Narco News produces original reports, commentary, or original translations of work in other languages, relevant to the drug war, the media, and democracy, in our América.

Our Editorial Philosophy is also reflected in our Opening Statement.

We believe that one of the problems with Internet journalism is that the web is over-saturated with duplication of effort. When the same article or commentary is published on multiple websites, it simply dilutes the efforts and work of all involved. Therefore, we do not republish reports that already appear free of charge on other online publications. We prefer to directly link to reports by others.

We do translate some reports by other publications to, or from, Spanish, Portuguese, and/or English. If we translate or quote from your publication's report, we provide credit, and, when possible, we try to provide a link.

We look with disdain upon Internet sites - especially those that sell advertising or products - that republish the work of our writers without obtaining prior permission from the author.

When another publication has our permission, which we often grant, there are some tell-tale signs to indicate that the publication is truly friendly and respectful:

• The friendly publication always credits the author, the original publication of the work on Narco News, and a link on top of the page where the story appears.


• The friendly publication never makes it appear as if our writer simply posted his or her own story to that Internet site. The friendly publication does not "bury" the credit at the bottom, in the "author's description."


• The friendly publication does not edit, cut, or censor the original report.


• And the friendly publication retains all links that appear in the original report, so that the reader may see the background information upon which it was based.

If another website does not do those things, chances are that it did not receive our permission and deserves your disdain, too, and that of all workers, as well.

There is too much racketeering happening on the Internet, often wearing an "alternative" gloss, in which third parties try to imply credit to their own publications for the labor done by others. We try to be an example of a different path, one that respects and acknowledges the hard work of writers and reporters, and that features original reporting or original translations to a new language. If you are reading it here, chances are you are reading it here first.

In the case of truly non-commercial publications, such as IndyMedia, we grant a blanket permission to republish our work, and simply request that due credit be given to the author and to Narco News, with a link provided.

We also embrace the "fair use doctrine." If a commercial publication does not make its work available freely to the online public, we will often make that work available, gratis, for purposes of criticism or commentary, to members of the public who, by surfing our publication, express a prior interest in receiving that kind of information. The same goes for works that appear only in email form, but have not yet found a permanent home on the World Wide Web.

As far as artwork and graphic material is concerned, we often appropriate other material and place it in a new artistic context. Again, we do this gratis without selling advertising or products on our own site. In the case of non-commercial artwork or graphics that we use, we strive, when the information is available, to give credit to the original artist. In the case of commercial artwork or graphics that we appropriate for our non-commercial use, we feel no such duty to credit profit-seeking companies.

The stories and commentaries published on Narco News belong to the author of each individual story.

In sum, Narco News is not here to make money. We are here to practice Authentic Journalism, at the service of the people.

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