Editorial Policy

Preamble

Rokeya Collective is a women-led journalism organisation. This Editorial Code sets out the professional and ethical standards that govern all content produced under our masthead — by staff journalists, editors, and freelance contributors alike.

The Code is organised around the issues that most directly arise when journalists cover women, children, and marginalised communities: the risks of harm, the management of power, the protection of sources, and the obligations of accuracy, fairness, and dignity. It draws on the foundational principle that the most important currency of any journalism organisation is the trust of its readers, and that trust is built — or lost — in precisely these moments.

These are not bureaucratic rules. They are the distillation of hard-won professional wisdom about what goes wrong when journalists cover people in vulnerable situations, and what is required to get it right. The Code should be read in that spirit: not as a ceiling on ambition but as a floor below which no Rokeya Collective journalist may fall.

“At the peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not tainted.” — C.P. Scott, Manchester Guardian, 1921

Chapter 1: Accuracy, Verification, and Corrections

Accuracy is the foundation of all journalism and acquires special weight when reporting on vulnerable communities, because errors cause disproportionate harm — to individuals who cannot easily seek correction, to communities already misrepresented in public life, and to the fragile trust between journalists and the people they seek to serve.

1.1 Duty of Care in Verification

• Every factual claim must be verified. The standard of verification rises in proportion to the potential harm a claim could cause to the person, family, or community it concerns.
• Numerical and statistical claims must be traced to their originating institution. Secondary summaries are not a sufficient basis for publication.
• Where a claim cannot be independently verified, this must be stated explicitly in the copy. The reader’s right to know the limits of what has been established is as important as what has been established.
• Journalists should never change a direct quotation to alter its context or meaning. Where a source’s words have been translated, this must be noted and the translation must be accurate.

1.2 Anonymised and Anonymous Sources

Anonymous sources can assist readers towards a truer understanding of a subject than a journalist confined to bland on-the-record quotations. But anonymous sources used lazily become a menace. In coverage of women, children, and marginalised communities, the of anonymous sources carries heightened responsibilities:

• We should be honest about our sources, even when we cannot name them. The reader must understand enough about a source’s position to assess the weight of what they say.
• Anonymous pejorative quotations about an identified individual — accusatory, damaging, or defamatory — may be used only in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of a senior editor. In the absence of specific approval, such quotes must be paraphrased.
• The identity of any source who has provided information on condition of confidentiality must be protected absolutely. This obligation persists regardless of legal pressure, editorial convenience, or the passage of time.
• Source protection is especially critical in stories involving gender-based violence, trafficking, community conflict, or political persecution, where identification of a source can cause physical harm.

1.3 Corrections

• Significant errors must be corrected as soon as they come to the attention of any journalist or editor, regardless of who made the error.
• Corrections are published prominently, on the published article itself, and — where the error was significant — through social media channels.
• Content is never quietly amended or deleted without an accompanying note of correction. The reader who encountered the error has the right to know it has been corrected.
• Any complaint raising a question about accuracy or fairness must be brought to the attention of the Editor-in-Chief within 24 hours of receipt. A substantive response must reach the complainant within ten working days.

Chapter 2: Fairness and the Right to Respond

Fairness is the obligation to ensure that those who are criticised, accused, or placed in an unfavourable light have a genuine opportunity to be heard. It is not a courtesy extended at the journalist’s discretion — it is a professional duty.

2.1 Seeking a Response

• The more serious the criticism or allegation, the greater the obligation to allow the subject the opportunity to respond before publication.
• A response request must specify, in sufficient detail, what is being alleged. A vague invitation to “comment” does not discharge the obligation when specific allegations are being published.
• The response request must be made in writing, specify a clear deadline, and the response — or a record that no response was received — must be preserved.
• If a subject declines to respond or cannot be reached, this must be stated clearly in the published story.

2.2 Fairness Toward Communities, Not Only Individuals

In reporting on communities — ethnic minorities, religious groups, women’s organisations, persons with disabilities, sex workers, refugees, or others — fairness requires that the community be given an adequate voice, not merely as the subject of expert commentary but as primary speakers in their own right.

• No community or group should be characterised primarily through the lens of harm, crisis, or pathology. Coverage must also include agency, resilience, and the structural forces that shape conditions.
• When critical claims are made about a community — by officials, researchers, or other parties — the community’s own spokespersons, leaders, or members must be given a genuine opportunity to respond before publication.
• Journalists covering communities they do not belong to must apply particular care to avoid the imposition of frameworks, assumptions, or language that the community itself would not recognise as fair.

Chapter 3: Covering Women: Specific Standards

3.1 Gender-Based Violence

Reporting on gender-based violence — including rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, acid attacks, trafficking, and dowry-related abuse — is among the most ethically demanding work in journalism. The following standards apply without exception.

Survivor Identification and Consent

• The name and any identifying detail of a survivor of sexual violence must not be published unless the survivor has given informed, voluntary, and specific consent to identification — understanding what will be published, how it will be used, and that it cannot be retracted once published.
• Where a survivor has previously consented and subsequently withdraws consent, Rokeya Collective will take all reasonable steps to remove identifying information from published content.
• Consent to identification by a survivor is not implied by their willingness to be interviewed, by the availability of their name in police or court records, or by prior publication of their name in other media.
• No survivor of gender-based violence who is under 18 may be identified under any circumstances (see Chapter 4).

Framing and Language

• Language that implies a survivor invited, provoked, or was responsible for violence is prohibited in all Rokeya Collective content, including in paraphrases of statements by third parties. Such statements, if relevant, must be contextualised and challenged.
• The word “alleged” is applied consistently to describe the conduct of accused persons before conviction. It is not applied to the experience of survivors, as though their suffering were in doubt.
• Physical descriptions of violent acts must not exceed what is necessary for readers to understand the nature and severity of what occurred. Gratuitous detail is prohibited regardless of what is available in public records.
• Headlines and standfirsts must not sensationalise violence or reduce victims to their suffering. The same standards that apply to body copy apply to all display text.

Systemic Accountability

• Wherever possible, reporting on individual incidents of gender-based violence should connect those incidents to systemic failures: inadequate law enforcement response, backlogged courts, inaccessible legal aid, or institutional cultures that enable abuse.
• The responses of state institutions and employers to allegations of violence — including police, hospitals, courts, and NGOs — are themselves part of the story and must be scrutinised with equal rigor.

3.2 Dowry Violence

In reporting deaths or injuries associated with dowry demands, journalists must scrutinise official records critically. Cases frequently involve police First Information Reports that record deaths as suicide or accident. Reporters should consult forensic and medical evidence where accessible and not rely solely on official characterisations.

3.3 Political Participation and Public Life

• Women in politics and public life must be reported on in terms of their policies, decisions, and exercise of power — not primarily their appearance, dress, age, family connections, or marital status.
• Violence and harassment directed at women in public life, including digital harassment, is a legitimate subject of public-interest journalism and should be covered with the same rigor as other forms of political intimidation.
• The participation of women in governance at all levels — not only national office — warrants regular coverage. The under-representation of women in political institutions is itself newsworthy.

3.4 Employment and Labour Rights

• When reporting on workplaces employing predominantly female workers, journalists must seek testimony from workers directly and not rely solely on management, industry bodies, or government spokespersons.
• Sources who are workers must be protected from retaliation (see Chapter 6). This protection applies during and after publication.
• Stories must identify specific employers, factories, or brands when reporting on labour violations, rather than referring to industries in the abstract.

3.5 Legal Access and Family Law

• When reporting on family law, divorce, maintenance, custody, or inheritance proceedings, journalists must not naturalise legal outcomes that disadvantage women as immutable or divinely ordained. The gap between statutory rights and their enforcement is a legitimate subject for critical scrutiny.
• The experiences of women navigating formal legal systems — including the barriers of cost, geography, literacy, and social stigma — are part of the story and must be reflected in coverage.

Chapter 4: Covering Children: Specific Standards

Children require the highest degree of editorial protection of any group we cover. Their interests — in safety, dignity, privacy, and the freedom to complete their development without unnecessary intrusion — are paramount and take precedence over all but the most compelling public interest considerations.

4.1 Non-Identification: The Absolute Rule

• No child who is a victim, witness, or accused person in a criminal matter may be identified by name or by any detail sufficient to allow identification. This rule admits no exceptions in cases involving sexual violence, trafficking, or abuse.
• This prohibition applies even where: the child’s name appears in police or court records; the name has been published by other media; the child or a guardian has consented to identification; or identification has previously occurred.
• In any case where a child victim of a sexual offence risks identification through details about the accused — including description of any relationship between accused and child — those details must be withheld or handled with extreme care.

4.2 Interviewing Children as Sources

• A child may be interviewed for publication only where a parent or legal guardian has given prior, informed, and voluntary consent.
• The interview must be conducted in a safe environment, preferably with a trusted adult present, unless the child is specifically requesting their presence be excluded and the editor has approved.
• The child must understand, in age-appropriate terms, that they are being interviewed for publication and must understand what will be done with what they say.
• No pressure, inducement, or payment — direct or through the child’s guardian — may be offered or made in exchange for a child’s participation in journalism.
• Heads of departments must be informed when children have been photographed or interviewed without parental consent. Such exceptions require advance editorial approval and must be documented.

4.3 Photography and Video

• Images of children in contexts of distress, poverty, violence, disability, or exploitation require written parental or guardian consent and editorial approval prior to publication.
• The welfare of the child takes precedence over editorial value in every image decision. An image that could expose a child to further harm, stigma, or reidentification must not be published, regardless of its newsworthiness.
• Images of children must not be used to illustrate stories unless those children are directly relevant to the story being illustrated. Stock photography of children is not to be used in conjunction with stories about crime, abuse, or exploitation.

4.4 Child Marriage

• Child marriage is reported as a human rights violation consistent with international standards. It is never framed as a solution to poverty, insecurity, family honour, or any other condition, even when sources advance such framings. Source framings of this kind must be contextualised and challenged.
• Reporting must distinguish carefully between legal prohibition and enforcement reality, including analysis of judicial or administrative provisions that create exceptions to minimum age requirements.

4.5 Child Labour

• Reporting must humanise individual child workers while connecting their situations to systemic failures of labour inspection, education access, and poverty policy.
• Images and content must not place individual children at risk of further exploitation or enable identification of children in hazardous work situations to those who might harm them.

4.6 Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation

• Strict anonymisation of all child victims and survivors applies regardless of the age at time of publication.
• Language must never conflate child sexual exploitation with adult sex work. Sexual exploitation of children is always abuse; no editorial framing should suggest otherwise.
• Consultation with specialist child protection organisations is required before publishing stories involving children who are survivors of trafficking or sexual exploitation.

Chapter 5: Covering Marginalised Communities

Marginalised communities — including ethnic and indigenous minorities, religious minorities, persons with disabilities, refugees, displaced populations, sex workers, and others who are systematically underrepresented in mainstream journalism — are both subjects of and participants in public life. The standards in this chapter address the specific editorial risks that arise in covering them.

5.1 Identity, Race, Ethnicity, and Religion

• A person’s race, ethnicity, religion, caste, or national origin must not be referenced in a story unless that information is directly pertinent to what is being reported.
• In reporting criminal or civil proceedings, the ethnic or religious background of suspects, accused persons, or defendants must not be mentioned unless it is an integral element of the story — for example, where the crime is itself alleged to be motivated by religion or ethnicity, or where the description is part of an active effort to identify a person.
• Language used to describe ethnic, racial, or religious communities must be the language those communities use for themselves, not the language of official classification or historical stigma. Where terminology is contested, this must be acknowledged.
• Coverage of ethnic or religious minorities must not be reduced to narratives of crime, extremism, or victimhood. The range of life, achievement, and aspiration within any community warrants coverage.

5.2 Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

• Sexual orientation and gender identity must not be mentioned in a story unless directly relevant to what is being reported.
• The sexual orientation or gender identity of a person may not be revealed without that person’s consent. Involuntary disclosure — “outing” — is prohibited, including in jurisdictions where such disclosure could expose the person to legal jeopardy or physical harm.
• Language used to describe LGBTQ+ individuals and communities must be appropriate, respectful, and in accordance with current usage as defined by organisations representing those communities.

5.3 Disability

• A person’s disability, physical or mental illness, or neurodivergence must not be mentioned unless directly relevant to what is being reported.
• People with disabilities are not defined by their disability. They must be referred to as people first, with disabilities or conditions described in plain language rather than through clinical labels or outdated terminology.
• Coverage must not frame disability as tragedy, inspiration, or burden without the active participation of disabled people themselves in shaping the narrative.

5.4 Refugees and Displaced Communities

• Individuals in refugee or displacement situations must be referred to using appropriate, dignified language. The terms “illegals” or “illegal migrants” are not used in Rokeya Collective content.
• The status of a person as a refugee, undocumented migrant, or stateless individual must not be treated as a character trait or used as a device to undermine the credibility of their testimony.
• Reporting on refugee or displaced communities must seek testimony from community members, including women and youth, and not rely solely on humanitarian organisations, government officials, or camp administrators as the primary voices.

5.5 Sex Workers

• Reporting on sex work must seek the voices of sex workers directly. Sex workers are sources, not merely subjects.
• Language must clearly distinguish between consensual adult sex work and trafficking or sexual exploitation. Conflation of these categories causes direct harm to both communities.
• Reporting must not further stigmatise already marginalised individuals through sensationalising language, gratuitous detail, or the framing of sex work primarily as pathology.

5.6 Indigenous and Adivasi Communities

• Communities must be referred to by their own preferred names. Where official nomenclature differs from community self-identification, community preference takes precedence and any discrepancy is acknowledged.
• Land, resource, and cultural rights disputes involving indigenous communities are primarily rights stories, not merely development or security stories.
• Violence against indigenous women, including sexual violence in the context of land and resource conflicts, must be reported with the same rigour and the same protections that apply to all GBV coverage.

5.7 Persons Living in Poverty

• Economic marginalisation does not reduce a person’s right to dignity, privacy, or accurate representation in journalism.
• Reporting on communities affected by poverty must centre the structural forces that produce poverty and must not reduce individuals to their hardship.
• Images and descriptions of poverty must be used only with genuine consent and must not exploit the vulnerability of subjects for editorial effect.

Chapter 6: Source Protection and Journalist Safety

6.1 The Obligation to Protect Sources

Confidentiality promised to a source must be honoured at all costs. A journalist who betrays a confidential source does not merely harm one individual — they destroy the conditions under which vulnerable people can speak to journalism at all.

• Confidential source identity, communications, and materials are stored in encrypted form accessible only to the reporting journalist and the Editor-in-Chief.
• In the event of any legal demand for source materials, the organisation will seek immediate legal counsel and contest compelled disclosure by all available means. No journalist will voluntarily disclose source identity.
• Confidential source communications are conducted through encrypted channels wherever possible.

6.2 Source Safety in Sensitive Stories

• Sources who are survivors of violence, trafficking, or abuse face specific risks of re-traumatisation, social retaliation, or physical danger if identified. Their safety takes precedence over any editorial consideration.
• Before publishing, the journalist must assess whether any detail in the story — location, occupation, family structure, timeframe, or dialect — could allow identification of an anonymised source by those who might harm them.
• Where a source who initially consented to identification later expresses concern for their safety, the journalist must immediately review the situation with the Editor-in-Chief. Source safety supersedes publication schedules.

6.3 Protection from Workplace Retaliation

• Sources who are workers — garment workers, domestic workers, civil servants, health workers, or others — may face retaliation from employers or authorities following publication. Journalists must assess this risk before publication and take all reasonable steps to mitigate it, including through careful anonymisation and timing decisions.
• Where a source faces retaliation following publication, Rokeya Collective will consider what support it can reasonably provide, including referral to legal aid.

6.4 Digital Security

• All editorial staff receive mandatory digital security training within three months of joining the organisation and refresher training annually.
• Journalists are aware that digital surveillance, mobile device interception, and social media monitoring can expose both journalist and source. Sensitive communications must not be conducted through unencrypted channels.

6.5 Physical Safety of Women Journalists

• Women journalists covering politically sensitive, conflict-adjacent, or community-level stories face specific physical safety risks, including harassment, stalking, and sexual violence. These risks are not treated as a personal matter but as a professional and organisational concern.
• All field assignments assessed as carrying elevated risk require advance editorial approval and a check-in protocol with a named colleague.
• Any journalist who receives a threat in connection with their work must report it immediately to the Editor-in-Chief. The organisation assesses the threat and responds, including through legal reporting where appropriate.
• No journalist faces professional consequence for declining an assignment they assess as unsafe.

Chapter 7: Privacy and Intrusion

Privacy is not a privilege of the powerful. Those with the least public visibility often face the most intrusive forms of journalistic attention. The right to respect for private and family life is a genuine right, not merely an obstacle to newsgathering.

7.1 The Privacy Test

• Intrusion into private life is not justified merely because information is available, legally obtainable, or of interest to an audience. There must be a clear and proportionate public interest that outweighs the privacy cost.
• The privacy test is especially demanding in cases involving: survivors of violence or abuse; people in grief or acute crisis; children; people receiving medical or mental health care; people in extreme poverty; and people whose identification creates personal risk.
• In cases involving personal grief or shock, approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled with sensitivity. This does not restrict the right to report public proceedings.

7.2 Intrusion in Practice

• Journalists must not pursue, photograph, or approach individuals who have asked to be left alone, and must not remain on private property once asked to leave.
• Caution must be exercised about publishing identifying details — street names, neighbourhoods, workplaces, physical descriptions — that could enable third parties to locate or harm a person who has become the subject of coverage.
• Recording of interviews or conversations requires the knowledge and consent of the person being recorded. There are no circumstances in which a survivor of gender-based violence may be recorded without their awareness.

7.3 Medical and Mental Health Information

• Medical and mental health information is among the most private information a person holds. It must not be published without explicit consent, and even where consent is given, the editorial necessity of publication must be weighed carefully.
• Mental illness and disability must not be referenced as explanatory frames for behaviour — particularly in crime reporting — unless directly established by medical evidence and relevant to the story.

7.4 Suicide

Journalism about suicide requires particular care. The evidence that irresponsible reporting can contribute to copycat behaviour is substantial.

• Excessive detail about the method of suicide must be avoided. Any substances, means, or locations must be referred to in general rather than specific terms where possible.
• Images associated with suicide, including photographs of locations or individuals, must be handled with exceptional editorial care.
• Where appropriate, helpline information must be included in coverage. Information on available support services in Bangladesh must be accurate and current.
• The feelings and wellbeing of bereaved family members must be considered in all decisions about the scope and detail of coverage.

Chapter 8: Trauma-Informed Journalism

A significant proportion of Rokeya Collective’s journalism involves sources who have experienced or are currently experiencing trauma. Trauma is not background context for a story: it is the condition in which we encounter sources and to which our practice must be adapted.

8.1 Core Principles

8.2 Interviewing Survivors of Violence

• The journalist does not require a source to relive the most traumatic aspects of their experience in order to report effectively on what happened. Often the systemic context of what occurred is more important than detailed personal testimony.
• Follow-up contact after an interview must be handled with sensitivity. Checking in with a source after publication is good practice, particularly where the source is vulnerable.
• Where a source shows signs of acute distress during or after an interview, the journalist’s first responsibility is to the person, not to the story.

8.3 Journalist Wellbeing

• Rokeya Collective acknowledges that sustained exposure to accounts of violence, injustice, and trauma takes a toll on journalists. This is not a personal failing but a predictable professional consequence.
• Journalists may raise concerns about the impact of difficult assignments on their wellbeing without professional stigma. No journalist will be required to continue covering traumatic material without appropriate support.

Chapter 9: Language and Representation

Language shapes perception. The way journalism names, describes, and frames people and conditions determines whether those people are seen as agents or objects, citizens or problems. These standards apply to all Rokeya Collective content, in all formats and platforms.

9.1 General Principles

• Respect for the reader demands that language likely to cause unnecessary offence must not be used casually. The test is whether the language serves the story or merely produces a reaction.
• The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual’s race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or mental illness.
• Photographs, illustrations, and data visualisations are subject to the same standards as text. An image that would not be acceptable as language is not acceptable as an image.

9.2 Specific Usage

• Women must not be described in terms of their relationship to men (wife of, mother of, daughter of) unless that relationship is directly relevant to the story and similar relational descriptions are applied to men in equivalent circumstances.
• Survivors of violence must not be referred to as “victims” where the use of that term reduces their agency or implies passivity. Where it is appropriate to use the word “victim”, this is a description of what was done to a person, not a characterisation of who they are.
• Children must not be described in sexualised terms under any circumstances.
• People living in poverty must not be described using language that implies moral deficiency, laziness, or personal failure.
• Members of ethnic, religious, or other minority communities must not be referred to as “them” in ways that imply a monolithic group whose interests conflict with a presumed majority “us.”

9.3 Fictional Devices

• No reader should find cause to suspect that Rokeya Collective would knowingly alter facts. We do not assign fictional names, ages, places, or dates to subjects without clearly indicating to the reader that we have done so and explaining why.
• Where a source’s identity must be protected through a pseudonym, this must be clearly stated in the story. “Name changed to protect identity” or equivalent must appear.
• Composite characters, reconstructed dialogue, and speculative chronologies must be labelled as such. Techniques borrowed from narrative non-fiction do not permit the abandonment of truth obligations.

Chapter 10: Conflicts of Interest and Editorial Independence

Rokeya Collective’s journalism is produced solely in the interests of our readers and the communities we serve. No personal, financial, political, or institutional relationship may be allowed to distort editorial decisions, and the mere appearance of such distortion is itself a harm to be avoided.

10.1 Declarations of Interest

• A journalist or contributor must always declare an interest when writing about a subject with which they have a significant personal, financial, or professional connection. This applies whether the connection is formal or informal.
• A connection does not need to be a formal one in order to require declaration. Acting in an advisory capacity for an organisation, having a prior personal relationship with a subject, or holding a strong public position on an issue all constitute connections that must be declared.
• Declarations must be made to the Editor-in-Chief at the earliest stage of reporting. Where appropriate, a declaration of interest must also appear in the published piece.
• Journalists must not write about, photograph, or make editorial judgments about any individual to whom they are related by blood, marriage, or with whom they have a close personal or romantic relationship.

10.2 Political Activity

• Editorial staff must not publicly campaign for, endorse, or make financial contributions to any political party or candidate. This restriction applies to social media as well as formal public engagement.
• Editorial staff retain the right to vote and to hold private political views. Nothing in this Code seeks to restrict private political conscience.
• Opinion contributors enjoy more latitude in expressing views than staff reporters. This latitude does not extend to partisanship that would compromise the organisation’s reputation for independence.

10.3 Donor and Funder Independence

• Donors do not have editorial access, review rights, or veto over any content.
• Rokeya Collective will not commit coverage of specific topics, communities, or conclusions in exchange for funding.
• Funding sources are disclosed transparently on our website and in our annual editorial report. Stories arising from funded projects carry a note of the funding relationship.

10.4 Gifts, Hospitality, and Commercial Products

• Journalists must not accept gifts of material value from sources, subjects, government officials, or potential funders. Nominal hospitality — a cup of tea, a meal in a genuine working context — is unremarkable.
• Travel, accommodation, or other significant benefits may not be accepted from any party whose interests intersect with our coverage.
• No journalist or contributor associated with Rokeya Collective may endorse commercial products in ways that could compromise the organisation’s editorial credibility.
• Staff must not use their journalistic position to seek personal advantage or benefit not available to members of the general public.

Chapter 11: Professional Conduct and Working Openly

11.1 Identity and Transparency

• Journalists must identify themselves honestly to sources and subjects at all times when working on a story. We do not use false names, false credentials, or manufactured cover stories.
• There may be rare circumstances involving stories of exceptional public interest where working openly is not possible. Any exception to this rule requires advance approval from a senior editor and must be documented.
• Journalists must never lie to gain information, make promises of favourable coverage in exchange for cooperation, or threaten uncooperative sources.

11.2 Payment for Information

• Rokeya Collective does not pay sources for interviews, unpublished documents, or information. Such payments create risks to credibility and to the safety of sources by implying a transactional relationship.
• Where expenses genuinely incurred by a source to participate in an interview — for example, transport costs — are covered, this must be approved in advance and documented.

11.3 Plagiarism and Attribution

• Presenting another person’s words or original ideas as one’s own is a fundamental violation of professional integrity. It is never acceptable, regardless of circumstance.
• The source of published material obtained from another organisation must be acknowledged, including quotations drawn from other publications. The breaking of significant stories by other news organisations must be credited.
• Bylines may be carried only on material that is substantially the work of the bylined journalist.

11.4 Artificial Intelligence

• AI tools may support research, transcription, translation, and data analysis. They may not generate published content without comprehensive human editorial review.
• AI must not be used to fabricate quotations, invent sources, or produce claims that are not independently verifiable.
• Significant use of AI in the production of a story must be disclosed to readers. AI translation must be reviewed by a human translator before use in published content.

11.5 Image and Visual Integrity

• Published images must accurately represent the events or subjects they depict. No people or objects may be added, removed, or materially altered. Cropping and standard exposure adjustment are permitted.
• Digitally enhanced images, montages, and illustrations must be clearly labelled as such.
• The standards in Chapter 3 (women) and Chapter 4 (children) apply with full force to all visual content. An image of a woman in a context of violence or vulnerability, or an image of a child in any sensitive context, requires the same editorial judgement as text.

Chapter 12: Freelancers, Contributors, and Partnerships

12.1 Freelance Journalists

• Freelance contributors to Rokeya Collective are bound by this Editorial Code in connection with all work produced for us. Our contracts incorporate the Code explicitly.
• Commissioning editors must ensure that freelancers are aware of these standards before beginning an assignment, and must satisfy themselves that the freelancer understands and will abide by them.
• Freelancers who have previously accepted free travel, accommodation, or other significant benefits in connection with topics they are assigned to cover for us must disclose this. Prior conflicts may affect commissioning decisions.

12.2 Nonjournalist Contributors

• Nonjournalist contributors — academics, lawyers, activists, health professionals, community leaders — must disclose any financial, professional, or personal interest in the subject they are writing about.
• Such disclosures must appear in the published piece. Readers deserve to understand the position from which an expert or practitioner speaks.
• Nonjournalist contributors are not excused from accuracy obligations. All factual claims in their contributions are subject to editorial fact-checking.

12.3 Institutional Partnerships

• Reporting partnerships with other organisations are permitted where they bolster the quality and reach of our journalism. Editorial control over all content remains solely with Rokeya Collective.
• The existence of a partnership must be disclosed to readers where it is relevant to understanding the origin or scope of the journalism.

Chapter 13: Accountability and Complaints

13.1 Internal Accountability

• The Editor-in-Chief bears ultimate responsibility for the editorial content of Rokeya Collective and for ensuring this Code is observed.
• Significant editorial decisions — including decisions on anonymisation, publication of sensitive material involving vulnerable individuals, responses to legal threats, and conflicts of interest — are made by or in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.

13.2 Reader Complaints

• Complaints regarding accuracy, fairness, or ethical conduct may be submitted in writing to the editorial email address published on our website.
• All complaints receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours and a substantive response within ten working days.
• Where a complaint reveals a factual error, a correction is published. Where it raises a substantive ethical concern, it is reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and, where appropriate, the Editorial Board.
• Outcomes of significant complaints are published where the public interest warrants it.

13.3 Annual Review

• This Editorial Code is reviewed annually by the Editorial Board, with input from staff journalists, freelance contributors, and, where possible, representatives of communities we regularly cover.
• Amendments are documented with a version history. The current version is always publicly available on our website.