Community Guidelines
Prism aims to uphold our mission and values across all our social media platforms—but we need your help to do so. As we strive to bring you in-depth, trusted reporting that sparks meaningful conversations in our shared online communities, we know that not everyone will always agree with
Prism aims to uphold our mission and values across all our social media platforms—but we need your help to do so. As we strive to bring you in-depth, trusted reporting that sparks meaningful conversations in our shared online communities, we know that not everyone will always agree with one another. That’s why we’re asking you to help keep discussions on Prism’s social media accounts respectful, inclusive, & safe.
Against the backdrop of a sociopolitical climate shaped by hate speech—often born in online spaces—our work as community engagement professionals working in movement journalism is to ensure that the movements we report on are treated with the utmost respect and safety. The basis of Prism’s journalism is rooted in integrity, compassion, and rigor, and we hold our reader community to the same expectations of conduct as we do for our staff, writers, and partners.
Prism will not tolerate any personal attacks, hate speech, racism, gender-based harassment, or other targeting of specific groups or individuals in the community. We also won’t permit misinformation or spam.
If a user violates these guidelines, Prism reserves the right to delete comments and/or restrict or block accounts. Content moderation isn’t done to censor or tone-police anyone, but we are also not obligated to publicly preserve hostile or distracting comments forever.
We’ve set these community guidelines to clarify the conduct expectations we have for users in our online community. These standards apply across platforms and topics, and we expect our readers to adhere to them. We trust our readers, and we want to ensure you can trust and feel safe in our shared spaces, too.
Prism’s social media accounts are continuously monitored by the engagement team, but if we miss something, please contact hello@prismreports.org to report any violations.
We welcome feedback & disagreement on social media platforms, but we reserve the right to:
- Hide comments that are hostile toward the writer or subject of the piece in an effort to distract from the substance
- Delete comments that contain discriminatory language, hate speech, or personal attacks on the author
- Restrict or block users who repeatedly post comments that we have to delete
Community values in action
- Firsthand reporting on the conditions within prisons is inherently valuable, regardless of “guilt” or “innocence.” As a movement-aligned outlet, Prism rejects the outsider logic of the “myth of objectivity” and affirms that incarcerated writers are experts on their own experience. We cannot understand the criminal legal system in America without their perspectives and contributions.
- We will not publicly litigate, or permit comments or replies to our original post that litigate, the reason why the writer is incarcerated. Prism is not a court of law, and as a movement journalism organization, we are here to publish, not to punish. Comments on the circumstances of the author divert attention from the substance of the actual piece. This is counterproductive to the engagement and discussions on abolitionist movements we hope to foster.
- Incarcerated reporters are reporters, full stop. We have chosen to work with them because we believe in the quality of their work. They are held to the same high standards and subject to the same rigorous editorial processes as any of our other contributors.
- As an outlet, we have an obligation to stand by our work and support our writers, particularly when unreliable tech access means they might not be able to use the same social media platforms to speak for themselves.
Prism now covers the consequences and impacts of U.S. imperialism around the world, and has an unwavering commitment to reporting on the genocide in Gaza and colonial violence in the West Bank. We are also dedicated to publishing journalists in Palestine, who are bravely documenting the atrocities committed against them and their people while risking death at the hands of a government that is unabashedly targeting journalists in an effort to silence them.
- In addition to blocking hate speech, we are not obligated to leave up comments or replies that offer a “both sidesism” to genocide and are the result of anti-Palestinian racism. There are no two sides to genocide.
- As Israel wages a genocidal starvation campaign on the people of Gaza, one of the key tactics employed by Israel is starvation through skyrocketing basic food prices. Whenever available, we will share public fundraising and donation links to writers and sources in Gaza and the West Bank and encourage readers to join us in directly supporting them.
- Independent journalists in Gaza are critical to fighting imperialism and genocide. Without their bravery, we would not know the accurate story of what Palestinians are experiencing. We believe in the quality of their work and value the necessity of documenting their firsthand accounts. They receive the same rates, are held to the same high standards, and are subject to the same rigorous editorial processes as any of our other contributors.
We build community together
Protecting vulnerable people and movements is community care, both online and offline. There is no collective liberation without collective action—and we encourage all Prism community members to contribute to shaping how we’re covering the movements that you’re part of.
If you have questions about missing context or suggestions for additional sourcing on a topic, we do welcome serious feedback from readers about broader reporting gaps.You can contact our editors at tips@prismreports.org.