Sidenote writers are involved in their communities, often wearing multiple hats (such as board member, volunteer, or elected official). Their positions give them frequent exposure to important information that often can and should be available to the public, but it can also pose a potential conflict of interest.

For example, is an article by an elected official sharing information or advocating for a position? Is a volunteer telling a story or promoting their organization? Even the selection of what articles are or are not published can represent a bias. While all of us have bias, we want to acknowledge upfront that some of us could have, at times, certain conflicts of interest.

We will do everything we can to mitigate conflicts of interest in the content we share on Sidenote by prohibiting writers from reporting on themselves, requiring at least two people review each article before it's published, and being upfront at the beginning of each article if any of the contributing writers are involved in the topics covered.