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Editorial Standards
Principles
The following editorial principles are the four cornerstones of OPW's editorial judgment and journalistic ethic. All the specific instructions that follow in subsequent sections are meant to promote these principles, and must only be followed to the extent that they do so.
Accuracy
OPW doesn't just "seek the truth". We aim to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This means every story must be placed in a broader context, and the selection of the stories themselves cannot be geared towards any particular narrative. We select the stories that are most important; not the ones that fit our priors or drive more eyeballs. We believe that the purpose of news is to inform; not to persuade.
Independence
OPW takes great care to ensure that every item it publishes is free of undue influence from third-party funders, political interests, and other outside forces. We must not allow ourselves to become the tools of any government, whether foreign or domestic, or the tool of any lobby or commercial interest, nor allow ourselves to be censored by them.
Breadth
OPW aims to cover a broad swath of stories and facts, nurturing a wide Overton window for a healthy and vibrant debate. The work of our journalists is to report everything that could inform people's decisions and actions in the world, covering stories from every corner of the globe and every fringe of the political spectrum.
Neutrality
OPW is not focused on left vs right. We report all events and datapoints accurately; we collect factual information from a variety of sources aligned with all parties and all interest groups; and we do so fairly and accurately in every instance.
Style
This section outlines our literary style, and how it was adapted from what is common in most media outlets to promote our principles as best we can.
Brevity
OPW is a news wire service, not a newspaper. As such, our stories must be short, concise, and fact-heavy.
Neutral Language
Political activists often use language to tilt the discussion in their favor. This is how the estate tax became a death tax and environmentalism became climate alarmism on the right; and it is also how abortion became reproductive care and illegal aliens became undocumented migrants on the left. At OPW, we eschew narrative-loaded terminology and try to be as dry and descriptive as possible with our language choices. We maintain official governmental designations whenever possible (e.g. refer to members of recognized terrorist organizations as "terrorists", and at the same time, refer to occupied territories as "occupied"). Where a term is in dispute (e.g. with the Golan Heights, which the US considers Israeli territory but the EU considers occupied) we may omit a descriptor altogether, or select whichever descriptor best suits the context of the particular news item it appears in.
Focusing on What Matters
We're focused on getting the facts right. We are not focused on whether numbers are written as "9" or as "nine". In all likelihood, both styles will appear in our news items from time to time, and we are ok with it. We leave the great writing to the news publications who base their articles on our reporting; our job is to deliver all the necessary facts to them - fast. As long as our reporting is correct, timely and useful- we've done our job and trust great journalists to do the rest.
Ecosystem
This section outlines our policies with regards to the provenance of facts and news stories. It governs how we handle sources, attribution, and other elements of the journalistic ecosystem.
No Ownership of Facts
Engineering fields have copyrights to protect specific text, and patents to protect certain ideas. Journalism has only copyrights. As such, we do not view facts or ideas as the exclusive property of any other entity. We may credit the originator of a certain fact as a matter of courtesy, but if the originator is hard to ascertain we may state the fact by itself, without attribution. The public's right to know must not be limited by squabbles over who knew first.
No Commercial Interest
OPW does not pay anyone for content, nor charge anyone for content. Information is a public good, and we are serving the public by sourcing it at minimal cost (using advanced technology and AI) and making it free and widely accessible. We enthusiastically embrace any method or tool that makes it easier to disseminate high-quality information to the public with fewer people in our employ. Our goal is to inform more readers; not to employ more people.
Upholding Humanistic Values
Modern journalism did not develop in a vacuum. It is a product of humanism, and it requires personal sovereignty, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom to criticize and speak truth to power, and in some cases - freedom to offend others, too. We must defend these freedoms in order to maintain our ability to do our work. We must defend these values to maintain the ecosystem in which our work is done.