Ethics in Journalism

Technical.ly is a news organization that connects and challenges a community of technologists and entrepreneurs who are invested in where they live. We believe innovation can come from anyone anywhere to ensure all communities thrive — and have spent nearly 15 years growing a community of professionals doing just that. Our ethics and editorial policies are defined below.

About Technical.ly

Technical.ly is wholly owned by Technically Media Inc., earning its principal income from client services like employer brand marketing, custom and sponsored events and underwritten research. Technical.ly doesn’t have investments in other companies or projects nor does it have investors or financial backers.

Editorial Policy

Above all else, we value transparency. If we make any significant changes to a story, we’ll tell you. If there is a potential conflict of interest, we will disclose it. If content is sponsored, supported, or part of a previously agreed-upon partnership, we will disclose that relationship as defined in our Sponsored Content and Events policies on the piece of content in question.
We correct factually inaccurate information that we provide. If we report something incorrectly, we will correct it as soon as possible, in the published story with a time-stamped update notice on that article. When necessary for particularly important corrections, we will also share a correction via the same communication methods we use to promote all of our content.
Community journalism should be a conversation. If a reader emails, writes a blog post or otherwise responds with criticism, a request for clarification or a comment offering perspective on our coverage, we will do our best to respond in a timely manner.
Once we publish content, it will not be removed. As stated above, we will correct factually inaccurate information. In extremely rare situations in which a piece of content is entirely structured incorrectly, we may replace it with a note of clarification (to date, we have never had to do this).
Sources do not preview editorial content before it is published. We may ask for clarification of a quotation or figure, reference or number, or other wise follow up. That is different from our clearly-labeled Sponsored Content, which can be previewed by those who underwrite it.
We give credit. We will link to sources of a tip or story, and we expect others to do the same when Technical.ly is first to report.

Attribution Policy

Technical.ly reporters, like those at other news organizations, operate and gather information via on-the-record conversations. On-the-record conversations are quotable, attributable and intended for publication. If you aim to go off the record, or share information that cannot be published, that agreement should be discussed before entering a conversation with a reporter. We will not remove content and quotes of a conversation that happened during an on-the-record conversation from a published article.
We may sometimes engage in on-background conversations with sources, meaning we may report some of the information you’ve given us, but we won’t quote you or directly attribute it to you. We do this to get deeper background on a subject to report our beats more accurately, and always aim to verify on-background info with other sources. But this, too, is an agreement made between a reporter and a source before entering a conversation, and is done for good reason, like concerns for safety or job security. At times we may also use anonymous on-the-record sources for similar safety or security reasons.
As a rule, Technical.ly will only accept on-the-record, quotable, attributable statements and information from media relations professionals, as communicating with the press is a key part of their role. If they do not provide on-the-record statements or information, our coverage will acknowledge this.
Regarding Technical.ly-organized, invite-only roundtable discussions with sources, which we call “stakeholder meetings”: Unless otherwise stated, these occasional gatherings are considered on the record, meaning attendees may be quoted and named in any stories resulting from the meeting. Attendees will be made aware of this policy at the time of RSVP.
We hold these standards in order to promote the highest level of transparency for our readers, and to gain the clearest information possible from the companies, people and communities that we cover.

AI Policy

As a news org that covers innovation, experimentation is core to Technical.ly’s culture. We encourage our team to test ways AI-powered tools, like any other new technology, can help us connect with our community more effectively, efficiently and empathetically. Here are some guidelines we follow when using and publishing material made using this tech:

All AI generated material, no matter what kind or at what stage, is reviewed and edited by a human before publication. Nothing is ever published without a human in the loop.
When we publish material that has been created entirely by AI tools — most likely images or videos — we will always clearly disclose that to our audience.
We don’t feel generative AI is producing written material at a high enough level to meet our standard for published articles.
Technical.ly team members regularly use AI tools as part of our reporting and production process, feeding them original material for transcription, summarization, translation, rephrasing or other manipulation.
Some team members use AI tools so they can save time and do more impactful work, and to increase the accessibility of stories they publish.
Just like we have long used spell check without noting it, we do not feel the need to indicate when or where we use AI tools in this way.

Slack Code of Conduct

Technical.ly operates a public Slack for its community. Our code of conduct is a set of guidelines to ensure it remains a welcoming place, and reflects our journalistic values. Below is the text in full:

Founded in 2009, we’re a news organization serving a community of technologists and entrepreneurs and their supporters and hometowns. Our company values are to be welcoming, challenging and connective. That extends to our Slack, a space for our community to share the latest and meet others. We want to help facilitate connections and we’re dedicated to providing a safe and friendly community, which values contributions from everyone.

Technical.ly is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of our community members in any form. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Being in this Slack is a privilege, not a right. We’ll happily boot you off if you’re being a jerk. Treat others as you want to be treated.

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any channel.

Be careful in the words that you choose. Be kind and generous to others. Do not insult or put down other community members. Remember that sexist, racist and other exclusionary jokes can be offensive to those around you. Excessive swearing and offensive jokes are not appropriate for the Technical.ly Slack. This is a collegial professional environment. Be cool, my dudes.

Community rules: We prize creating an authentic space allowing for professional exploration and personal development. To maintain this, all community members must adhere to the following:

Be transparent: When you join the Slack community, post under your own name, not your company’s. We want to see who you are and want a community of real people. We do make special exceptions for people who operate consistently online for issues of their safety.
Don’t spam: External recruiters: Do not post jobs in this space. For everyone else, post one job in the #jobs channel that fits with the moment, then stop. No one wants giant blocks of text cluttering their shared space. Or repeat shares. You’ll look way too thirsty. Meanwhile, don’t over-sell your product. As a rule of thumb, mention your product and service for every four or five contributions you make otherwise.
Contribute value and make this yours too: You’re part of a community. Join lots of channels. Share insights and connect with others. Drop links. Make it a conversation. This is a place for learning, not transactions. Make relationships, and great things will happen. Want to see new emojis? Add ‘em! Want to organize a live conversation on a topic you care about? Do it! Have feedback? DM us.
Be part of our journalism: Technical.ly is a news organization, so our newsroom will frequently ask for perspective on our Slack. If we want to publish a response, we’ll make that clear or ask you directly. We also welcome and respect when community members share their thoughts with us privately via DM.

In exchange, this is what Technical.ly promises: We’ll learn and share what you help us understand about the world around us. We’ll help you connect other brilliant people. We won’t pester you. Only three top-level admins have the ability to use the @ channel function. That’s on purpose. We rarely use it.

If violations occur to any of the above, we’ll take any action we deem appropriate for the infraction, up to and including expulsion from this community. DM a Technical.ly staff member if communications in a channel or direct message make you uncomfortable, or with general concerns and questions.

Events Policy

We strive to host events that are complementary to our editorial mission and editorial ethics. We believe both our editorial team and business team can contribute to and benefit from our events programming. Editorial is in a clear position to contribute speaker ideas, programming topics, and to lead discussions and provide events coverage. Our editors ensure that reporters maintain editorial independence and represent an unbiased perspective.
We aim for a diverse representation of experience and opinions among our event speakers and participants. Their views are their own, and do not represent Technical.ly opinions or editorial directives.
Technical.ly events are committed to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender affiliation, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form.
We strive to have our events be a welcoming, friendly event for all and expect all event related communications to be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. We ask all attendees to support this atmosphere.
We value transparency and disclose event partners and sponsors in our marketing material and in Editorial Content. Sponsors and partners participate in event programs based on predetermined agreements, and those agreements can include events sponsorship and sponsored content initiatives.
For ticketed events, Technical.ly offers this return policy: “For events hosted by Technical.ly, we will honor full refunds for orders canceled 30 days or more prior to the ticketed event. NO CREDITS OR REFUNDS will be given to cancellations made within 48 hours or less of the event.”
Technical.ly recommends the above return policy for events in which we are partners, but cannot override another organization’s policy.
Attendees are responsible for their own travel to and timely arrival at the event. Refunds are not given for traffic, transit delays, parking difficulty or other transportation issues out of our control.
Technical.ly events with a topical subject are open to publishers, reporters and other news media with prior written consent and an expectation of content sharing with reference to Technical.ly’s role.
For awards ceremonies with public voting, nominees may not offer direct or indirect monetary compensation to encourage voting. Nominees or other groups can offer the chance to win prizes for sharing or supporting but no gift or money can be guaranteed for individual votes. Unless otherwise stated, Technical.ly sets the preference for no consecutive repeat winners. Thus, in most cases, winners from one year will not be nominated the following year, but would be eligible again a year after. This is to maximize community participation and inclusion.
For awards ceremonies with public voting, all decisions are made by Technical.ly organizers and are final.
We will do our best to provide post-event editorial coverage that adheres to our editorial content policy.
No attendees are permitted to take alcohol off the event premises at any time, either during or after the event.
At events with alcohol where there are underage attendees, all attendees are required to show valid identification displaying age at registration, unless the venue/caterer specify otherwise.

This page was last updated on Oct. 15, 2024.