Editorial Policy

I. About this policy

News Decoder is a global educational news service for young people. Among other services, we regularly publish independent and original multimedia content on our site, www.news-decoder.com (the “site”), which is produced by News Decoder correspondents, students at our partner schools and guest contributors (“editorial content”).

This editorial policy establishes:

• Our revenue sources and how we retain our editorial independence;
• Our editorial standards;
• Our process for making corrections to our editorial content.

References in this policy to “we”, “us” or “our” refer to News Decoder and its legal entity, Nouvelles-Découvertes, a registered French non-profit.   

II. Editorial independence

News Decoder operates independent of commercial control and has no political agenda. We promote impartial, unbiased reporting and research into issues of global relevance. Our editorial priorities include politics and world affairs, the environment, economics, health, human rights, science and technology.

Our revenue derives from multiple sources, including school membership fees, donations, licensing arrangements and advertorial content. Sources of revenue do not influence or control the editorial content that we publish on our site. Without limiting the foregoing:

• Our membership agreement with schools stipulates that News Decoder, in its exclusive discretion, determines whether student content is published on our site.
• Our donors do not have any direct influence over our editorial content or organizational agenda.
• Our advertorial agreements with brands and their agents stipulate that brands and their agents have no say over the editorial content that we have published or will publish on our site. For further information on our advertorial content, please refer to our Advertorial Content Policy.

Nouvelles-Découvertes is overseen by a board of trustees and receives advice from an advisory committee. These volunteers provide organizational leadership without directly influencing our editorial content or agenda.

III. Editorial standards

With a worldwide audience and international outlook, we are sensitive to the complexities and diversity of the world and are aware that people can hold radically divergent perspectives on events and issues. We strive to ensure that our editorial content represents these different perspectives with balance, fairness and accuracy.

The young people who engage with us are not trained as journalists. It is our responsibility to ensure that they are fair and responsible in their research and reporting, and that they approach stories with humility, openness and tolerance. To that end:

• We instruct young people to consider multiple sides to issues in their research and reporting, and to remember that their content is read by a global audience.
• We direct young people to consult experts and resources that are authoritative, balanced and fair.
• We keep faculty interlocutors at our partner institutions fully informed as students’ articles move through our editing process, and we invite them to bring to our attention any issues that could threaten the safety or well-being of individuals or undermine their institution’s reputation.

Any advertorial content that we publish on our site is clearly differentiated from our editorial content in its style, labelling and placement and discloses the identity of the brand that paid for the content. We retain the right to edit and modify advertorial content to meet our publication standards and to not publish or remove any advertorial content that violates our publication standards. For further information on our advertorial content, please refer to our Advertorial Content Policy.

News Decoder takes responsibility for all content on its website. All content passes through an editing process that ensures it is professionally vetted from start to finish before it is published. News Decoder’s editors have many years of experience covering complicated, controversial stories and have zero tolerance for bias, inaccuracy or sensationalism. Any comments on stories are reviewed by a senior editor before they are published.

IV. Corrections

As soon as we are made aware of an error in our content, we review the statement in question. Any material corrections are noted online at the bottom of the article. The correction references the original error and provides the correct information and the date that the correction was made.

If you notice an error in something we have published, please send an email to nelson.graves@news-decoder.com with the subject line “Correction.”

V. Feedback

News Decoder invites feedback from the public on the values, issues and ideas covered in our journalism. If you have any questions, ideas or comments, please send them to info@news-decoder.com.

VI. Changes to this policy

This editorial policy may be amended at any time. Any changes we make to this policy will be posted on this page.

When we publish changes to this policy, we will revise the “last updated on” date at the bottom of this policy.

Last updated: April 21, 2021.