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Editorial Policy

Effective Date: 15/05/2025

Website: offbeatstories.in

Publisher: OBS Media Private Limited

1. Purpose

This Editorial Policy explains how OffBeat Stories creates, reviews, updates, and publishes news content. Our goal is to provide accurate, timely, original, and trustworthy journalism that serves readers first. We publish content for people, not for manipulating search rankings.

2. Editorial Principles

We follow these core principles:

Accuracy: We verify facts before publication using reliable sources, official statements, documents, and direct reporting wherever possible.

Originality: We prioritize original reporting, firsthand information, interviews, on-ground coverage, and clear attribution when using third-party sources.

Fairness: We aim to present information in context and reflect relevant perspectives fairly.

Transparency: Every article should clearly identify the author, publication date, update date when applicable, and the publisher behind the content.

Accountability: When errors are identified, we correct them promptly and transparently.

3. Content Standards

We publish the following types of content:

  • Breaking news
  • Local, national, and international news
  • Politics, business, technology, health, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle
  • Explainers, analysis, fact checks, and opinion pieces

For all content, we require:

  1. Clear headlines that accurately reflect the article.
  2. Human editorial oversight before publication.
  3. Source-based reporting with proper attribution.
  4. No misleading claims, clickbait, or deceptive framing.
  5. No plagiarism, copied stories, or lightly rewritten aggregation.

Content must add value for readers and should not be created primarily to rank in search engines.

4. Author and Publisher Transparency

To maintain reader trust, every article should include:

  • Author name
  • Author bio or profile page
  • Publication name
  • Publisher/company details
  • Contact information
  • Published date
  • Updated date, where relevant

Author pages should explain the writer's role, experience, and coverage areas. Publisher pages should identify the company or editorial team responsible for the website. Google explicitly emphasizes transparency signals such as clear dates, bylines, author information, publisher information, and contact details for news sources.

5. Fact-Checking and Verification

Before publication, editors and writers should:

  • Confirm facts using trustworthy primary or secondary sources
  • Cross-check names, dates, quotes, figures, and locations
  • Distinguish confirmed information from developing reports
  • Label unverified claims clearly when reporting on breaking news
  • Attribute information to the original source

For sensitive topics, including public safety, elections, health, finance, or legal matters, we apply heightened review standards.

6. Corrections Policy

If an article contains a factual error, we will:

  • Correct it as quickly as possible
  • Update the article with accurate information
  • Add an editor's note where the correction is significant
  • Preserve the original publication date when appropriate and show the updated date

We do not silently change major factual claims.

7. Opinion, Analysis, and Sponsored Content

We clearly label content by type:

  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Explainer
  • Sponsored / Advertorial

Opinion content reflects the writer's views and must not be presented as straight news. Sponsored content must be clearly disclosed and must not mislead users.

8. AI and Automation Policy

We may use AI or automation tools to assist with tasks such as research support, formatting, transcription, summaries, or workflow efficiency. However:

  • AI-assisted content must be reviewed by a human editor before publication
  • We remain responsible for the final published content
  • We do not publish mass-produced low-value content
  • We do not use automation to create deceptive, thin, or search-manipulative pages

Google's guidance says AI-generated content is not automatically against policy, but scaled low-value content intended mainly to manipulate rankings can violate spam rules.

9. SEO and Search Integrity Policy

Our newsroom follows ethical SEO practices. We do not:

  • Publish spammy, thin, or misleading pages
  • Use keyword stuffing
  • Cloak content
  • Use hidden text or deceptive redirects
  • Republish third-party content merely to exploit ranking signals
  • Publish large volumes of low-value pages using automation
  • Host unrelated third-party content intended to benefit from our site's reputation

Google's spam policies specifically prohibit manipulative practices including scaled content abuse and site reputation abuse.

10. Article Page Requirements

Each article page should include:

  • A unique, descriptive headline
  • One canonical article URL
  • Visible author byline
  • Visible publication date
  • Visible update date where applicable
  • Main article text accessible to readers
  • Relevant images with proper rights or licenses
  • Internal links where useful
  • Category/topic classNameification
  • Related stories where relevant

Google recommends clear visible dates and structured date signals so it can better understand publication and update timing.

11. Structured Data and Technical Publishing Standards

To help search engines understand our journalism, we implement valid structured data where appropriate, including:

  • Article or NewsArticle
  • author
  • headline
  • datePublished
  • dateModified
  • image
  • publisher

We ensure that structured data matches the visible page content and is not misleading. Google recommends Article structured data for article pages and warns against spammy structured markup.

12. Paywalled or Subscriber Content

Where content is partially or fully paywalled:

  • We clearly disclose restricted access
  • We use appropriate paywall markup where relevant
  • We do not use misleading previews
  • Free and subscriber versions must be consistently represented

Google provides specific structured data guidance for paywalled content.

13. User Experience and Advertising Standards

We aim to provide a clean reading experience. We do not allow:

  • Excessive or disruptive ads
  • Pop-ups that block the main article
  • Misleading download buttons or deceptive UI
  • Auto-generated pages with little reader value

Ads and affiliate relationships must never influence editorial conclusions in straight news coverage.

14. Content Updates and Archiving

When major developments occur on an existing story, we may:

  • Update the article with new reporting
  • Change the timestamp where appropriate
  • Add a note describing what was updated
  • Publish a follow-up article if the development materially changes the story

Archived stories remain accessible unless legal, ethical, or safety reasons require removal.

15. Reader Feedback and Complaints

Readers may contact us to:

  • Report factual errors
  • Request corrections
  • Raise ethical concerns
  • Report copyright or legal issues

Editorial Contact: [email protected]

General Contact: [email protected]

Address: A-72, Amrapali Lakeview Tower, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad - 380054

Phone: +919081199972

We review legitimate complaints promptly and document major editorial corrections internally.

16. Compliance

This policy applies to:

  • Staff reporters
  • Editors
  • Freelance contributors
  • Columnists
  • Partner contributors
  • Sponsored content teams

Any violation of this policy may lead to content revision, removal, contributor warnings, or termination of publishing access.