Terms of Service

The Kingfish Project — kingfish.la · Effective date: July 17, 2026

How to read these terms

Plain language: Every section starts with a short summary in everyday English. The summaries help you understand; the detailed text underneath is the official version.

Each section begins with a plain-language summary, written following the Federal Plain Language Guidelines and ISO 24495-1. Summaries aid understanding; if a summary is ever inconsistent with the full text beneath it, the full text controls.

The short version

Plain language: Read our journalism, share it, republish it with credit — that’s the point. Don’t break the site, don’t impersonate us, and if you’re sending us something sensitive, talk to us on a secure channel first. Louisiana law applies.

Agreement to these terms

Plain language: Using the site means you accept these terms. When we change them, we update the date, keep old versions, and announce anything significant.

These Terms of Service govern your use of kingfish.la and related services operated by The Kingfish Project (“we,” “us”). By using the site, you agree to these terms and to the policies they incorporate: our Privacy Policy, Security Policy, Corrections Policy, and Republishing Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the site.

When we change these terms, we will update the date above and preserve prior versions. If a change is material, we will announce it to newsletter subscribers before it takes effect. Continued use after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance.

Using the site

Plain language: The site is free to read, no account needed. Be 13 or older, don’t do anything illegal with it, don’t attack or overload it — though good-faith security research under our Security Policy is explicitly welcome.

You may use the site if you are at least 13 years old. Access to our journalism is free and requires no account.

You agree not to:

• use the site for any unlawful purpose;
• interfere with, disrupt, or degrade the site or the infrastructure serving it;
• circumvent access controls or probe systems, except as authorized by the safe harbor in our Security Policy, which we encourage;
• run automated access that ignores our published guidance (see Automated access below) or places unreasonable load on our infrastructure;
• impersonate The Kingfish Project, its journalists, or its contributors; or
• use the site to harass, defraud, or harm others.

Our content and your right to reuse it

Plain language: Our original journalism is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Republish it, adapt it, even commercially — just credit us, link back, link the license, and note any changes. Our name and logo aren’t part of the deal, and neither is material we got from someone else.

Unless a page states otherwise, original content we publish — articles, explainers, and reporting — is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). You may share, adapt, and republish it, including commercially, provided you:

• credit The Kingfish Project and the author;
• link to the original article;
• link to the CC BY 4.0 license; and
• indicate if you made changes.

What the license does not cover:

• The Kingfish Project name, logo, and other branding, which remain our marks and may not be used to imply endorsement.
• Third-party material appearing on the site — licensed photographs, embedded media, and quoted works — which belongs to its owners. Clearing rights to that material is your responsibility.
• Documents in our public archives. Government records are generally free of copyright, but check any per-document notes before reuse.

Our Republishing Policy has practical guidance and a suggested credit format.

Newsletters

Plain language: Newsletters are free; unsubscribe anytime. How we handle your email address lives in the Privacy Policy.

We offer free email newsletters. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email. Our collection and use of subscriber information, including engagement tracking, is described in our Privacy Policy. We may modify or discontinue any newsletter at our discretion.

Tips and submissions

Plain language: If you send us something, you still own it — but we can use it for journalism. We can’t promise to publish it, respond, or return it. And confidentiality isn’t automatic: if you need protection, reach us on a secure channel and agree on terms before you send anything identifying.

You retain any rights you hold in material you submit to us. By submitting material through any channel, you grant The Kingfish Project a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, publish, excerpt, adapt, and archive that material for journalistic purposes, in any format.

We are under no obligation to publish, respond to, or return submitted material.

These terms alone do not create a confidentiality agreement. If you need your identity or material protected, contact us through a secure channel first — our encrypted tip form or Signal, as described in our Privacy Policy — and reach an understanding before sending anything that identifies you. Do not submit malicious software.

Third-party content and links

Plain language: Embedded videos and outbound links belong to other people, run under their rules, and aren’t endorsements.

The site embeds media hosted by third-party platforms and links to external sites. That content is governed by its owners’ terms and privacy policies, we do not control it, and neither embedding nor linking implies endorsement.

Copyright complaints

Plain language: Think something on the site infringes your copyright? Email us with the details and we’ll review it promptly.

If you believe material on the site infringes your copyright, email [email protected] with: identification of the copyrighted work, the URL of the material at issue, your contact information, and a good-faith statement that the use is unauthorized. We review complaints promptly and remove or respond as appropriate.

Automated access

Plain language: Crawlers, indexers, and AI systems are welcome if they follow our published rules (robots.txt and llms.txt) and don’t hammer the servers. Reuse still requires CC BY 4.0 attribution.

We publish machine-readable access guidance in robots.txt and llms.txt. Automated access that respects that guidance and does not burden our infrastructure is permitted. Reuse of retrieved content remains subject to the CC BY 4.0 attribution requirements above.

Disclaimers

Plain language: We work hard to get things right and we correct ourselves publicly when we don’t. But the site is provided as-is: it’s journalism, not legal or professional advice, and we can’t guarantee it’s error-free or always online.

The site and its content are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, and uninterrupted availability. Our journalism is not legal, financial, or professional advice. Our accuracy practices and how we handle errors are described in our Corrections Policy.

Limitation of liability

Plain language: The site is free. If something goes wrong, our legal responsibility is capped at $100.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Kingfish Project, its staff, board, and contributors are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the site. Our total liability for any claim arising from these terms or the site is limited to one hundred dollars ($100).

Your responsibility

Plain language: If you misuse the site or break these terms and it gets us sued, that’s on you.

You agree to indemnify The Kingfish Project against claims, damages, and reasonable costs arising from your violation of these terms or your misuse of the site.

Governing law and disputes

Plain language: Louisiana law applies. If we have a real dispute, we each try to resolve it directly for 30 days first — and if that fails, it goes to court in Rapides Parish or the federal court in Alexandria.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before filing any claim, you and we agree to attempt informal resolution in good faith for thirty (30) days, beginning when one party notifies the other in writing.

Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally shall be brought exclusively in the state courts sitting in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, or the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Alexandria Division. Both parties consent to the jurisdiction and venue of those courts.

Miscellany

Plain language: Standard fine print: if one clause fails, the rest survive; these terms plus the linked policies are the whole agreement; not enforcing a term once doesn’t waive it.

If any provision of these terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. These terms, together with the policies incorporated by reference, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the site. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these terms; we may assign them in connection with a reorganization of the nonprofit.

Contact

Plain language: Questions? Email us.

[email protected] The Kingfish Project, 1924 Albert St, Alexandria, LA 71301