About us

The News-Gazette, published weekly in Lexington, Va on Wednesdays, serves Rockbridge County and the cities of Lexington and Buena Vista. The newspaper is part of a publishing tradition that goes back to 1801, which saw the founding of what became the Lexington Gazette. The other ancestor publication was the Rockbridge County News, founded in 1884. The two newspapers merged in 1962, forming The News-Gazette. By this lineage, The News-Gazette is the third oldest newspaper in Virginia, and the oldest in the state west of the Blue Ridge.

The News-Gazette Corp. also publishes Visiting Lexington and the Rockbridge Area, a print guidebook and electronic edition (https://publisher.etype.services/Lexington-News-Gazette/e-paper-special-edition/FD9163BE7428DC39) for visitors to our area, our Lexington area Newcomer's Guide, and Valley of Virginia Properties, a monthly local real estate magazine.  And, of course, we publish on this website, www.thenews-gazette.com.

The current management and ownership represents the fourth generation of involvement in the newspaper by the Paxton family. 

The News-Gazette has been the recipent of numerous state and national awards for writing, photography, and design from the Virginia Press Association and the National Newspaper Association.

All departments of the newspaper can be reached by calling our main phone number - (540) 463-3113.

The News-Gazette’s Statement of Ethical Principles.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution and subsequent court cases have afforded the Press with broad rights to operate in the interests of unfettered reporting of public affairs. With those rights come responsibilities, which The News-Gazette accepts. We pledge to live up to these responsibilities to the best of our ability, recognizing that our goal is to continue to examine and to improve our performance in adhering to the following principles.  

Accuracy

Accuracy is the overriding value of journalism.

• We will always work to ensure that all the facts in our work are accurate.
• We  will not omit facts that are material to an understanding of what we are reporting on.
• Context is often critical to accurate reporting. We will ensure that adequate context is provided.
• We will clearly distinguish between fact and assertion or opinion.

Independence

Independence from state control, business interests, market forces, or any other vested interest or outside pressure is a hallmark of dispassionate, critical, and reliable journalism. It bolsters legitimacy and credibility in the eyes of the public.

• We will make our own editorial judgments based solely on careful consideration of all the facts.
• We will not allow ourselves to be influenced by political, sectional, or commercial interests.
• We will declare and manage any conflicts of interest, including gifts, funding, advertising relationships, and free or discounted travel or services.

Impartiality

Impartiality means not being prejudiced towards or against any particular ideology, idea, or preconception. Impartiality requires fairness and balance that follows the weight of evidence: it allows the journalist to make sense of events through dispassionate analysis of all relevant facts and perspectives.

• We will treat all facts the same, making editorial judgments and delivering analysis based only on the weight of evidence.
• We will not allow our own views, preferences, biases, or prejudgments to affect our work.
• We will not simply recite lists of facts or engage in false balance: but will weigh the evidence and reflect that weight of evidence in our work.
• We will aim to include an appropriate diversity of views, and accord those views the space warranted by their prominence and significance.

Integrity

Integrity in journalism ensures that people and organizations uphold the values of journalism, always strive to do the right thing in all situations, even to their personal or organizational detriment, and put their obligations to the public first.

• We will treat those we deal with in our work with respect and courtesy.
• We will always identify ourselves as journalists, unless withholding disclosure is essential to uncovering the truth in a matter of public importance.
• As far as possible, we will look for opportunities to "show our work", sharing with the public the underlying information we have gathered.
• The use of any form of secret information gathering (hidden cameras, secret recording devices, etc.) may be justifiable if it is essential to uncovering the truth in a matter of public importance.
• We will provide anyone accused of misbehavior a reasonable opportunity to respond.
• We will attribute information to its source unless that source needs to be protected to ensure the truth can be uncovered in a matter of public importance. Where a source needs anonymity, we will provide it.
• We will not plagiarize.

Harm minimization

Journalists must always remember that they are dealing with human lives. The potential for public good must sufficiently outweigh the potential for harm that may come from the activity of journalism.

• We are mindful that our work may contain content that causes harm. We will carefully consider how we proceed to ensure that undue harm is not caused.
• We will avoid the gratuitous use of offensive, confronting, or harm-inducing sounds, imagery, or words.
• We will respect people's reasonable rights to privacy unless they are outweighed by the need to report on a matter of public importance.
• We will show sensitivity when dealing with children, victims of crime, or people who are especially vulnerable due, for example, to trauma, injury, illness, or other factors.

Engagement

Engagement with the public ensures that journalism remains open, accessible, collaborative, and participatory while keeping the journalist accountable to the highest standards of accuracy, independence, impartiality, and integrity.

• Our decisions on what work to do will be based on what is relevant and newsworthy to the community we serve.
• We will establish and maintain open communications with the community.
• We will seek input and ideas from the community before, during, and after completing our work.

Accountability

Accountability is essential to the ethical practice of journalism and the maintenance of the public trust. Being accountable for news-gathering practices and reporting means making firm commitments and taking responsibility for our journalism and the journalism of our peers.

• We will seek and carefully consider the feedback we receive from the community about our work.
• We will respond constructively to any complaints, particularly those related to matters raised in relation to these standards.
• Where errors or potentially incomplete or misleading information is found, corrections or clarifications will be made promptly, prominently, and transparently.
• Where no errors or incomplete or misleading information is found, our work will not be altered or removed in any material way in response to pressure from outside interests.

Comments or concerns about these principles and the newspaper’s performance in following them may be referred to the publisher at [email protected].