The Edict’s Policies

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The Edict takes responsibility for all reportage and opinion articles written by its staff. All claims are fact-checked and edited for accuracy.

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The Edict does not take responsibility for the views expressed in any Guest Opinions (see Opinions page policies for more).

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The Edict reserves the right to edit and take a call on publishing a guest opinion piece (see Opinion page policies for more). Submission of articles to The Edict does not guarantee publication.

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There will be no political promotion of any kind in our reportage. The Edict, through our content or multimedia, will not express any support to student political collectives on campus or national political parties outside.

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The Edict is independent of Ashoka University’s administration and strives to practice ethical journalism that values transparency and accountability.

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The Edict is a politically impartial publication but will publish opinion pieces and illustrations that may align with a political ideology as they reflect their creators' views.

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The Edict is financially supported by generous donations from its alumni and occasional crowdfunding. It must be ensured that any financial investments in The Edict do not influence its journalism. Any business decision must not affect the quality of our journalism or compromise our ethics in any manner.

Code of Ethics

As a news organisation, The Edict follows ethical guidelines to inform our reportage and publication process. These guidelines inform our news coverage to seek the truth, be transparent, fair and hold power accountable. The guidelines are adapted from the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.

 

We cannot predict every situation that a reporter might have to face. Hence, this section is a living document that will be updated routinely with inputs and feedback from our Staff Writers and editors.

Ethical guidelines to be kept in mind while reporting

Our reporters and editors take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. They verify, fact-check and cite (when applicable) information before releasing it and use original sources whenever possible.

They include all facts of major significance to the story. Reporters must not leave out anything purposefully unless it poses a significant risk to the source. This should be communicated to the Department Editor.

If an assertion is made by a source about a specific person or organisation, our reporters should contact them and give a reasonable amount of time to respond before publication. The reporter and editor jointly decide the duration given to a source to respond.

Our reporters provide context for all news and take special care to not misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting, previewing or summarizing a story.

We distinguish between news advocacy and reporting. Our reporting must adhere to facts and present evidence.

Plagiarism (using other’s work as your own) and fabrication of material (invention of quotes and information) must be avoided. If found to be plagiarised or fabricated, the report will not be published. It is mandatory to cite sources and provide relevant links wherever applicable to aid in fact-checking and avoiding plagiarism.

If allegations of plagiarism and fabrication surface after an article is published, it will be confirmed by the Department Editors and the Managing Board. If the article is found to be plagiarised and fabricated, it will be rescinded.

We discourage our staff writers from using AI tools such as ChatGPT to write articles. If an article is found to be entirely written by ChatGPT, the writer will have to re-write it within short notice. While it is acceptable for AI tools to be used to refine your writing, the entire article cannot be AI-generated.

Treatment of sources

All information given to us by sources will be fact-checked, by the department editors for accuracy and certainty in reporting the facts.

In all published material, staff writers will refer to their sources by their full name and designation. Anonymity may be granted at the request of the source, under exceptional circumstances, only after consultation with the Department Editors with the Managing Board looped in. Reasons for anonymity must be explained in the article.

If another source who is willing to go on record for the same information is available, then they must be contacted and attributed in the report.

Interview policies

Before every interview, reporters must identify themselves as members of The Edict and clarify why we would want to hold an interview.

All interviews given to The Edict’s staffers must be voice-recorded. Reporters can also explain any rules they aim to establish for an interview. For instance, the option of follow-up questions and no requests of re-recording during the interview. The discussion of these rules and both parties’ agreements to abide by them can also be recorded.

No requests to re-record the interview during or after the interview will be entertained unless new information that can significantly change the direction of the story is found. If such a request is made during the interview, The Edict’s interviewers can politely reject re-recording.

The Edict differentiates between 4 types of interviews.

 

1. On the record: All information and quotations can be attributed to the source by their full name and designation (if applicable).

2. On background, or not for attribution: Information from the interview can be used but any statements provided by the source cannot be attributed to them using their full name. Instead, some other description that preserves the source’s confidentiality can be agreed upon by the source and the reporter. Examples include “a faculty member”; “a member of the Sports Ministry”.

3. Deep Background: The information can be used in reporting and published but without any quotes or attribution to anyone. In such cases, the information will be incorporated into the report through language such as, The Edict has learnt __.

4. Off the record: The information cannot be used for publication or in further reporting.

 

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Quotes Confirmation and Attribution Policy

All quotes in published reports will be attributed to the full name and designation of the source. No quotes will be rescinded from a published story after confirmation from the source.

In public events, such as Press conferences and Presidential Debates, when The Edict has already announced the terms of its coverage, quotes used in the story will not be confirmed. Everything that the candidates say in these events will be on the record, and we will announce this at the beginning of the event.

For some reports, The Edict can reference tweets from faculty and student accounts after confirming with the source. In such cases, The Edict can also embed the tweets into the published report.


Photojournalism policy

A picture, that reveals the identity of a student or faculty member, will be confirmed by the student/faculty member before publication. Pictures that do not reveal any student’s identity are preferred for most news/newsdesk reports. Every photo used in a published report or on social media will be attributed to the full name of the journalist. The caption must not distort or change the meaning of the image in any way. A single-line description of the image is used in most cases. Stock images used in graphics must be attributed to the source (site of publication) and the photographer in the caption.

Corrections to a published story

Corrections to a published story can be informed to The Edict through email. In such cases, the reporter can inform the department editor and the Managing Board, who along with the reporter, will confirm whether the correction is true. To determine whether a correction is warranted, the reporter and editors can reach out to the sources, reexamine interview records and the background information. If the correction is found to be true, the published story on the website will be corrected and an update with an apology will be issued promptly.

Conflict of interest

Staff Writers of the news and newsdesk department may not participate in any wing of the Student Government or stand for elections. If they wish to do so, they will have to tender their resignation or request for a transfer to the Opinions Department of The Edict.

Staff Writers of the Opinions Department can participate in the Student Government elections or anybody associated with the Student Government. But this has to be informed to and cleared by the Managing Board. To clear this decision, the Managing Board and the concerned writer must agree that the minimum number of articles to be published in a semester will not be relaxed.

The Edict does not impose any restrictions on its columnists and guest opinion writers in terms of their involvement in clubs and societies, political collectives on campus or the Student Government.

Staff writers from News and Newsdesk or Edictorial Board members who are involved in the coverage of a certain issue cannot write an opinion piece on the same issue. They can, however, write on any other news issue. The separation between news reportage and opinions is complete. Both departments have separate policies that are to be followed.

Comment Policy

This section refers to the comments on The Edict’s website, Instagram and Twitter (X) pages. Comments that personally attack any of The Edict’s staff or sources mentioned in the report will be removed. This includes any curse words via special characters, spacing or other methods.
Readers are welcome to disagree with an opinion piece but name-calling and threats will not be tolerated.

Removal of articles from The Edict’s website

Under no circumstances will any published article be rescinded from the website. An article can only be taken down if it causes any significant physical, mental and emotional harm to any parties or sources. In cases of any factually inaccurate information, a correction to the article will be issued but it will not be removed from the website.​