Editor's note: How we're covering the Keillor story
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In covering the story of Garrison Keillor's relationship with Minnesota Public Radio, journalists at MPR News are working independently of their parent company's senior leadership.
An editorial firewall separates MPR News from the rest of the company. We make our editorial decisions without interference from other departments. We abide by these news ethics guidelines.
The decision to cut ties to Keillor's companies came from the top leaders of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media Group. MPR News was not involved in the decision and is covering the Keillor story the way it would any other story.
The reporters and editors assigned to the story do their work within the MPR News newsroom, which sits on a separate floor from APMG's administrative and business departments. When MPR and APMG leadership share proprietary information with employees in off-the-record meetings, the journalists working on the story do not attend.
Instead, the journalists covering the story gather such information as they would if covering some other company: by searching public records and meeting privately with sources and those involved, some of whom might be other current or former APMG employees. They have no special access to Keillor, company management or other sources of information. When requesting information or statements from the company, they go through the same channels as journalists who don't work for APMG.
The team working at the assignment of Nancy Cassutt, executive director of MPR News, and Mike Edgerly, executive editor of MPR News, includes reporters Laura Yuen, Euan Kerr and Matt Sepic; editor Eric Ringham and managing editor for enterprise Meg Martin. Occasionally, other MPR News journalists might help cover the story as it unfolds, and those journalists will adhere to the same standards and rules as their colleagues on the primary team. For her part, Cassutt has been temporarily excused from the company's executive leadership team.
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