Policies: Contact

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No Contact

Mix

Contact

Definition

The page will frequently make reference to the phrase contact (“reaching out”). For purposes of ensuring clear communications with the audience, we define “contact” as follows: The non-public request for comment, statement, or background information from the primary subject of the content piece pertaining to a developing story that GN is covering or thinking of covering prior to a public criticism, thus alerting them to the story. Note that “non-public” just means “in advance of publishing.” In other words, if we privately and in advance of publishing notify a company of a content piece and seek statement, that statement will inherently become public (it will not remain private); however, the initial outreach is in advance of publishing. That is our definition of “contact” for purposes of this page and policy.

These topics will include conditions under which we will contact and won’t contact and to whom these policies apply. Although we have operated by most of these guidelines for many years, we wanted to formalize them in public writing to grant insight to our choices. This also provides us an internal roadmap to follow as we make these choices. With these policies now written and formalized, going forward, these will be the only guidelines we follow for the process of contacting entities (replacing all prior communications). If at any point these policies significantly change, we will update the page and/or publish a change notice alongside the change.


Equal Treatment

These policies apply to all categories of entity we may cover, including, but not limited to:

  • Manufacturers, e.g. computer hardware companies that make products for sale on the market

  • Retailers, distributors, wholesalers, and suppliers operating within coverage categories relevant to the story

  • Factories operating within coverage categories relevant to the story

  • Social media or ad agencies operating within coverage categories relevant to the story

  • Press, Media, and Content Creators with a wide influence and reach operating within coverage categories relevant to the story

Our policies below, both for when we do and when we don’t contact entities, apply to all entities within the above categories. We treat all above entities with the same guidelines laid-out below out of fairness to all entities.


Our Criteria

Given the nature of publishing a critical content piece, and considering that every subject, video, investigation, and circumstance is completely different, our decision to contact vs. not contact is situational. If any one of the criteria below is met, we may choose not to contact entities in advance to ensure that the truth of the situation is brought to light, and that our viewers are provided with the unfiltered evidence we have uncovered.

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