Editorial Standards, Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedure

In order to maintain a high quality experience for our readers, NewsNow operates a strict set of Editorial Standards, Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedure for publishers.

Editorial Standards

NewsNow expects all publishers to exercise due care and diligence before publishing articles, and therefore all articles must be subjected to editorial governance and moderation before publication.

The following good practices are required to be maintained by members of its Publisher Network:

1. Articles must be original, hosted on your own website, and not consist of text substantially copied, rehashed, plagiarised, adapted, aggregated, or syndicated from other sources. They must add value to NewsNow and be materially different from those that are already on NewsNow.
2. All articles must be proof-read, fact-checked and assessed for overall suitability prior to publication. On sites with more than one writer, there must be appointed editor(s) responsible for so doing. Articles must never be directly or automatically generated from user content.
3. Articles must conform to high standards of spelling, grammar, punctuation and prose.
4. Articles must be accurate and well-researched. Claims must be substantiated, and all quotes attributed to their sources. We strongly encourage you to reference publicly available online sources in your articles using links, including inline links, and to reference offline sources with sufficient information to allow readers to verify your claims. Rumours, speculation or supposition must not be presented as statements of fact.
5. Articles must be substantial. Articles must be longer than one hundred and fifty (150) words, excluding quotes from other sources.
6. Articles must feature relevant headlines, which must be factually accurate and not sensational or misleading.
7. Content must refrain from sectarian, racist, defamatory or libellous language; hate speech; excessive or inappropriate profanity or insulting language. It must abide by the laws of England and Wales, or any other relevant jurisdiction.
8. Additional good practices may be required to be maintained by members publishing content in particular subject areas.

Code of Conduct

The following practices are forbidden:

1. Attempting to manipulate in which sections of NewsNow links to your articles will appear, the ranking of articles within our Top Stories, or otherwise attempting to manipulate our systems.
2. Republishing articles on more than one URL, which results in duplication. If you need to re-publish an article with another headline, you must republish the article on the same URL. If you cannot do this, you must contact us first to have the original headline and URL deleted. Only after the original has been deleted may you republish the article under a new URL. Republishing may be considered an attempt to manipulate our systems.
3. Once its position has been agreed, it is not permitted to remove, move or alter the NewsNow logo without our prior agreement.
4. Publishing off-topic articles, including but not limited to competitions, offers or discounts, updates about one‘s own website, poll-setting, or any advertorial.
5. Publishing articles displaying nothing more than a link to/excerpt of/screenshot of content published on another site.
6. Publishing photo galleries/other images/multimedia with no substantial editorial around it.
7. Any action or activity that in our sole judgement may affect the perceived quality or integrity of NewsNow‘s services or that risks bringing NewsNow or its services into disrepute.

Disciplinary Procedure

NewsNow aims to provide the highest possible quality service, and we need to be able to maintain an environment suitable for all. We therefore endeavour to investigate all serious issues or complaints that are brought to our attention, and to take appropriate action.

Where we are able to verify breaches of our Editorial Standards or Code of Conduct by a publication, we will request a written explanation from the publisher. Where a publisher cannot provide a satisfactory explanation, sanctions will be applied. Depending on the severity of the breach, sanctions may include: written warning, temporary suspension, re-classification (determining in which feeds your headlines will appear) and permanent removal. Temporary sanctions may be applied pending a response from the publisher.

For serious or persistent breaches, we normally operate a “three strikes and you‘re out” policy. A first strike results in a two-week suspension, a second in a one-month suspension and a third in permanent removal from NewsNow.

For very serious breaches or for gross misconduct, we reserve the right to remove a site permanently and without notice.

NewsNow needs to maintain a high quality service at all times. Where a breach creates an immediate quality of service concern, please understand that we reserve the right to temporarily suspend a site without notice until the matter has been resolved.

NewsNow reserves the right to amend or improve its Editorial Standards, Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedure at any time without notice.