About MendoLocal.News

The board of Mendo Local Public Media provides financial oversight and volunteers in support of our mission. The board has no control over or influence on editorial or coverage decisions, according to board bylaws.

Paul Brancato is a professional violinist who joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1980. He is a former concertmaster of the Oakland Symphony, a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and served as Music Director of the Berkeley Repertory Theater.

Michelle Hickey is a seasoned producer and writer who began her career in Bay Area television and news before moving to the agency side, where she led large-scale global events and media initiatives. She currently serves as Senior Director of Product Marketing for SAP BTP, leading global digital programs that reach audiences in over 45 countries. Her work reflects a deep commitment to public interest, sustainability, and social impact. She is also an Alfred P. Sloan Screenplay Fellow and a Disney and Chesterfield Screenplay Finalist, and an alum of NYU Tisch School of the Arts (MFA) and the University of Southern California.

Sylvester Monroe is a Senior Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. Before retiring from newsroom journalism in 2018, Monroe served as Assistant Foreign Editor at The Washington Post in charge of reporting from Europe and South Asia from August 2014 to December 2017. During his storied career, Monroe has had a variety of important assignments with Newsweek, TIME, The San Jose Mercury News, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Ebony, and Marketplace, the public radio show.

Daniel Tynan is an American journalist and commentator who specializes in technology. His work has appeared in more than 100 publications, including The Guardian, Fast Company, and Wired. Tynan is former editor in chief of Yahoo Tech, served as an Executive Editor at PC World, and was a contributing editor for multiple periodicals that have gone on to the great magazine Valhalla in the sky.

Readers and listeners are encouraged to send corrections to editor@mendolocal.news. We also respond to corrections that are pointed out to us on social media as quickly as is practical. When a correction is made, we identify the correction with an editor’s note that includes the date and time the article was updated. Additionally, all partners distributing Mendo Local Public Media content are alerted to errors.

Our goal is to address all errors in digital content from major errors to typos as soon as possible, and ideally within a few hours.

Editorial policy (added Sept. 12, 2025, updated December 20, 2025)

Our editorial policy is intended to lay out the reporting, publishing and fundraising standards of Mendo Local Public Media and its showcase site: MendoLocal.News.

Independence:

All editorial decisions regarding articles published on MendoLocal.News are and will be made by newsroom leadership and newsroom personnel. Mendo Local Public Media board members and philanthropic supporters have no influence over the content produced by the independent journalists and publishers that are funded by Mendo Local Public Media.

Mendo Local Public Media was founded to support fact-based reports on local issues. In the event that we accept funding to cover a particular topic, we will retain full editorial control. We recognize that articles may include data points that may conflict with the agendas of some of our philanthropic supporters, and we pledge to report articles as completely as possible without providing donors preferential treatment or slight.

Projects funded directly by donors will be identified with a tag at the end of each story.

Donors who contribute more than $25,000 to coverage of a particular issue will receive project plans and written updates. They will not receive previews of individual stories.

We will identify donors who contribute more than $5,000 a year in an annual donor roundup published on Mendolocal.org. We will not accept anonymous donations.

Accuracy:

The reporting funded by Mendo Local Public Media and published on MendoLocal.News is fact-based. Reporters share primary and secondary documents with the MendoLocal.News editor. Facts included in articles are checked against documents as part of the editing process.

Impartiality:

We report for our community. Our goal is to inform, explain and illuminate, not to inflame sensibilities. We strive to approach issues with a perspective that is curious, neutral, and biased toward fact. We include context and strive for completeness. To that end, we will revisit stories in order to provide updates and additional details, and we will tell stories from different points of view.

Mendo Local Public Media is a fiscally sponsored project of The Tiny News Collective (“TNC”, EIN: 85-3963369), a Delaware nonprofit organization exempt from federal taxation pursuant to IRS Code 501(c)(3). TNC equips visionary news entrepreneurs in underserved communities to transform journalism from the ground up, making it more equitable, accessible and connected. Through coaching, tools and strategic support, Tiny News Collective nurtures a network of indie media founders to launch and grow community-rooted news organizations that endure.The Tiny News Collective will administer charitable contributions received on behalf of Mendo Local Public Media. Such funds will be tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. You should confirm such deductibility through your own tax advisor.

Content published on Mendo Local is provided for general informational and journalistic purposes only. Nothing published by Mendo Local Public Media should be construed as legal, medical, financial, engineering, or other professional advice.