Ethics Policy

Good journalism depends on more than getting the facts right. It depends on the integrity of the people gathering them and the institution that publishes them. This ethics policy sets out the standards of conduct we expect of everyone who reports, edits, or contributes to Cubed News. It works alongside our editorial policy, which governs how articles are produced, and our fact-checking policy, which governs how claims are verified.

These principles are not aspirational slogans. They are the operating rules of the newsroom, and breaching them is a serious matter. We publish them so that readers know what to expect — and so that they can tell us when we fall short.

Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest arises whenever a personal, financial, political, or professional interest could reasonably be seen to compromise the impartiality of someone’s work. Our standard is not merely to avoid actual bias but to avoid the reasonable appearance of it, because trust depends on perception as well as reality.

Editors and contributors are expected to disclose to their desk any interest that could bear on a story they are working on — a financial holding in a company they would be covering, a close personal relationship with a subject, prior paid work for an organisation in question, or active partisan involvement in a matter at hand. Where a genuine conflict exists, the usual remedy is reassignment: someone else covers the story. Where a relevant interest is unavoidable but the coverage still has value, we disclose it to readers within the article so they can weigh it themselves.

We do not allow members of the newsroom to report on matters in which they, or their immediate family, stand to gain or lose financially from how the story is told. The credibility of the byline is worth more than any single piece.

Gifts, Hospitality, and Inducements

Our journalists do not accept gifts, payments, favours, or hospitality that could be intended, or reasonably perceived, to influence coverage. Tokens of negligible value aside, anything of consequence offered by a source, subject, advertiser, or interested party is declined or returned. We do not accept paid trips, lavish entertainment, or free products in exchange for — or with the expectation of — favourable treatment.

Where access to an event, a product, or a location is a legitimate part of reporting and is provided by an organisation involved in the story, the fact of that access is disclosed to readers so they can factor it in. The principle is simple: nothing a source gives us should be able to buy a sentence.

Independence From Advertisers and Sponsors

Cubed News maintains a firm separation between its editorial operation and its commercial one. Advertisers, sponsors, and commercial partners have no influence over editorial decisions: not over what we cover, not over the angle we take, and not over the conclusions we reach. They receive no advance sight of unpublished editorial work and hold no veto over coverage that concerns them.

Commercial content is always clearly labelled and kept distinct from independent journalism, in line with our editorial policy. We will cover an advertiser critically when the facts warrant it, and the existence of a commercial relationship is never a reason to soften, delay, or suppress a legitimate story. If our independence on this point is ever in doubt, that is a failure we treat with the utmost seriousness.

Fairness and Accuracy

Fairness is a discipline, not a pose of false balance. We represent the facts and the relevant perspectives accurately and in proportion, without giving equal weight to claims that the evidence does not support. We do not distort a position by selective quotation, strip context to sharpen a narrative, or use loaded framing to do an argument’s work for it.

When our reporting makes a significant, critical allegation about an identifiable person or organisation, we make a genuine effort to put the substance to them and to reflect any response fairly. We distinguish clearly between fact, analysis, and opinion, so that readers always know which they are reading. And we treat the people in our stories — including those we scrutinise — with basic fairness and respect for their dignity and privacy, intruding only where there is a clear public interest in doing so.

Plagiarism and Originality

Passing off another’s work as one’s own is among the gravest breaches in journalism, and we do not tolerate it. Words, ideas, and reporting drawn from others are attributed. When we build on reporting first published elsewhere, we credit it. Fabrication — inventing facts, sources, quotations, or scenes — is likewise a firing-line offence and is incompatible with everything this publication stands for.

Accountability

Holding others to account obliges us to be accountable ourselves. We correct our mistakes openly and promptly under our corrections policy, rather than burying or denying them. We are transparent about our methods, our sourcing, and our use of technology, including the limited and disclosed ways we use AI tools, which are set out in our AI content policy.

If you believe a member of our newsroom has breached these standards — through an undisclosed conflict, an act of unfairness, or any other ethical lapse — we want to hear about it. Write to editorial@cubednews.com with the details. Concerns about factual errors specifically can go to corrections@cubednews.com. We read what readers send us, and we act on it. Accountability that cannot be invoked is not accountability at all.