Editorial: Credibility, Integrity and Transparency

This area provides transparent information about POPTOPIC News, its editorial processes and how POPTOPIC strives for creating trustworthy news. Moreover, it fulfils POPTOPIC’s commitment to Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance [MEAA] “Australia’s leading media and press accreditation alliance”. The staff at POPTOPIC are proud members of this alliance.

News Approval Process

Our sources can only submit news as a “proposal for publication”. As soon as the proposed news article is received, POPTOPIC News adopts several layers of controls to ensure the quality and accuracy of the news article. After these controls, if the news article abides to POPTOPIC’s policies and standards, the news article is published.

A. Controls before publication

STEP 1 – Automatic Limitations tool and Anti-plagiarism tool.
Initially, the proposed article is checked by:

  • We abide by Google’s Content Policy and reject the use of certain keywords and expressions within the content, as well as grammatical and simple syntax errors.
  • The Anti-plagiarism checks, which prevents the publishing of content copied from elsewhere on the Internet (including POPTOPIC’s own website). POPTOPIC accepts News from sources only original content not previously published in any other publication. Our team thoroughly checks to see if an article has been copy-pasted from other sources, or if the article has been taken from another website.

STEP 2 – First level control conducted by our Editorial Team.
The proposed article is then evaluated by a member of our staff, who can choose to either publish, correct, or reject the proposed article. When reviewing an article, our staff must ensure that (among other factors):

  • The content adheres to the Content Policy on Google News Publisher.
  • The sources cited in the article are correct, and that the article’s information is accurate and true.
  • The content does not violate any law, e.g. terrorism, pornography or other crimes.
  • The content is not promotional content nor advertising material; sources do not have the right to publish any such content.
  • The content is well written and well presented.

Our Editorial Team doesn’t impose their opinions on the content they verify.

Our editors may reject an article outright or send the article back for revision. If sent back, the editor must give the source full and complete feedback as to why the article was not approved in its first draft. An article can be revised up to three times before a final decision must be made – to either publish or reject the article.

Ethics Policy

POPTOPIC’s ethical code is based on the willingness of it being accurate, fair and complete, and for its contributors to act with honesty, transparency, and independence, including independence from conflicts of interest.

  • Truth and Accuracy
    Blasters are expected to be as accurate as possible. Getting facts from verifiable sources is the cardinal principle of journalism. POPTOPIC always strives for accuracy, provides all the relevant facts available, and ensures that they have been verified. POPTOPIC makes it clear when it cannot corroborate certain information.
  • Independence
    Blasters must be independent voices; S
  • POPTOPIC does not act, formally or informally, on behalf of special interests, whether political, corporate, or cultural. Independent fact-checking by other employees or actors is always involved in the publication process.
  • Fairness and Impartiality
    Most stories have at least two sides. While there is no obligation to present every side in every piece, stories are balanced and add context. Impartial reporting builds trust and confidence.
  • Humanity
    What Sausage Roll publishes or broadcasts may be offensive to some, but it is aware of the impact of its words and images on the lives of others. Private persons have privacy rights that must be balanced against the public interest in reporting information about them.
  • Accountability
    A sure sign of professionalism and responsible journalism is the ability to hold oneself accountable. Corrections are published when errors are discovered. Sausage Roll listens to the concerns of its audience.

Corrections Policy

POPTOPIC believes in transparency and honesty. Therefore, POPTOPIC will correct mistakes promptly. Fullness and freshness of information represent two inescapable values in the online journalism world, and Blasting News believes that accuracy is equally essential; we ensure expediency in making corrections when needed.

POPTOPIC is dedicated to informing its readers when it has made a mistake (however big or small), conveying the error’s severity, and providing the correct information as soon as the mistake is brought to attention.

When an error is detected within an article, POPTOPIC immediately works to find the correct information and clearly display the corrections wherever possible within the article. The corrections will include:

  1. The correct information.
  2. What was originally published that was incorrect.
  3. The date (and time, if available) when the change took place.
  4. The process to report errors from within articles is made easy to understand, by providing an email address and form to contact us at the beginning of each article.

Whenever errors cannot be amended within the body of an article’s content, corrections are displayed clearly in the last paragraph of the news content. Rather than remove completely the content containing a mistake, we provide clarification and admittance of our mistakes to preserve transparency.

Fact-Checking Policy

POPTOPIC commits to verifying all statistics and technical information by cross-checking with source documents and/or clearly stating the source of the information. This sometimes involves seeking the consultation of an external expert or the primary source of the information and providing them with any necessary information from the content in question for verification.

POPTOPIC prides itself on the validity of its content, and therefore does whatever it can to be sure that the information presented by its writers is accurate. As a well-known global publication, POPTOPIC understands the importance of approaching claims with scepticism, thinking critically, and upholding accuracy in whatever way possible.

POPTOPIC encourages its sources and contributors to keep in mind the following considerations when producing articles:

  • Credit, acknowledge, and verify the source(s) of your information.
  • Consider whether you know enough about the information to qualify as a trustable source.
  • Think critically when addressing claims.
  • Never make assumptions.

We trust our source’s and contributor’s integrity and the accuracy of the information provided in our publication. But in the case that a mistake is made, we recognize the importance of admitting to mistakes and diligently working to provide correct information whenever mistakes are made. Consequently, we encourage our readers, contributors, and their sources to provide us with feedback on any of our content.