Editorial Policy & Standards
The Trend Spotter has a strict, ongoing commitment to ensuring all editorial news content published is factually accurate, balanced, ethical, and well-researched.
Independence, Accuracy, and Clarity
As a consumer-centric publication, The Trend Spotter’s editorial independence and integrity are critical to our operation. The Digital Editor ensures standards are upheld and holds editorial power in content delivery.
Additionally, The Trend Spotter has a duty to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information are accurate according to the recognized standards of objective journalism. Our editorial standards require that reasonable efforts must be made to ensure accuracy in all fact-based content.
Standards:
1. The Trend Spotter ensures that factual material in news reports and elsewhere is accurate, not misleading, and distinguishable from other material, such as opinions.
2. The Trend Spotter provides a correction or other adequate remedial action if published material is significantly inaccurate or misleading.
Fairness and Balance
The Trend Spotter has a duty to ensure that the gathering and distribution of news and information are impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism. Impartiality does not require that every perspective receives equal coverage nor that every facet of every argument is presented.
Standards:
3. The Trend Spotter ensures that factual material is presented with reasonable fairness and balance and that writers’ expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts.
4. The Trend Spotter ensures that where material refers adversely to a person, a fair opportunity is given for subsequent publication of a reply if that is reasonably necessary to address a possible breach of General Principle 3.
Privacy and Avoidance of Harm
Privacy is necessary for human dignity, and every person reasonably expects their privacy to be respected. The Trend Spotter respects this right and recognizes the responsibility for protecting privacy and preventing harm
Standards:
5. The Trend Spotter avoids intruding on a person’s reasonable expectations of privacy unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest.
6. The Trend Spotter avoids causing or contributing materially to substantial offense, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest.
Integrity and Transparency
The Trend Spotter recognizes that integrity and transparency are essential to maintaining trust with audiences and those who participate in or are otherwise directly affected by our content. We commit to avoiding misleading material and maintain a duty to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information is impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism. When conflicts of interest may arise, The Trend Spotter will ensure they are adequately disclosed and do not influence published material.
Standards:
9. The Trend Spotter avoids publishing material that has been gathered by deceptive or unfair means unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest.
10. The Trend Spotter ensures that conflicts of interest are avoided or adequately disclosed and do not influence published material.
