Editorial standards
The rules every Smattering story follows before it is published.
Satire labeling
- Every story: carries a satire label above the headline and a satire note at the end of the page.
- Search and social: the label appears in structured data for search engines and on share cards.
- About page: the first sentence of our About page says that everything we publish is satire.
Real news hooks
- Anchored: every story starts from a real, dated event that a reader can look up.
- Recorded: the real event is described on the story’s Behind the stories page.
- Accurate: facts we state as facts are checked. Only what happens after the hook is invented.
Who we write about
- Aim up: our targets are politicians, parties, agencies, networks, media figures and billionaires acting in public life.
- Never down: we do not write jokes about private citizens, victims, or groups of people defined by who they are.
- Public conduct only: we write about what public figures do in public, not about their health, families or bodies.
Quotes and names
- Invented quotes: quotes from aides, spokespeople and officials are invented and attributed to invented people.
- Real people: real public figures may appear, but words we put in their mouths are clearly part of the satire.
- Journalists: we do not invent quotes for real, named working journalists.
Images
- Illustrations: story images are illustrations, never doctored photographs of real people.
- No fake documents: we do not publish realistic fake screenshots, letters or official documents.
Corrections
- Real errors: if we get a real fact wrong, we fix it and note the change on the Corrections page.
- Fiction: we sometimes correct our own fiction too. Those corrections are also satire, and are labeled.
Reader data
- Email only: subscribing stores your email address and the page you subscribed from, nothing else.
- No selling: we never sell, rent or share subscriber addresses. See the privacy policy for details.
Reporting a problem
- Write to us: if a story could be mistaken for news, or crosses one of these lines, write to desk@thesmatteringnews.com or use the contact form.
- Response: we read every report and reply to each one.
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