The Daily Beagle's Policies
Laying some ground rules
Any decent news outlet will have a policy. Here’s ours.
Typographical Errors
We will correct the article without notification for any typographical errors which negatively impact the messaging of the article, namely on the basis of speed and time (it is very time consuming to note every minor correction).
Although if there are any major mistakes, such as misplacement of content which changes the context, we will treat it as a fully-fledged correction and issue notice.
Errors In Reporting
Genuine mistakes in reporting do occur, including misunderstandings or references which are invalid or wrong which were not caught at the time.
Major errors will prompt a correction notice at the top of the page, especially if they radically change the context of the article in some way.
Minor errors that can be clarified with additional wording (either in brackets or with a localised italic message), will use additional wording to clarify.
Out-Of-Date Information
Given the sheer size and difficulty of the task to retroactively update articles with new information, articles will not be ‘updated’ to reflect new or current information, and are treated as “at time of writing” articles. Instead, the preference is to publish new and up-to-date articles instead.
Often, articles are written in advance to ensure consistent scheduling for readers, and thus by the time they’re published, the information may already be out-of-date.
That said, any article found to have information that is likely to mislead a sizeable audience with out-of-date information (when newer, more accurate information exists), will likely have a re-direct prompt to newer information appended to the top of the article. This won’t be the case for a majority of articles, however.
Right-Of-Reply
Organisations and individuals spoken about on this Substack have a right-of-reply, with a number of caveats:
Editor has final say on what is published
Responses published must comply with the Substack Terms of Service
Responses must comply with US and UK legislation
Must be of a reasonable size - small enough to fit an email newsletter plus any additional responses from The Daily Beagle
We will attempt to retain the full context of the reply where reasonably possible, although respondants may opt to host their reply externally as well. We would prefer externally hosted responses as it avoids the accusation of censorship by The Daily Beagle.
Commenting Policy
Most articles will have a comment section, however The Daily Beagle does not guarantee it will read all comments. Liking or replying does not imply endorsement, as we may like dissenting viewpoints for the openness of debate as well.
With the exception of paying subscriber articles of which only paying subscribers can comment on, or requirements made either by Substack themselves or the law, comments are made, where possible, available to free users.
The comment section does not operate on a free speech policy (namely due to limits with the Substack Terms of Service), but a professionalism policy: professional, decent responses. We encourage disagreement and dissent, but not hostility.
People who wish to speak freely are advised to use Gab.
Spammers, hostile/toxic posters, and those undermining this Substack will be appropriately banned. Due to lack of available resources for moderation, there is unlikely to be a warning. Paying subscribers will not be exempt from this policy.
Article Suggestions/Tips
Readers may suggest article topics in the comment section of any article, although there is no guarantee The Daily Beagle will see the comment, or have time to follow up.
We intentionally give higher priority to article requests/suggestions from paying subscribers, as this is how The Daily Beagle is supported. Paying subscribers will get their own dedicated article for writing suggestions, where The Daily Beagle will offer feedback on how the publication is doing.
Writers of original ideas (as opposed to conveying factual information) would need to release their idea under, at a minimum, a non-exclusive commercially compatible open source licence (even though Substack is a sort of donor model, it counts as a commercial enterprise legally).
We are happy to give name credit and linkbacks. We may not accept all ideas, and even if we show interest or accept, may later drop the idea due to time constraints, priorities, or concerns on visibility of association with certain organisations.
Suggestions can be offered to other outlets freely, any offerings to The Daily Beagle are assumed non-exclusive.
Conflict-Of-Interest
The Daily Beagle will attempt to highlight appropriate conflicts of interest in articles written. This does not necessarily mean financial (as The Daily Beagle is currently reader supported), but appropriate personal or viewpoint conflicts.
Obviously, we can’t list all possible conflicts of interest relating to views, so we endeavour to focus on the most relevant ones likely to skewer our own thinking for a given, specific article. This will be mentioned somewhere in the article, or, if missed, added to the top similar to a correction notice.
When quoting sources, we will sometimes attempt to shoehorn or nudge in the source’s own conflicts, which may or may not be relevant to the article, but still of interest to the reader, so they can make more informed choices on the sources they are reading. Due to article writing flow, it isn’t always possible to add these and may be omitted for flow and prose purposes (read: readability).
Citations/References
As a general rule of thumb, due to the fluid, easily-edited nature of Wikipedia, we will avoid quoting that as a source as much as possible, as often it will be retroactively changed to ‘not say’ whatever it was you quoted it as saying.
We avoid trying to discriminate on the basis of political standing when making references, so you will see a mixture of sources from a variety of outlets, both known and unknown. We will try to qualify the citation’s conflicts of interest where reasonable, with a priority to highlighting any government financed outlets.
We may not qualify all conflicts of references due to time constraints. We will also avoid picking dubious sites, unless they are the only source available, and if so, we will try to determine if that source is appropriate.
Rarely, The Daily Beagle will not be able to find a source for a given, known claim, for example, it has been buried due to search engine manipulation, or all known sources have been censored. The Daily Beagle will instead make the statement in good faith.
These policies are not final, as it is early days for The Daily Beagle, but we will publish new ones as time goes on.