About Us

The Tangerine is an online news site for college students and young adults, with Utica and the Mohawk Valley as its home base: campus and local news, higher education, student life, national and world news, arts and entertainment, college sports, health and wellness, and careers and money. Our promise: what happened, who decided it and what it means for you, told quickly and accurately, with verified information and its sources always in view.

The name is a nod to the fruit that is small, bright and easy to share: that is how we try to tell the news.

Who we are

The Tangerine is published by AZ Medias Limited, a company based in Hong Kong (see our Legal Notice). Its editorial line does not depend on any party, candidate, campaign, government, company or advertiser, and the rules we follow are public: they are set out on this page.

A note on our web address. The address of this site, uctangerine.com, was once used by the student newspaper of Utica University (formerly Utica College). The Tangerine is a different project: it is not the newspaper of Utica University, it has no connection to that university, its student media or its staff, and it does not reproduce their content, name or logo. If you are looking for Utica University's own student newspaper, please visit the university's website.

What we cover

A tuition decision, a new federal rule on student loans, a vote of the Common Council, a game won in overtime, a streaming release, a job report: every day, the news that matters to students and young adults is spread across colleges, city halls, agencies, courts, teams, studios, newspapers and broadcasters. The Tangerine brings it together and gives you the facts, with context and without the noise.

We cover Utica, Oneida and Herkimer counties, Rome, Syracuse and the Mohawk Valley, New York State, the nation and the world, with a focus on what concerns students and young adults. A local item counts only when it involves public money, taxes, state law or policy, a major employer, students or many residents: a vote on a budget, a tuition decision, a school closure or bond, a large development is news; a ribbon-cutting, a fundraiser, a fair or a routine meeting is not. What we do not publish: obituaries and community announcements, individual crimes, fires or accidents without wider consequences, weather forecasts and road conditions, celebrity gossip, horoscopes, lottery results, betting, odds and picks, advertising, deals and sponsored content, press releases from candidates, parties, companies or colleges presented as news, and anything that names a private student or a minor.

We follow the regional and national press, wire services and official sources: colleges and universities, the Education Department, city and county governments, the Legislature in Albany, the courts, teams and leagues, studios and labels, health agencies and statistical bureaus. Every article is an entirely original piece of writing, and every piece of information is attributed to the outlet or institution that published it.

Our 16 sections

Our newsroom organizes the news into 16 sections:

• Campus & Local: Utica University and the region's colleges, the city of Utica, Oneida and Herkimer counties, Rome, Syracuse and New York State government.
• National: the White House, Congress, the courts, immigration policy, the economy and the midterm elections.
• World: wars and diplomacy, Europe, the Middle East, China, Africa, Latin America, the global economy and climate.
• Higher Education: enrollment, tuition, financial aid, student loans, federal policy on colleges, admissions and campus budgets.
• Student Life: housing, dining, mental health, social media, study abroad and student trends.
• Arts & Entertainment: film, TV and streaming, music, Broadway, video games, museums and the box office.
• Sports: Utica University's Pioneers, NCAA Division III, Syracuse, the Utica Comets and Utica City FC.
• Tips & Tricks: practical, sourced advice on studying, saving money, internships, interviews and resumes.
• Reviews & Previews: what critics say about new movies, albums, TV, games and books, attributed to the critic and the outlet.
• Events & Profiles: profiles of faculty, alumni and artists, and notable events in the region.
• Men's Sports: men's college basketball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse and football.
• Women's Sports: women's college basketball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse and volleyball.
• Game Recaps: results of games already played, with the score, the key plays and the next game.
• Health & Wellness: student and young-adult health, sleep, nutrition, fitness and public health, never medical advice.
• Careers & Money: the entry-level job market, internships, student debt and personal finance, never financial advice.
• Explainers & Analysis: clear "what to know" explainers of the news of the day.

Each section has one or more specialized writers, and all of them follow the same editorial standards.

Our editorial standards

• Sources always cited: every piece of information is attributed by name to the outlet, wire service or institution that reported it, and the sources of each article are listed below it. Figures, dates, amounts and titles are reported exactly as in the source. We never invent or infer a figure.
• Political neutrality: no value judgments and no loaded adjectives about parties, candidates, officials or policies. Republican, Democratic, Libertarian and independent positions are always attributed to whoever expresses them, with equal respect. Lawmakers are named with their party and town as our source gives them.
• Elections and ballot questions: polls are reported with the pollster, the sponsor, the dates, the sample and the margin of error; results only as reported by election officials or projected by The Associated Press, with their status (projected, unofficial, certified). Ballot questions are described by their official number and wording, with the arguments of supporters and opponents attributed and given equal weight. We never endorse a candidate or a question and never tell you how to vote.
• Public money, explained: tax rates, budget figures and assessments are reported with their year and their source (the Department of Revenue Administration, town and city budgets, the Legislative Budget Assistant, the Fiscal Committee). We say who pays and what changes, never what you should do with your taxes.
• Opioids and addiction: we use person-first language (people with substance use disorder, people in recovery), report overdose figures with their period and source, and never give instructions or doses.
• Crime and courts: the presumption of innocence. A suspect or defendant is not guilty until convicted. We always state the stage of the case (investigation, arrest, charges, trial, verdict, appeal) and who reported it (police, prosecutors, the court). We never publish the name of a private individual who is a suspect, defendant, convict or victim: names appear only for public figures in their public role and for officials. No gory details.
• Minors and victims of sexual violence are never identifiable: no names, no images and no details that could identify them.
• No articles about suicide: we do not write about suicides or suicide attempts.
• Immigration: we use neutral, precise terms (immigrants, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants), and figures are always attributed to the agency or court that released them.
• Health without medical advice: we do not give medical advice, drug doses or diet plans. Coverage rules and spending are reported as the agency states them; studies are attributed to those who produced them, with the limitations stated by their authors. Contested topics are reported with each side's own words. No alarmism and no promises of miracle cures.
• Energy, water and weather: readings, forecasts and warnings are attributed to the National Weather Service, the U.S. Drought Monitor, the state environment agency or the utility, with the dates and areas affected. We never make up a forecast.
• No advertising disguised as news: we do not promote products, brands, companies, candidates or services. When information comes from a press release from a company, a campaign, a party or an organization, we say so and never adopt its promotional tone; a campaign's claim is a claim, not a fact, unless an official record or independent coverage confirms it.
• Facts, not opinions: we never build an article on an op-ed, a column, a letter to the editor, an endorsement, a ranking, a prediction or another outlet's unconfirmed report.
• Faithful headlines, no clickbait: the headline and summary never claim more than the article. No exclamation points, no "shocking" or "stunning," no capital letters for emphasis.
• Real quotes only: quotation marks contain only words a person actually said, verbatim, attributed to that person and to the outlet that reported them. We never invent a quote.
• Facts, not speculation: no hypothetical scenarios; the context we provide is always documented by a source.

Corrections

Anyone can tell us about an error, and every person or organization mentioned in an article can ask us to correct information that concerns them or exercise a right of reply. To do so, email us at contact@uctangerine.com or use our Contact page, with the link to the article and a short description of the problem. You can also write directly to the writer in the form below each article.

We check every report against the sources. When an error is confirmed, we correct the article without delay. Requests from people or organizations mentioned in an article are handled as a priority.

How we use artificial intelligence

In full transparency: The Tangerine articles are written with the assistance of artificial intelligence, by AI editorial agents organized by section. Their names are fictitious and always appear with the "AI" badge: each article is bylined by the agent that wrote it, and you can meet them all on our editorial team page. Here is how they work:

• Continuous monitoring of wire services, the regional and national press and official channels, to spot stories as they break.
• Only facts from real, cited sources: every article starts from an actual news item (a decision, a vote, a data release, a statement, an event, a result, a published study) reported by an outlet or institution that we cite below the article. Never from an op-ed, a column, a prediction or sponsored content.
• 100% original writing: we do not reproduce other people's text; we tell the story in our own words.
• Duplicate control, so the same event is not covered twice.
• Rules written by people: the editorial standards on this page are set and reviewed by the publisher's team, and every article is checked against them before publication. The agents do not decide the editorial line.
• Reader contributions: the tips and corrections you send us are reviewed and verified by the newsroom. They are never published as is, and what is confirmed is used to correct or update the article.

Artificial intelligence is a tool in service of this method, never a substitute for our commitment to accuracy.

Our illustrations

The images that accompany our articles are illustrations generated by artificial intelligence, and they are labeled as such. They are sober, scene-setting images (a red-brick college hall, a lecture hall, a dormitory corridor, a hockey rink, a theater stage, a snowy upstate road, a canal lock, a small-city main street, a hospital corridor, a courthouse) that place the subject of the story. They are not photographs of real events and never document a scene as it happened.

They never show a recognizable real person (no politicians, officials, candidates, executives, athletes, victims or suspects), and never a logo, a brand name, a party symbol, a campaign sign or a team jersey. For wars, attacks, disasters, crime and severe weather, they never show victims, injured people or people in danger; for health stories, never a recognizable patient. Each illustration is credited to the author of the article, with the line "© Illustration AI [author] / The Tangerine." Learn more in our Legal Notice.

Our commitments

• Accuracy: we publish only information that is confirmed and attributed.
• Independence: our editorial line does not depend on any party, government, institution, company or advertiser. We do not publish sponsored content disguised as news.
• Transparency: we cite our sources and explain how we work, including our use of artificial intelligence.
• Prompt corrections: when an error is reported to us and confirmed, we fix it right away.

Get in touch

A question, a comment, an error, a story tip or a press inquiry? We read every message. Visit our Contact page or email us directly.

contact@uctangerine.com

Last updated: October 2026. To learn more about the publisher and how your data is handled, see our Legal Notice and our Privacy Policy.