Editorial Independence Charter

This charter sets out how the BreakingNews24hr demonstration newsroom intends to keep its editorial decisions independent. As this is a demo edition with fictional stories, it describes design intent rather than the practice of a registered organisation.

Editorial decisions belong to editors

What is covered, how it is framed and when it runs should be decided by editors on news value alone. Advertisers, sponsors, partners and political actors should have no say over coverage, and no advance sight of it.

Separating news from commercial content

• Any sponsored or partner material must be labelled clearly and kept visually distinct from reporting.
• Commercial teams do not assign, edit or approve stories.
• Gifts and hospitality that could affect judgement are declined.

Fairness and balance

Stories should give subjects a fair chance to respond before publication, represent serious competing views accurately, and avoid loaded language. Opinion and analysis are labelled so readers can tell them apart from straight reporting.

Conflicts of interest

Staff are expected to disclose financial or personal interests that touch a story, and to step back from it when the conflict is material. Disclosures that matter to readers should appear in the story itself.

Independence is not the absence of opinions. It is the absence of obligations that outrank the facts.

Holding ourselves to the charter

Readers who believe a story breaches these principles can write to [email protected]. This is the only contact route currently available in the demo edition, and there is no separate ombudsman function yet.

Taken together, these commitments are meant to make one thing obvious to readers: who decided what you are reading, and why. When that answer is ever unclear, the charter says the newsroom should explain it rather than leave it unexplained.