Content Philosophy
GRV Media is committed to upholding high ethical standards. In the current media landscape we believe it is more important than ever to preserve humanity in journalism and to take a responsible and conscientious approach to ensuring our work does not inflict harm upon others.
Ethics
GRV Media follows the five core principles of ethical journalism, as outlined by the Ethical Journalism Network.
1. Truth & Accuracy
While we cannot guarantee ‘truth’, we will always endeavour to get our facts right and to strive for accuracy. When we cannot corroborate information we should say so.
2. Independence
Our writers do not act formally or informally on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or cultural. Editors should be made aware of any conflicts of interests and act accordingly.
3. Fairness & Impartiality
Articles should be balanced and add context.
4. Humanity
Journalists should do no harm. We should be aware of the impact our words can have on the lives of others. We should take special care and attention when reporting on sensitive issues or those that may cause upset. If we do not feel an article can be written without causing pain for others, we do not write that article.
5. Accountability
When we made mistakes, GRV Media will correct them and make a sincere expression of regret where that is appropriate. We listen to the concerns of our audience and provide remedies when we have been unfair.
GRV Media will not intrude on individuals’ right to privacy. We will tackle issues that involve grief with sensitivity. GRV Media will not speculate about causes of death and when reporting suicide will not give excessive detail about the method used.
Furthermore, GRV Media endeavours to follow the guidance given by The Society of Professional Journalists in their Code of Ethics.
Fact-checking
GRV Media takes pride in its editorial standards and to that end employs a sizeable team of editorial staff whose primary role within the company is to ensure the accuracy of the content that our writers produce.
To that end, GRV Media employs the following actions to prevent inaccurate or misleading content:
1. Writers must credit and link to the source of any information they are reporting.
2. Writers are told to question the validity of sources and to take care of information they are reporting, especially where it may touch upon a sensitive or controversial topic.
3. Writers are provided with guidance on which sources are and are not seen by GRV Media as credible.
4. Writers are expected not to write about topics when they feel they do not have sufficient knowledge to do so accurately.
5. Writers must clearly distinguish between opinion, conjecture and fact.
6. Editors review articles across our network and seek confirmation for any claims they feel may be inaccurate.
Where GRV Media finds it has published inaccurate or misleading information, we will respond swiftly to remedy the situation.
Clickbait
GRV Media stands strongly opposed to any form of click-baiting.
Our writers are provided with guidance to prevent sensationalism and the use of misleading headlines, and our editorial team are on hand to ensure these guidelines are met.
Where there are breaches, these are swiftly resolved through article editing or deletion and disciplinary action is taken against writers who intentionally employ clickbait.
GRV Media stresses the following guidelines to its writers.
1. Do not claim to be providing information in the headline, which is not present in the article.
2. Do not create intentionally misleading or cryptic headlines.
3. Do not pack headlines with keywords that are not relevant to the article.
4. If reporting rumour (from a legitimate and specified source) make clear in the headline that this is rumour and not fact.
5. Do not present speculation as fact.
6. Do not use sensationalist language in headlines (GRV Media provides a list of words that writers should not use).
Plagiarism
GRV Media takes a zero tolerance approach to plagiarism. Any writer who is found to have used the work of others without accreditation will immediately face disciplinary action.
Rumours, Speculation and Allegations
GRV will reach out to all parties involved in a story and, if a response is received, we will add the information to our story and update it.
In particular, our editors will meticulously review any content on the below themes before publication to ensure that quality, accuracy and fairness is provided.
1. Misleading Titles
2. Rude language and slang.
3. Law and lawsuits – including ongoing and past court cases.
4. Sex and nudity.
5. Sexual abuse, domestic abuse and any other form of abuse. If reporting rumour (from a legitimate and specified source) make clear in the headline that this is rumour and not fact.
6. Violence, crimes and gore.
7. Allegations and unproven claims.
8. Racism, transphobia, homophobia, bullying or hate-crimes.
9. War.
10. Anything else we deem may cause offence to a reader.
Embeds in Articles
All embeds should follow GRV’s guidelines, including those from social media.
We do not include tweets featuring swear words, nudity, violence and unproven accusations or wrongdoing etc. This rule applies to usernames.
Spoilers
For articles that contain spoilers, GRV will include a spoiler warning at the start of the article or at the earliest possible point before spoilers arrive.
Explicit Content
We do not cover anything that links to pornography, sex, nudity and general explicit content. We will not deal with any issue / theme / rumour / speculation / claim that is based on X-rated content in any way.
Corrections
GRV Media is committed to correcting mistakes promptly. We are responsive to feedback from readers and take concerns seriously.
Our editorial and management teams are charged with ensuring that any errors are swiftly identified and remedied. As well as taking editorial care prior to publication, our editorial team routinely audits articles, checking for any possible factual inaccuracies.
If you have a correction, suggestion or would like to talk to a member of staff about an article, please email here.