Rythmebeat.com’s purpose is to inform our community and others, to the best of our capabilities, about the Estrie region.  

 The staff of Rythmebeat.com published its first-ever issue in April of 2009 as The Stanstead Beat/le Rythme de Stanstead. What was meant to be printed as a one-time publication turned into a serious newspaper, quickly expanding to cover Quebec’s entire Estrie region. It is this area’s first and only bilingual newspaper of its kind. The Stanstead Beat was distributed as a free monthly newspaper until December 2009, when the focus was shifted online, to do their part for the environment as well as to enable them to serve a wider audience. The Stanstead Beat/le Rythme de Stanstead has since evolved into Rythmebeat.com to better reflect the geographical reach of the paper. Our writers bring you news, both past and present, from across the Regional County Municipalities of Coaticook, Le Granit, Le Haut-Saint-François, Le Val-Saint-François, Les Sources, Memphrémagog and Sherbrooke. As of summer 2010, the northern regions of Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire are also being heard from.

STANDARDS:

1. Investigate fully before transmitting any story or identifying any individual in a story where there is the slightest reason for doubt. When in doubt cut it out.
2. Cite competent authorities and sources as the origin of any information open to question. Have proof available for publication in the event of a denial.
3. Be impartial when handling any news affecting parties or matters in controversy. Give fair representation to all sides at issue.
4. Admit errors promptly, frankly. Public distrust of the media is fed by inaccuracy, carelessness, indifference to public sentiment, automatic cynicism about those in public life, perceived bias or unfairness and other sins suggesting arrogance.
5. Journalists can help overcome such public attitudes through scrupulous care for facts and unwavering dedication to fairness.
6. The power of news stories to injure can reach both the ordinary citizen and the corporate giant. Rythmebeat.com’s integrity and sensitivity demand that our staff respond sympathetically and quickly when an error has been made. It doesn’t matter whether the complaint comes from a timid citizen acting alone or from a powerful figure’s battery of lawyers.
7. Every story shown to be erroneous and involving a corrective must be drawn to the attention of supervisory staff.

ETHICS:

1. Rythmebeat.com’s policy is to pay its way. Our staff should not accept anything that might compromise our integrity or credibility.
2. Rythmebeat.com does not pay newsmakers for interviews, to take their pictures or to film or record them.
3. Our reporters do not misrepresent themselves to get a story. They always identify themselves as journalists.
4. IMPARTIALITY: Rythmebeat.com reports: parties in controversy, whether in politics or law or otherwise, receive fair consideration. Statements issued by conflicting interests merit equal prominence, whether combined in a single story or used at separate times.