For 7 years, we’ve been filling the gap left by other local newspapers and making sure everyone can read ours for free, including archives.
We have more than 17,000 published stories and over 3,500 comments from our readers about the decisions made at the City Commission, the new restaurant openings, elections, schools, development, community leaders, and the people and ideas affecting Lakeland.
And we’d love to continue this work for years to come.
Reader support through donations helps us pay journalists fairly and keeps that reporting free for everyone, including students, teachers, and seniors on fixed incomes.
Lakeland Gazette and its online newspapers are a community-focused lifestyle brand and new online media product, delivering content to over 25 million people worldwide yearly through email publications, website content, and social media platforms.
Our mission is to publish a distinguished and profitable community newspaper. Among our overall goals are:
To publish a community newspaper whose focus will be excellence in terms of news and advertising content, reproduction, and customer service.
To maximize profits consistent with product quality, but in no case less than required to assure long-term growth and our editorial independence.
To be fundamentalists in our support of the public right to know, and the right of free speech and press.
And to provide aggressive and visionary leadership.
This mission will be accomplished through the teamwork of professionals who are dedicated to truth, integrity, loyalty, quality, and hard work. We believe that a community must first know about itself in order to act in its own best interest.
We believe that a strong newspaper builds a strong community. Reader support through donations helps us pay for journalists.
The principles that the staff, editorial board, and corporation of the Lakeland Gazette should operate on are:
- To assertively seek content that has high interest, impacts the reader, provokes discussion, and advances the reader’s knowledge.
- To react quickly to any newsworthy events around Lakeland or in another part of the world (if it impacts our readers).
- To make the products as relevant to readers as possible by knowing what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen in the news and our community.
- To create a product that is a reflection of the diversity of the backgrounds, goals, and interests of the readers and the community.
- To consistently adhere to the highest ethical guidelines and foster the most professional environment possible at all levels.
- To develop and promote student journalists through a school mentoring program.
The Lakeland Gazette recognizes that a commitment to diversity is crucial to fulfilling its mission to be the primary source of information for, by, and about the Lakeland community. Embracing the cultural traditions, beliefs, and views of our subjects and audience strengthens this mission.
In upholding our mission to provide full, fair news coverage, the Lakeland Gazette will:
- Recognize that majority groups usually have little trouble sharing their views, but that underrepresented groups do not often share that position. Therefore, the Lakeland Gazette must be committed to aggressively covering underrepresented groups to the best of its abilities.
- This does not necessarily mean running more stories about “minority” issues and people. These stories are important, but underrepresented groups have a stake in “mainstream” stories too.
- Reporters should be conscious of sourcing: Avoid making someone the single spokesperson for an entire group or community. This usually originates from needing an authoritative source, like a club leader, to talk about an event. That person becomes the go-to source for stories about issues faced by a particular group, but reporters should be aggressive about collecting sources from a wide variety of people in the community.
- Avoid stereotyping and typecasting. Racism, sexism, and any other reporting that demeans others will not be tolerated. Furthermore, no mention should be made of a person’s race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, age, or other identities unless it is pertinent to a story.
- This is especially important to note in crime stories and suspect descriptions. It may be appropriate to include racial identification if a suspect description includes other descriptors.
- Create an open atmosphere within our own newsroom that welcomes a variety of views and encourages discussion.
Lakeland Gazette is committed to respecting privacy laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Marcy’s Law.
- HIPAA Compliance: While HIPAA applies to healthcare providers and their business associates, we ensure that no Protected Health Information (PHI) is shared or disclosed in violation of privacy laws. Any medical-related content posted adheres to public information standards and does not include confidential patient details.
- Marcy’s Law Compliance: We respect the rights of crime victims and ensure that no personally identifiable victim information is shared in violation of privacy protections. Any footage or details shared are done in accordance with public records laws and ethical reporting standards.
We aim to promote public safety and awareness while maintaining the highest level of privacy and legal responsibility. If you have any concerns regarding content, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us directly.
Feel free to donate any amount.
Thank you
The Lakeland Gazette Team
2121 New Tampa Hwy N16
Lakeland, FL 33815