Editorial Standards

Introduction

Disswire.com is committed to ensuring our reporting remains of the highest standards of accuracy, enabling our writers, content curators, and contractors (hereafter referred to as content creators) to a attain a level of trustworthy journalism, and thus bringing quality news products to our audience. DissWire’s clear editorial standards have been created so that our readers can hold us accountable to them.

Unfortunately, many news websites have resorted creating headlines purely for clicks and visibility, which ultimately leads to inaccurate reporting. We know this type of journalism, if you can call it that, does not have longevity in retaining readership, therefore, DissWire expects its writers to build trust with our readers by reporting to the standards outlined in this document.

Accuracy

• DissWire is is committed to accurate reporting. We should investigate claims with direct skepticism; confirm information with experts on related subject matters were available; and verify all forms of content against source documents.
• If and when we publish inaccurate information, we should correct it immediately while explaining the error to our readers. Please refer to our corrections policy for more information on this.
• Sources: We directly reference and rely on original sources wherever possible. These include, but not limited to, documents, databases, authorities, witnesses, and experts.
• Sources from social media: We may use social media posts as original sources when referencing or quoting a statement. However, social media should not be relied on as factual information without full verification.

Transparency

• We disclose our writers’ involvement within any community they are reporting on.
• DissWire also discloses any unavoidable conflicts or other situational factors that may affect the credibility or judgment of our writers.
• We do not allow advertisers’ interests to affect our journalism’s integrity.
• Our writers are asked to disclose their interests in a company they report on.

Distinction between opinion and reporting

• We clearly distinguish between reporting and opinion piece
• When reporting does show the writer’s opinion, we clealry dislcose this at the top of the article.
• Articles with opinions are labeled and categorized within the Opinion section of our website.
• Our news articles are placed within other sections of our website, including Politics, US, World and Tech.

Corrections policy

• DissWire commits to informing our readers immediately when we have made an error in our reporting. The corrections of such errors are dealt with in the same manner outlined in those documents, whether small or large.
• We encourage all our writers to inform the editor immediately if they believe they have made an error, whether on an accuracy level or misleading information about a report.
• Our corrections appear at the bottom of the article unless we deem the nature of the article warrants the correction to be placed above the first paragraph.
• If a story cannot be fixed or resolved, DissWire will retract by placing the note at the beginning.

Attribution

• If we use news releases as sources, we will quote them with their exact words.
• When we use someone’s exact words, we will mark them with quotations and attribute them to the source.
• When citing an author’s previous work in a current story, we will note that DissWire had previously reported on it while linking to the article.
• Sources: When using references from other publications, we will attribute them by name with a link to the publication (if digital.)
• With regard to copyright infringement claims, we urge user to refer to our DMCA Policy

Privacy

• We reserve the right to report on anything publically displayed on social media and video-sharing platforms unless we are contacted by the content creator for correction or retraction.
• We use our editorial standards, as outlined in this document, when publishing material about private individuals thrust into the public eye and those for public individuals.
• We believe public officials, celebrities, and other public figures have no right to expect privacy when they post on social media or other platforms. Therefore, we reserve the right to publish news stories on such posts.
• We reserve the right to use our editorial judgment when deciding on newsworthiness concerning public decency when reporting information about celebrities and public officials.
• While we may voluntarily withhold information we have collected under our professional standards, we reserve the right to publish material later if we determine it is in the public interest.
• When we are ‘tipped off’ about a news story via our news tip section, we will use our verification process and other editorial means and methods to validate the content before we decide to publish. 

Syndication

We do not require publishers to ask our permission to use Disswire articles on their websites. However, content scraping and any other methods used to discredit, de-rank or harm our website will be dealt with accordingly through, but not limited to, our DMCA and copyright infringement process via our legal team. We also request publishers using our content to attribute DissWire as the original source by providing a link to the article.

If you wish to do something more collaborative with us or a cooperative news story, please get in touch on our contact page and make it for the editor’s attention.

Submissions

Writers wishing to pitch a story to DissWire can send submissions via contact[at]disswire.com. We require each request to be between 800 and 1,200 words. Below are the guidelines for article submissions:

• All pitches must use Associated Press style for copy
• Suggested and alternative headlines to be placed at the top
• A brief bio at the bottom of the article
• Clear structure
• Proofread for grammar mistakes and spelling errors
• Embed links to the relevant text
• Please link to credible sources when making a claim, especially when they are disputed