Skip to main content

Terms of Use

Last updated on March 31, 2022

These terms and conditions govern your use of the Chalkbeat website, offered by Chalkbeat Inc. (“Chalkbeat”, “us”, “our” or “we”).  These Terms of Use (this “Agreement”) constitute a legal agreement between you and Chalkbeat. The content on our site is delivered by Chorus, a product of Vox Media, and their interaction with you is described in these Terms of Use and Privacy Notice.

TOU Sidebar
  1. GENERAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS
  2. CONTENT ON THE SERVICES
  3. REPUBLISHING OUR CONTENT
  4. USER GENERATED CONTENT
  5. USE OF THE SERVICES
  6. THIRD PARTY WEBSITES, SERVICES, AND SOFTWARE
  7. DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
  8. PRIVACY POLICY
  9. COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN CHALKBEAT AND USERS
  10. MISCELLANEOUS

GENERAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS

1.1 If you choose to use Chalkbeat.org (the “Site”), including any of the features of the Site, whether provided by Chalkbeat or a third party (collectively, the “Services”), you will be agreeing to abide by all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement and these Terms will remain in effect while you use the Services. This Agreement includes the provisions in this document as well as those in the Privacy Policy.

1.2 We may change, add or remove portions of this Agreement at any time, which shall become effective immediately upon posting. It is your responsibility to review this Agreement prior to each use of the Site and by continuing to use the Site, you agree to any changes. If any of these rules or any future changes are unacceptable to you, you must stop using the Site. If you use the Site in any way after a change to the Agreement is effective, that means you agree to all of the changes. Except for changes by us as described here, no other amendment or modification of this Agreement will be effective unless in writing and signed by both you and us.

1.3 We may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Services at any time, including the availability of any Services feature, database or content. We may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability.

Back to Top

CONTENT ON THE SERVICES

2.1 All materials published on or through the Services (including, but not limited to news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, also known as the “Content”) are protected by copyright, and owned by Chalkbeat or licensed to Chalkbeat by the party credited as the provider of the Content.

2.2 You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed on or through the Services.

2.3 The Services and the Content are protected by copyright pursuant to U.S. and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Services (including software) in whole or in part, except as provided in Section 3.1 of this Agreement. The Site may allow you to copy or download certain Content, but please remember that even where these functionalities exist, all the restrictions in this Agreement still apply.

Back to top

REPUBLISHING OUR CONTENT

3.1 Content consisting of stories may be republished using Chalkbeat’s republish button that appears in each of our stories’ share toolbars, as long as you abide by the following rules:

  1. Please only edit our story to reflect references to time (e.g. “today” to “yesterday”), location (e.g. “New York” to “here”) or editorial style.
  2. If you publish our story online, please include all of the story’s links.
  3. Please publish the author’s name using the following format: by Sarah Darville, Chalkbeat New York. Please also link back to our home page, https://www.chalkbeat.org, in that credit line.
  4. If you’re republishing our Content online, you have to include our tracking tag. When you click the republish button and copy and paste the HTML code of our story into your CMS, it will include the tracking tag automatically. This tag allows us to know who is sharing our stories and how many page views the stories get.
  5. If you want to publish an excerpt of our story, you must still use the tracking tag built in to the republish function. Re-using our Content without the tracking tag is prohibited. You are always welcome to link to our Content!
  6. If you’d like to translate a story into another language, please contact us at mediarights@chalkbeat.org.
  7. Chalkbeat is not responsible for Content found on blogs, platforms, websites or other media that republish, reblog or repost Content by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat does not endorse blogs, websites, bloggers, journalists, or writers who reblog or repost works available on the Site. Chalkbeat does not compensate bloggers, journalists, or writers who reblog or repost our Content. Chalkbeat is not responsible for any mistranslations of our Content.
  8. Please note that Chalkbeat considers the publication date to be the date marked on the story.
  9. Please note that Chalkbeat does NOT allow republication of copyrighted material from other media organizations (e.g. material not owned by Chalkbeat or licensed to Chalkbeat pursuant to Section 4.5 of the Terms of Use). Republication of material from other media organizations requires separate permissions from them directly.

Back to top

USER GENERATED CONTENT

4.1 By making a submission on or through the Services (i.e., user-generated content) (a “Submission”), you are consenting to its display and publication on or through the Services and for related online and offline promotional uses.

4.2 You shall not upload, distribute or otherwise publish any Submission that is illegal, abusive, obscene, indecent, profane, threatening, defamatory, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, invasive of privacy or otherwise injurious to third parties, including other users of the Site. No Submission may consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings or any form of “spam”; and you may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of your Submission.

4.3 You represent, warrant and covenant that no Submission will (a) violate, plagiarize, or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy or other personal or proprietary rights; or (b) contain libelous or otherwise unlawful material.

4.4 You acknowledge that any Submission you make may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted and displayed by Chalkbeat, and you waive any rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you.

4.5 You agree that by making any Submission you grant Chalkbeat a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide and fully assignable and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, allow for republication, translate, edit, reformat, create derivative works from, distribute and display that Submission in any media now known or hereinafter developed.

4.6 You are solely responsible for the content of your Submissions. Chalkbeat does not and cannot review every Submission and is not responsible for the content of these messages.

Back to top

USE OF THE SERVICES

5.1 You may not access or use, or attempt to access or use, the Services to take any action that could harm us or a third party. You may not access parts of the Services to which you are not authorized. You may not attempt to circumvent any restriction or condition imposed on your use or access, or do anything that could disable or damage the functioning or appearance of the Services, including the presentation or display of advertising. Being exposed to advertising is a condition of accessing the Services.

5.2 The Services contain links to other related websites, resources, and advertisers. Since we are not responsible for the availability of these outside resources, or their contents, you should direct any concerns regarding any external link to such site.

Back to top

THIRD PARTY WEBSITES, SERVICES, AND SOFTWARE

6.1 Your use of any third party websites, content, data, information, applications, goods, services or materials (collectively, “Third Party Services”) does not constitute an endorsement by Chalkbeat, nor does it incur any obligation, responsibility or liability on our part. We do not verify, endorse, or have any responsibility for Third Party Services and any third party business practices (including, without limitation, their privacy policies), whether the Services’ or our logo and/or sponsorship identification is on the Third Party Services as part of a co-branding or promotional arrangement or otherwise. Accordingly, we encourage you to be aware when you leave the Services and to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each Third Party Service you use.

Back to top

DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

7.1 You hereby indemnify, defend and hold harmless Chalkbeat and all officers, directors, owners, agents, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all liability and costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by you of this Agreement or any false or misleading representation or warranty under this Agreement. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any such claim. Chalkbeat reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you.

7.2 Chalkbeat does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other information displayed, uploaded, or distributed on or through the Services by any user, information provider or any other person or entity. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any such opinion, advice, statement, memorandum, or information shall be at your sole risk. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, LOSS OR INJURY THAT RESULTS FROM YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICES OR YOUR BREACH OF ANY PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT. THE SERVICES AND ALL DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE ARE DISTRIBUTED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE OR WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

Back to top

PRIVACY POLICY

Our privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) is hereby incorporated by reference into this Agreement. The Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time at our discretion and changes will be effective upon our posting them to the Site. A copy of the Privacy Policy can be found here.

Back to top

COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN CHALKBEAT AND USERS

9.1 Chalkbeat reserves the right to send e-mail to you for the purpose of informing you of changes or additions to the Services.

9.2 Chalkbeat may contact you via e-mail regarding your participation in user surveys, asking for feedback on current Services or prospective products and services. This information will be used to improve the Services and better understand our users, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.

Back to top

MISCELLANEOUS

10.1 This Agreement contains the final and entire agreement between us regarding your use of the Services and supersedes all previous and contemporaneous oral or written agreements regarding your use of the Services. Our failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement against you or to respond to a breach by you shall not in any way waive our rights to subsequently enforce any provision of this Agreement against you.

10.2 This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with New York law. You may not assign, delegate or transfer these Terms or your rights or obligations hereunder, in any way (by operation of law or otherwise) without Chalkbeat’s prior written consent. We may transfer, assign, or delegate these Terms and our rights and obligations without consent.

10.3  At Chalkbeat’s sole discretion, it may require you to submit any disputes arising from this Agreement, including disputes arising from or concerning its interpretation, violation, invalidity, non-performance, or termination, to final and binding arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association applying New York law. YOU AGREE THAT BY USING THE SERVICES, YOU AND WE ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY. ANY ARBITRATION UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL TAKE PLACE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS; CLASS ARBITRATIONS AND CLASS ACTIONS ARE NOT PERMITTED AND, BY ENTERING INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU ARE GIVING UP THE ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION.

10.4 Correspondence regarding this Agreement should be sent to contact@chalkbeat.org.

10.5 If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide us the following information. Please be advised that to be effective, the Notice must include all of the following:

  1. a physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive copyright that is allegedly infringed;
  2. a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
  3. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site;
  4. your address, telephone number, and email address and all other information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you;
  5. a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  6. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Notices of claimed copyright infringement should be directed to:

By mail:

Chalkbeat Inc.
450 Seventh Ave, 32nd floor
NY, NY 10123

Attention:
Kendra Irving
Chief Financial Officer
(718) 930-9909

By email: kirving@chalkbeat.org

Back to top