevitable. When it happens, we handle it in the open.

• We disclose in the story. When ENYT covers a person, business or project that is a current or recent Urban Version Media client, the article carries a clearly marked editor's note stating the relationship. Readers should never have to discover a connection on their own.
• The assigned reporter recuses. When a client is a primary subject of a story, the reporter with the relationship does not report or write it. If ENYT has no one else available to report that story independently, we do not publish it — and if asked, we say why.
• We disclose in both directions. We tell the client, in writing, that ENYT covers their sector and may report on them, and that our coverage is not theirs to influence.
• Personal conflicts count too. Family, close friendships, financial interests, and prior employment get disclosed and, where the connection is material, trigger the same recusal.

Our editor is a retired member of the New York City Police Department after 22 years of service. We report on the NYPD, the 75th Precinct and PSA 2 regularly and hold them to the same standard as any other agency. We disclose that history here so readers can weigh our public-safety reporting with full information.

Political clients and campaigns

Urban Version Media does political communications work. This is the sharpest conflict risk we carry, so it carries the strictest rules.

• A campaign or elected official's office that hires Urban Version Media cannot buy, influence, soften or kill East New York Times coverage of that candidate, that office or that race.
• Any ENYT story involving a current or recent political client of Urban Version Media carries an editor's note naming the relationship.
• The reporter who does the campaign work does not report or write ENYT stories in which that campaign or officeholder is a primary subject.
• We do not endorse candidates.

If we cannot cover a race independently, we will say that plainly rather than publish compromised coverage.

Advertising and sponsored content

The East New York Times is free to read and intends to be supported partly by local advertising and sponsorship. Revenue never buys coverage.

• Every paid placement is labeled Advertisement, Sponsored or Paid content so it cannot be mistaken for reporting.
• Sponsors have no advance look at editorial content, no input into what we cover, and no ability to remove or change a story.
• Sponsoring a coverage area — a committee, a beat, a newsletter — buys visible credit and nothing else. It does not buy favorable treatment, and it does not protect a sponsor from being reported on.
• We will report critically on an advertiser or sponsor when the facts require it, and we will not tell them first.
• We reserve the right to decline advertising.

Sourcing and verification

We publish what we can support. When we cannot support it, we do not publish it, or we tell you what we do not yet know.

• We name sources whenever possible. We grant anonymity only when a source faces a real risk — retaliation, loss of housing, loss of a job, immigration exposure — and when the information cannot be obtained another way. When we do, we tell readers why the source is unnamed.
• Claims made at a public meeting are reported as claims, attributed to the person who made them, and checked before we present them as fact. When a statistic asserted in a meeting is not supported by the record, we say so.
• Public-safety reporting is confirmed through official channels — NYPD or DCPI, the precinct, the District Attorney, or city records. A single weak or unconfirmed report is a lead, not a story.
• When an official describes a "bill," we verify the introduction number, sponsorship status, and whether it is legislation, a budget allocation or a proposal before describing it as law.
• We link to primary documents — agendas, transcripts, filings, data — so readers can check our work.
• We seek comment from anyone we report critically on, and we say in the story when someone declined to comment or did not respond.

Our photography and video are our own or properly licensed and credited. We do not alter the content of a news image beyond standard cropping and exposure. Illustrations and reenactments, if ever used, are labeled.

How we use AI tools

We are transparent about this because a lot of publications are not.

We use AI tools for research assistance, transcription, background summarization and drafting support — the same way a newsroom uses a clipping service, a transcription service or a research assistant.

An AI tool does not have a byline here, and its output is not journalism until a human does the reporting. Anything published under a reporter's byline has been verified by that reporter: sources contacted, records checked, facts confirmed, original photography or video where applicable, and editorial judgment applied. Every fact in a story is our responsibility, regardless of what tool touched the draft.

Opinion, letters and analysis

News reporting and opinion are different things and we label them that way. Letters to the editor, guest commentary and analysis are clearly marked and represent the views of the writer, not the East New York Times.

We welcome letters, including letters that disagree with our reporting, and we have published them. We verify the identity of a letter writer before publishing, we may edit for length and clarity, and we do not publish anonymous letters, personal attacks or claims we cannot support.

Send letters to info@eastnewyorktimes.com.

Gifts, access and civic roles

• We do not accept gifts, payments, favors or free services from people or organizations we cover. We pay our own way. Ordinary press access — a press pass, a seat at a public meeting, refreshments available to everyone at a community event — is not a gift.
• We do not accept paid travel or paid speaking fees from organizations we cover.
• Our staff hold no political office and take no political appointments.
• Urban Version Media produces media for Brooklyn Community Board 5, a body ENYT covers closely. We disclose that relationship here, we cover CB5 independently including when the coverage is unflattering, and ENYT's CB5 reporting is not reviewed by the board before publication.

Corrections

We will make mistakes. When we do, we fix them publicly and quickly rather than quietly. Our full process for reporting and handling errors is on our corrections policy page.

Questions and complaints

If you believe we got something wrong, treated you unfairly, failed to disclose a relationship, or violated anything on this page, write to info@eastnewyorktimes.com. A person reads every message and you will get a response.

This policy takes effect August 19, 2026. We will update it as the publication grows, and material changes will be dated here.