Mark Memmott

Think about who's standing in line outside the governor's office and in what order.

Rather than jumping in, the media need to make sure they've done the reporting.

Doing so could raise questions about NPR's independence and impartiality.

They must be taken before offensive language is heard (and even if it's bleeped) on the air.

It's easy in a new year to misspeak about when something happened. Don't trust your memory and be specific.

There's no dispute: It's "dih-VY-sihv."

If we're not careful, we'll slide into piles of winter-related clichés. Let's not shovel them at the audience.

If we have something critical to say, we say it to their face – not on social media.

We didn't make the list this year.

This note is a reminder of practices we've long followed. While the steps make it necessary to build in more time, they help us avoid mistakes that can happen when we're in too much of a hurry.

Should you tell the world you hate mom's stuffing? Some things are best left untweeted.

Even just a word or two can make it seem like a person is guilty before they've been tried. And "murder" has a specific meaning.

If we could just cut down on name-related mistakes, we would make significant progress on the overall problem.

It's reminder time: Today is as important as any when it comes to protecting NPR's reputation as a trusted news source. All of us need to take great care on social media.

There's a question that's always good to ask in these cases. If you were that person, would you feel you'd been given a fair chance to either respond or decline to comment? The answer should be "yes."

Not only are they tired phrases, they're especially inappropriate when another mass shooting is in the news.

We do not need to add to the loaded language of the day or adopt the label that one side wants to pin on the other.

We should get every name right, and we shouldn't get one wrong more than once – especially a name that is one trusted click away from being checked.

Watch for training sessions about fact-checking and best practices. Hopefully they'll help in our effort to reduce the number of errors we make.

No one here wants to do anything that would raise questions about NPR's work – which brings us back to a topic we've addressed before. Social media.