Editorial guidelines

The investigative journalism portal Átlátszó Vajdaság is committed to transparency in Hungarian public life in Vojvodina and to safeguarding the public interest. The editorial staff is primarily responsible to the public and its journalists strive to provide accurate, fair and truthful information to the best of their professional judgment in the spirit of freedom of thought, expression, opinion, and media independence.

We primarily cover issues that directly or indirectly affect the public life, quality of life, and general well-being of the Hungarian community in Vojvodina. However, we also deal with issues that affect Serbia, Hungary, and the Western Balkans in a broader context. We try to shed light on information and contexts that are not covered by most of the Hungarian media in Vojvodina but which may be essential for social discourse.

We check all data before publishing our articles, mainly using data available in public databases and data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). We supplement this information with interviews, testimonies and field research.

Before publication, we make every effort to ensure that stakeholders are consulted and given the opportunity to express their views.

Interviewees can exercise the right of permission to control the correct quote (authorisation). Interviewees are not allowed to transcribe, change the context of the interview or retract anything they have said. For all texts returned for approval, we ask our interviewees to return the text to the editorial address, preferably on the same day, after it has been sent for approval and checked.

Protection of sources is paramount in our work and we will protect our sources at all times. We publish leaked information and documents only if we can verify their veracity.

Átlátszó Vajdaság is a non-partisan, non-governmental press organ that does not serve any interest group. The work of the website is partly financed by grants and donations from readers. We mention the names of donors who give more than 500 euros in our financial report, which is also published on our website. We accept donations of up to 1.000 euros from a single donor.

The fact of donating does not give the donor the right to edit. Anyone can suggest a topic, but the editorial team reserves the right to check the credibility of the information and the public interest and to use their best professional judgment in deciding whether to publish the suggested topic.

This statement does not cover all the details of the editorial process, so we will review our editorial guidelines from time to time as we work, and seek to add any areas that may be relevant to our readers and contributors. Our editorial staff considers itself bound by the Code of Ethics for Journalists in Serbia and the Self-Regulatory Code of Ethics of the Forum of Chief Editors in Hungary.