Declaration of Principles

Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone is news reporting for the new millennium - a nexus of backpack journalism, narrative story-telling techniques, and the Internet, designed to reach a global audience hungry for information.

Our Mission and Goals

To cover every armed conflict* in the world within one year, and in doing so to provide a clear idea of the combatants, victims, causes, and costs of each of these struggles - and their global impact. With honest, thoughtful reporting we'll strive to establish Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone as a forum for information and involvement. Users will not only learn about the scope of world conflict, but will find ways to be part of the solutions- through dialogue, debate, and avenues for action.

How We'll Do It

We will be aggressive in pursuing the stories that are not getting mainstream coverage and we will put a human face on them. We will not chase headlines nor adhere to pack journalism but vigorously pursue the stories in front of and behind the conflict, the small stories that when strung together illustrate a more complete picture.

Veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites will travel solo to these conflict zones, aided by a U.S.-based "mission control" team: Producer Robert Padavick (NBC News, CNN) and Researcher Lisa Liu (Radio Free Asia, International Medical Corps).

Using the latest technology, including high-definition digital cameras and satellite modems, Kevin will deliver stories via a five-fingered multimedia platform of text, photography, video, audio, and interactive chat - all available on one website (http://hotzone.yahoo.com).

We are professional journalists and will apply to our work the ethical code of conduct as outlined by the Society of Professional Journalists: http://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp

1. To seek and report the truth.
2. To minimize harm.
3. To act independently.
4. To be accountable.

"We strongly believe, as stated in the preamble of this code, that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy."

We also will add four more criteria to our work that will take us above the journalistic code. We also pledge in our reporting and storytelling:

Transparency: an honest and authentic accounting of both our failure and successes, to pull back the curtain on our editorial and technological process. We refuse to propagate the myths of the omniscient, infallible correspondent.

Vulnerability: we will strive to live, breathe, and experience the lives of the people we are covering -including the daily dangers they're exposed to from combat, disease, and hardship.

Empathy: we may not always agree with our sources, but we will make every effort to understand their positions and report them with clarity, so that our audience may have context and perspective.

Solutions: our site will contain links to organizations and groups that are working to aid victims of these conflicts and assist in their peaceful resolutions.

*To define armed conflict we will apply the standards of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, which monitors these conflicts around the world. The Institute is not affiliated with any government and is a leading authority on political-military conflict.

It defines armed conflict as:

1. "International armed border and territorial conflict involving governments..."
2. "Internal armed conflicts taking place between government forces and organized groups, which control sufficient territory to sustain concerted military operations."

To this we've added our own criteria:

1. The conflict must have been active within the past three months.
2. We will cover issues relating to terrorism and the war on terror. We will not focus on acts of terrorism, which are random and borderless.
3. We will make exceptions if a location does not fit these criteria but we feel it important to highlight the conflict-related issues it has experienced.