Candid.Technology has followed a strict ethics code since its launch in 2018, which ensures that we maintain our editorial independence and integrity while writing objectively, without favour or fear.
We write for our readers, not the PR firms. Our readers’ trust is of utmost importance, and our editorial policy will allow them to understand our ethical guidelines and judge for themselves whether they can trust us.
We uphold the values of journalism, and each of our editorial staff is required to follow our ethics policy.
Ethics Statement
While we don’t publish personal attacks against anyone, Candid.Technology is often critical of the people and companies we cover, including stories that the said parties would prefer to stay out of media coverage.
Reporting news objectively, without bias, fear or favour, is at the core of Candid.Technology’s editorial guidelines and code of conduct, allowing us to preserve our editorial independence and tell things as they are.
The reporters of Candid.Technology are expected to act with integrity and abide by ethical guidelines for reporting, which means they report honestly, minimise harm, protect their sources, and strive for accuracy in everything published.
We do not accept PR requests for preconditions of coverage that would require us to state certain things in our story or delay the coverage. We don’t allow people or companies who’re the subject of our coverage to pre-approve questions for an interview or review our story before it’s published.
Candid.Technology doesn’t accept material things of value from companies or their representative PR firms, including paid trips, gifts, meals, discounted services, lodging and transportation.
We strive for accuracy in our reportage, which goes through a rigorous vetting process. We verify the information and always dig deep to find the source of the news. If we aren’t sure about something, you won’t see it on our website, Youtube channels, and social presence across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin.
Reporters who have a personal conflict with a company or a person aren’t allowed to do a story on them to avoid bias.
Reporting and Sourcing
By default, any communications professionals and people in a professional capacity speaking to reporters or editors at Candid.Technology will be on the record. However, we’ll still strive to protect your confidentiality when appropriate and, at our discretion, honour requests to be on background.
For clarification, if we go on background for a story, that doesn’t become the default for future conversations. The same applies to going off the record. Also, if you’d like to go on background or off the record with us, you’ve got to provide us with specific reasons every single time.
Going on background or off the record requires prior agreement. Anything sent to us without any such agreement will be on the record.
Here is what communication professionals and anyone else talking to us in a professional capacity need to know about how we define ‘on the record’, ‘off the record’ and ‘on background’.
On the record
As mentioned above, anyone talking to reporters and editors of Candid.Technology in a professional capacity is by default on the record.
Being on the record means that we keep a record of things you tell us, report them and attribute the quotes to you. If you do not wish to be on the record, you’ll have to tell us why every time.
Off the record
Off the record is an agreement between you and Candid.Technology. If we accept your request to go off the record, it doesn’t become the default standard for future communications. If we don’t agree, you’re on the record.
Going off the record means we won’t report anything you tell us unless we can source it otherwise.
On background
Similar to going off the record, on background is an agreement between you and Candid.Technology. If we accept your request to go on background, it doesn’t become the default standard for future communications. If we do not agree, you’re on the record.
Going on background means that anything you say won’t be specifically attributed to you, and we’ll instead use descriptors such as ‘a company spokesperson’.
You cannot email statements to reporters or editors of Candid.Technology marked as ‘on background’ and expect us to treat it as if it is on background or tell us how to attribute a statement.
In their official capacity, corporate communications professionals won’t be attributed as ‘a source familiar’.
Corrections
Although we strive for 100% accuracy in our reports, we may sometimes get something wrong. If we find a mistake in our story or one is pointed out by a reader, we’ll issue corrections alongwith a notice explaining the error and remove the inaccurate information from the article.
If updates about a story we’ve covered become available, including statements from the concerned parties, we’ll update the original story. However, these aren’t seen as corrections. We’ll indicate these changes in a notice.
Both these notices can be found at the bottom of the articles. We may also remove content that violates a law or infringes on someone else’s intellectual property.
Reviews
As mentioned above, our reviews will always be honest, objective and in the readers’ or viewers’ interest. Our Editorial team doesn’t accept payments to review a product.
However, we accept review units from companies, which are typically loaned to our editorial team for a limited period. These loans may be extended if we need to evaluate a product over a longer-term. We may accept an embargo from the company or their representative PR firms if they loan us the product before its release.
Advertisement Policy
We enforce a strict distance between our Editorial and Advertisement content, both of which follow their own set of guidelines and are independent of one another.
Any feature article sponsored by a brand is clearly marked as “Sponsored Content”. The content produced by our advertising partners or in association with them doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of Candid.Technology or our editorial team.
As mentioned above, our editorial team doesn’t accept gifts or any other form of material or monetary compensation as an incentive to write a story, including reviews.
Some of our Editorial articles may be supported by sponsors, and that will be clearly marked in the respective articles with “Powered/Presented/Brought to you” by “the advertiser’s name”. While these sponsors may choose the article they want to support, they don’t control our editorial team’s content.
Some of our content, especially gadget lists, may contain marketing links, which earn us a small commission for purchases made through those links. These affiliate links don’t influence the integrity of our editorial team or the content they produce. You’ll find an affiliate link disclosure in any of our articles that contain such links.
Partnership and Collaborations
Candid.Technology may also engage in partnerships with other publications, brands and businesses, which resonate with our policies. These partnerships or collaborations won’t impact our editorial independence or the integrity of the content produced by our editorial team. These will be marked as “Partner Content” alongwith a notice to disclose our relationship with the said partner and our editorial’s involvement in creating the content.
Copyright (DMCA)
We take immediate action when we receive proper notice of alleged copyright infringement that complies with DMCA. If a person or organisation believes we’ve infringed upon their intellectual property right and have published something that originally belongs to them without explicit permission or credit, we’ll either take down the content after vetting the request or give due credit — as agreed between both parties.
You can send an email to editorial@candid.technology if you've feedback or questions about our editorial policy, You can contact our advertisement team here: advertisement@candid.technology.