Updated as of January 1st, 2023

We trust that you will use your best judgment when publishing your content. These guidelines are designed to help you understand our expectations and suggest ways that will help you build your audience. To maintain a quality news site, edCircuit takes compliance with the Contributor Guidelines very seriously. Failure to follow the guidelines will be noted, and serious and/or repeated failure to follow the guidelines may result in the revocation of access to publishing on the platform.

Swimlane: You were brought aboard as an edCircuit contributor because of your demonstrated expertise in a discrete coverage area (we call them "Swimlanes").

Responsiveness: If you receive inquiries from a producer, editor, or other edCircuit representative regarding an issue with your content, you must respond promptly (by the end of the business day in the event of an urgent inquiry; within 24 hours for general questions).

Breaking News: Covering newsy topics is vitally important. edCircuit readers want to know what our expert contributors think about topics as they arise. You will likely be contacted routinely by your editor to chime in on news events where we think your insights will be of But what readers don't want our posts filled with unsubstantiated rumors, weak or non-existent reporting, posts based on unreliable sources (in the media or elsewhere) and/or posts that are simply looking to draft on the news/repeat others' reporting without adding anything to the conversation. If breaking news involves serious, traumatic, and or violent events like terrorism or mass shootings, do not write about these topics without first consulting with your editor. The editors observe posts like this and may remove them without warning based on our experience and judgment.

Attribution/Links: Readers like to review sources themselves. When you comment on a news article or blog post published elsewhere, you should credit the source and provide a link to that source.

• The purpose of a link is to cite a source for information or recommend and connect to a website, blog or online article, or social media mention that you feel you would be helpful to readers.
• When you link somewhere for perceived search or monetary benefits rather than usefulness or credit, you participate in a "link scheme." Link schemes are against edCircuit and Google guidelines. They are very simple for Google to detect and will adversely affect your website and edCircuit.com rankings in Google. We will immediately terminate our relationship with any contributor found to be participating in a "link scheme".

Conflicts of Interest: You must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest concerning topics covered in your content (our readers will expect this, and you may also be legally required to make these disclosures). This includes any financial interest in any product, firm, or commercial venture relating to your post's subject.

• If you submit content mentioning any business, individual, organization, entity, company, or financial instruments (a) in which you, your spouse, partner, or dependent child have any financial interest, (b) for which you serve or have served on the board of directors or in a similar capacity, (c) with which you, your spouse, partner, or dependent child have engaged in any commercial transactions related to the content, (d) with which you, your spouse, partner, or dependent child (or the employers thereof) compete, or (e) you are a member of or in any way affiliated with, you must fully disclose clearly and specifically your connection to the individual, organization, entity, company, or financial instrument in a disclaimer contained at the end of the content.
• You must not create content for self-promotion or trading on or profiting from that content and/or your association with edCircuit, or solicit or accept free or discounted goods or services. You must strictly adhere to all applicable securities laws.

Gifts: Gifts, tickets, press discounts, reimbursements, or other benefits exceeding $100 should not be accepted by individuals or organizations that are being covered and should be returned with a polite explanation of this policy.

Travel and entertainment: Free transportation, lodging, and meals should not be accepted from individuals or organizations that are being covered (a fair and reasonable press rate may be negotiated, however, with prior permission from an editor.) Press passes, free tickets, and review copies are permissible if approved by an editor in connection with a specific story. None of these may be exchanged for profit.

Copyright: You are responsible for obtaining the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions for edCircuit to use all content contained in your posts, including any photographs, images, and/or audio or visual material contained in them. It should go without saying, but plagiarism and failure to provide adequate attribution will not be tolerated. Also, note that all content posted on edCircuit.com must be original and not previously published elsewhere – even if it is your content (unless otherwise permitted by your editor).
Problematic Content: Controversial posts can be very successful, especially when thoroughly researched and explained well. However, some controversial posts are likely to offend or alienate your readers and, in severe cases, could expose you to potential legal liability. Posts/topics to avoid:

Images or videos that contain nudity or sexual activity

• "hate speech," i.e., content that promotes hate or violence towards groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity
• threats of violence; encouraging readers to engage in violent activity
• content that is unnecessarily shocking or graphic (ex: close-up images of gunshot wounds or accident scenes)
• confidential or private information (ex: someone else's credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, unlisted phone numbers, and driver's license numbers)
• impersonations of other people or organizations (well-executed satires can work, but only when readers aren't misled about your true identity
• posts that encourage readers to engage in dangerous or illegal activities
• posts designed just to drive traffic to your site or to move your site up in search listings
• links to sites where your readers can obtain unauthorized downloads of other people's copyrighted works
• posts that expose readers to viruses, pop-ups, unwanted software installations, or malicious code
• parody – in our experience, this rarely works and should be avoided

Fairness: edCircuit contributors should always strive to be fair in their writing and reporting. This means giving the subjects of negative stories a reasonable chance to comment; Staying away from reporting/passing along rumors; Requiring sources to go "on the record" whenever possible, especially when they are leveling damaging accusations against someone else; Using more than one source to verify a fact whenever possible; Understanding and revealing the motives of sources, especially those saying negative things about the subject of a story; Giving those charged with a crime or a civil accusation the benefit of saying the charge is "alleged" until they are convicted or had the charge proven against them in court. Bottom line: Treat the subjects of your stories the same way you'd want to be treated if someone was writing about you. However, in the quest for fairness, never read verbatim or email paragraphs, sentences, captions, or headlines from a story to a source or subject.

Press Releases and Embargoes: Press releases and other handout information can be useful reporting tools. However, contributors are expected not to re-publish press releases as reported copies. edCircuit contributors are often entrusted with news, photography, or other "embargoed information." In such cases, this information is not to be published until an agreed-upon time and date in the near future. Suppose another news agency breaks this embargo or there are other special circumstances in which a contributor believes it is in the public's best interest to disclose the information earlier. In that case, that contributor must get permission from their channel editor and/or producer. Industry press releases can be submitted via the site's submit a press release portion.

Identifying Yourself in Public: When dealing with sources or the media, you are welcome to say that you are writing a story for publication on com or that you are a regular contributor to edCircuit. Please do not present yourself in any way that might lead someone to believe you are an employee of edCircuit. Do not say you are an edCircuit reporter or a writer for edCircuit, or in any way try to gain credentials, permits, or event access by saying you are working for edCircuit without the express written permission of an edCircuit editor. Failure on any of these points will most likely result in severing our relationship with you and/or further legal action.

Media Inquiries: If you are contacted by a member of the media about one of your stories or asked to comment, please let your editor know—just as a matter of courtesy, so we're not blindsided. If you're asked to appear on a TV or radio show because of your work for edCircuit, please let our Media Relations department know at PR@edCircuit.com. They are more than happy to help you get the most out of the experience--and promote it across all our platforms.

Social Media: edCircuit recognizes your right to say what you want, when you want, in any way on your social media accounts. We only ask that you keep in mind that as a contributor to edCircuit, you carry the banner of our brand, which was built by many hundreds of people over nearly 100 years, and benefits all of us. We reserve the right to terminate our relationship with any contributor we feel is harming our brand or reputation through their social media presence. A good yardstick here is whether or not you'd say to someone's face what you're saying online--if not, you may want to rethink.

Legal Inquiries: As a contributor to edCircuit.com, you are an independent contractor and solely responsible for the content of your posts, including any and all legal costs that may result from legal claims related to your work which is distributed on edCircuit.com. That said, you should promptly inform your editor of any threats of litigation related to your work which is distributed on edCircuit.com.

Corrections: All requests for modifications received by edCircuit (usually via corrections@edCircuit.com) will be passed along to the contributor as quickly as possible so the contributor may assess whether or not a correction should be made. edCircuit staff may also independently work to verify the claim for a correction and may, at our discretion, update a post if we feel it is necessary. In addition, we ask that all contributors pass along requests for corrections to their work to their editor. All requests for corrections must be addressed within 24 hours of receipt (within the same day in the case of an urgent error_. (For more on correcting a post, see "Correcting a Post" in the Style section below). We trust you'll abide by these simple guidelines. Failure to do so may result in severing our relationship with you.

Danger Words: We strongly caution contributors against using words and phrases that unnecessarily attack or speculate about a person or company's character or reputation (i.e., bankruptcy, fraud, scam, went bust, alcoholic, addict, corrupt, criminal).