Dorset Gazette exists to give people in Dorset accurate, fair and useful local news. These are the standards our journalists work to. If you think we have fallen short of them, please tell us.

Accuracy

We check what we publish. Claims are checked against reliable sources — official documents, the people involved, public bodies, the police and the courts — and we make clear when something is an allegation, a claim or a report rather than an established fact. Where we can't confirm something, we say so or we don't publish it.

Fairness and right of reply

When a story contains significant criticism of a person or organisation, we contact them before publication and give them a fair chance to respond. If they respond after publication, we add their response to the story.

News, opinion and advertising

We keep news, opinion and advertising separate. Opinion pieces are clearly labelled as opinion. Advertising and sponsored content are always clearly labelled, and advertisers have no say over our news coverage.

Where our information comes from

Our stories are written by our own journalists. When we use information first reported by another outlet, or from a press release, we say where it came from and link to the original where we can.

Some parts of the site show headlines from other local publishers, such as the "More from around Dorset" panels. Those are clearly labelled, credited to the publisher named on each one, and link to the original story on their site — we never republish their articles.

Dorset Police news releases

Dorset Police send their news releases — appeals for witnesses, missing people, court results and road closures — directly to our newsroom. So that important appeals reach readers straight away, these are published automatically as soon as they arrive, using the police's own words and pictures. Each one is clearly marked "Source: Dorset Police news release". Our system only accepts releases verified as genuinely coming from Dorset Police, and AI is used only to lay the text out — never to change or add to it. When the police send an update (for example, that a missing person has been found), the original story is updated automatically, and names and pictures are removed when the police ask.

How we use AI

Our newsroom has an AI tool that can suggest local stories from publicly available news feeds and produce a first draft from the source material. We use it as a starting point, never as the finished article:

  • A journalist checks every AI-assisted draft against the original sources before it can be published — our publishing system will not let an AI-assisted story go live until that check has been completed. (Dorset Police news releases, described above, are the one exception: they are published word for word rather than written by AI.)
  • The published story lists the sources it was based on, with links.
  • The AI is instructed not to add facts, quotes or figures that aren't in the source material, and our journalists remove anything that can't be verified.
  • Any image created with AI is labelled as such in its photo credit.

A named journalist is responsible for every story we publish, whether or not AI was used along the way.

Photographs

Photographs are credited beneath the story they appear in. We use our own pictures, pictures supplied with permission by readers and organisations, and images published under licences that allow reuse. If you own a picture we have used and believe we have credited it wrongly or used it without permission, please contact us and we will put it right.

Privacy, children and vulnerable people

We think carefully before publishing personal details and only do so when they are relevant to the story. We take particular care when reporting on children, victims of crime, and people who are vulnerable, bereaved or in distress.

Corrections and complaints

We make mistakes, and when we do we fix them promptly and openly.

  • Use our Corrections & complaints form, or email [email protected], telling us which story and what you believe is wrong.
  • A member of the team will look into it and reply to you.
  • If a story contains a significant error, we correct it and add a note to the story explaining what was changed.

Dorset Gazette is published by Capital Media Newspapers Ltd.