Last updated: October 2026
This code binds everyone who writes, edits or commissions for AI Briefing News, including freelance contributors. It sits alongside our Editorial Guidelines: those govern how we report, this governs how we behave.
Independence
No advertiser, sponsor, partner or investor receives favourable coverage, advance notice of coverage, or the right to review a story before publication. No commercial relationship confers editorial influence.
Where a company we cover has a commercial relationship with us, the story says so.
Conflicts of interest
Staff and contributors disclose to the editor any financial holding, employment history, advisory role, family relationship or personal connection to a company or individual they are asked to cover.
Where a conflict is material, we reassign the story. Where it is minor but relevant, we disclose it in the piece.
Nobody covers a company in which they hold a direct financial position. Index funds and diversified holdings are exempt; individual stock, token or equity positions are not.
Gifts, hospitality and travel
We do not accept gifts of value, paid travel, accommodation or event hospitality from companies we cover. Where attending an event is editorially necessary, we pay our own way.
Review hardware and software licences are returned, cancelled or paid for once the review is finished, and their provenance is disclosed in the piece.
Sources
We protect the identity of confidential sources. Where someone asks to speak confidentially, we agree the terms before they share anything, and we keep to them.
We do not solicit information a source is legally or contractually barred from providing.
We prefer named sources, and when we grant anonymity we explain to readers why it was necessary.
Fairness to the people we cover
We give organisations and individuals facing material criticism a genuine opportunity to respond before publication, and we record whether they responded.
We do not misrepresent who we are when reporting. We do not publish private information about individuals without a clear public interest in doing so.
Plagiarism and credit
Passing off another publication's work, phrasing or reporting as our own is grounds for removal from the masthead.
When another outlet broke a story we are following, we say so and link to them.
Accuracy over speed
We would rather be second and right. No story publishes to beat a competitor while verification is incomplete.
Where we publish while a situation is still developing, we say plainly what is confirmed and what is not, and we update with dated notes as it becomes clearer.
Social media
Staff posting publicly about subjects we cover are held to the same standards of accuracy and fairness as in published work.
Staff do not take public positions that would compromise their ability to report fairly on a subject they cover.
Raising a concern
If you believe this code has been breached — whether you are a reader, a source, or someone we have written about — contact us through our Contact page and describe what happened. You will receive a substantive reply, not an acknowledgement.
Serious breaches result in correction, retraction, and where warranted, the removal of the contributor responsible.