Editorial Policy

This Editorial Policy describes the standards, processes, and principles that govern everything we publish on The Wise Marketing. It is a public document. Any reader, source, advertiser, regulator, or rights holder is welcome to hold us to it.

We are an AI-assisted, human-edited publication. We use artificial intelligence to help with research, drafting, translation, and illustration. We use humans to decide what is true, what is fair, what is worth publishing, and whether we have got it right. This document explains exactly how those two capabilities interact at every stage of our editorial process.

If you can’t explain your editorial process in public, you don’t have one.

1. Scope and Application

This Policy applies to:

• all editorial Content published on the Website, whether drafted by humans, assisted by AI, or submitted by third parties through the PR Self-Publish marketplace;
• all editorial decisions made by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, and contributors;
• all editorial operations of any future publication operated by Wisework Media Private Limited that adopts this Policy (each a “Portal”).

Content marked “Sponsored”, “Paid Partnership”, or “Press Release” is User Content governed primarily by the Terms of Service and our sponsored-content disclosure rules. However, even sponsored Content is subject to the accuracy, legality, and disclosure requirements in this Policy.

2. Editorial Independence

The editorial function of The Wise Marketing operates independently of the commercial function. This means:

• No pay-for-coverage. Advertisers, sponsors, PR clients, and partners cannot purchase, influence, suppress, delay, or preview editorial coverage. Payment secures only clearly labelled Paid Placement slots, never editorial treatment.
• No advertiser preview. Upcoming editorial stories are not shared with any commercial counterparty before publication.
• No editorial-commercial bundling. Sales teams (when hired) will not be permitted to offer “editorial coverage” as part of any advertising or sponsorship proposal. If an advertiser is also the subject of editorial coverage, that coverage proceeds on its own merits with a disclosed conflict note.
• Disclosed conflicts. Where the Company, the founder, or an editor has a financial, personal, or professional relationship with the subject of editorial coverage, the relationship is disclosed in the article, in line with our Ethics and Conflicts of Interest standards.

The Editor-in-Chief has final authority on all editorial decisions, including whether to publish, withhold, edit, correct, or retract any article. No commercial consideration may override this authority.

3. Content Categories and Labelling

Every piece of Content on the Website falls into one of the following categories. Each category has a visible label and a defined editorial responsibility.

4. The Editorial Process — From Source to Publication

This section describes the step-by-step process that every AI-assisted article passes through before publication. It is published here as a transparency measure and as a permanent record of our editorial transformation workflow.

Why this matters. Under Indian copyright law (Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak, Supreme Court 2008), original copyright arises from the exercise of “skill and judgement” in the selection, arrangement, and presentation of material — even when the underlying facts are sourced from third parties. The process described below documents the specific editorial skill and judgement our team exercises at each stage. It is the basis on which we assert original copyright in our published articles.

Stage 1 — Source Identification and Selection (Human)

The Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor selects topics, stories, and themes based on editorial judgement about relevance, timeliness, audience interest, and coverage gaps. Source selection considers:

• news feeds sourced through a commercial GNews API subscription, whose terms permit commercial use of the API data (the underlying articles remain their publishers’ property; we do not hold a licence from those publishers);
• official government sources, regulatory filings, company announcements;
• industry reports, research papers, and publicly available data;
• original tips, pitches, and press releases submitted by readers, PR professionals, and sources;
• social media activity and public statements by newsworthy individuals and organisations.

Not every available source story becomes a The Wise Marketing article. The editorial decision to cover or not cover a topic is a human judgement call.

Stage 2 — AI-Assisted Drafting (AI + Human Direction)

For articles falling under the “The Wise Desk” category, an AI language model is used to produce an initial draft. The editor provides the source material (article links, data points, quotes); editorial direction (angle, tone, target length, audience framing, structural requirements); and explicit instructions to rewrite and transform the source material rather than reproduce it.

The AI output at this stage is a raw draft. It has not been verified, edited, or approved for publication. It is an intermediate work product, analogous to a researcher’s first pass or a wire-service intake.

Stage 3 — Human Editorial Review (Human)

Every AI draft is reviewed by a human editor before publication. The review is substantive, not cosmetic. The editor performs:

• Fact verification — every material claim, statistic, date, name, title, and quote is checked against the original source or a corroborating source. Unverifiable claims are removed or qualified.
• Structural rewriting — the editor restructures the article’s flow, reframes the angle, adds editorial context, and inserts analytical commentary that did not appear in the source material.
• Headline and subhead creation — headlines are original editorial creations, not sourced from the underlying material.
• Source attribution — the editor ensures that any quoted or closely paraphrased material is attributed to its source.
• Legal compliance check — the editor reviews for defamation risk (BNS s.356), copyright concerns (is the draft too close to the source?), ASCI compliance (are claims substantiated?), and factual accuracy.
• Tone and voice calibration — the editor ensures the article reads in The Wise Marketing’s editorial voice rather than generic AI prose.
• Image selection and labelling — AI-generated images are labelled; sourced images carry credits and licence references.
• Final sign-off — the editor approves the article for publication by marking it as reviewed.

The result of this process is a published article that reflects the skill, judgement, editorial voice, and analytical framing of the human editor. While the drafting process was assisted by AI, the published work is an original editorial product by virtue of the editorial transformation applied at every stage.

AI gives us the first 60%. The human editor contributes the 40% that makes it worth reading, defensible, and ours.

Stage 4 — Publication and Metadata

On publication, the article receives a byline (“The Wise Desk” for AI-assisted desk coverage; named human for originals); a publication date and timestamp; category and topic tags; source credits where required by licence or editorial practice; a “Sponsored” label if the article is a Paid Placement; and an “AI-generated image” / “AI-generated audio” label on any synthetic media. AI-assisted articles also carry a small standardized footer: “This article was drafted with the assistance of AI and rigorously fact-checked and edited by human editors.”

Stage 5 — Post-Publication Monitoring

After publication, the editorial team monitors for factual errors or updates (our Corrections process); copyright complaints (takedown protocol in our Copyright Policy); defamation and grievance complaints (our Grievance Redressal Policy); and right-of-reply requests (Section 8 of this Policy).

5. Source Attribution and Licensing

We take source attribution seriously. Our rules are:

• Source of news content. News content is sourced through a commercial GNews API subscription, whose terms permit commercial use of the API data. The underlying articles remain their publishers’ property; we do not hold a licence from those publishers, and our published articles are original works by virtue of the editorial transformation described in Stages 1–4. We credit source publications and do not misrepresent the source of any material.
• Direct quotes. Quotes attributed to named individuals are verified against the original published source. If we cannot confirm the quote, we either contact the individual, cite the intermediary source, or remove the quote.
• Statistics and data. Numbers, percentages, rankings, and statistical claims cite the primary source by name (e.g. “according to Statista”, “as reported in the company’s annual report”). We do not cite AI-generated statistics.
• Images. Every published image has an identified source: (a) original company-owned, (b) licensed stock under a named licence, (c) AI-generated (labelled as such), (d) press-release or PR-supplied (credited to the submitter), or (e) public domain / Creative Commons (credited per licence). Hotlinking to third-party images is prohibited.
• No anonymous sourcing of facts. The Wise Marketing is a trade publication, not an investigative newsroom. We do not use anonymous sources for factual claims. If we cannot name the source, we do not publish the claim. This may change as the publication grows and develops an investigative function; if so, we will update this Policy.

6. Accuracy and Fact-Checking

Accuracy is our first commitment. We would rather be late and right than first and wrong.

• Material facts — names, numbers, dates, titles, designations, company details, legal statuses — are verified against primary sources or credible secondary sources before publication.
• AI-generated text is treated as unverified until a human editor confirms each material claim. AI hallucinations are a known and expected risk; our process is designed to catch them.
• Unverifiable claims are flagged with qualifiers (“according to unverified reports”, “allegedly”) or removed from the article.
• Headlines do not overstate the article’s content. We do not use clickbait headlines, misleading thumbnails, or sensationalised language designed to generate clicks at the expense of accuracy.
• Where an article presents projections, forecasts, or forward-looking estimates, these are labelled as such with the source methodology cited.
• Articles providing specific health, medical, or financial advice must be reviewed by a human with relevant domain expertise, and include a clear disclaimer that the content does not constitute professional advice.

7. Corrections, Updates, and Retractions

Mistakes will happen. When they do, we fix them openly.

• Corrections: When we identify a factual error after publication, we correct the article and append a dated correction note at the bottom stating what was wrong and what has been corrected. The original error is not silently deleted. Corrections are also logged on our dedicated Corrections page.
• Updates: When new information materially changes the substance of a published article (a company responds, a case is decided, a statistic is revised), we update the article with a dated “Update” note explaining what has changed.
• Retractions: If an article is found to be substantially inaccurate, plagiarised, fabricated, or legally indefensible, the Editor-in-Chief may retract it entirely. A retraction notice will replace the article, stating the reason for retraction. The URL will remain live with the retraction notice so that links to the article do not break.

Readers, subjects, and sources who wish to request a correction should write to founders@wiseworkmedia.com. Corrections are acknowledged within 24 hours and resolved within 72 hours of verification.

8. Right of Reply

When an article makes material claims about a named individual, company, or organisation that could be perceived as critical, negative, or damaging, we make reasonable efforts to obtain and publish a response before publication.

• Pre-publication: we will attempt to contact the subject by email, providing the specific claim and a minimum of 24 hours (48 hours where practicable) to respond before publication.
• Post-publication: the subject may request inclusion of a response. If the response is factual and relevant, it will be appended to the article as an update within 48 hours of receipt.
• Refusal or non-response: if the subject does not respond within the window, the article may be published with a note stating that a response was sought and not received.

This right-of-reply protocol is critical for defamation defence and is a non-negotiable part of our editorial process for any article containing material negative claims about identified individuals or organisations.

9. AI-Specific Editorial Standards

Because we use AI extensively, we hold ourselves to additional standards specific to AI-assisted content:

• No fabricated quotes. AI frequently generates plausible-sounding quotes that no one ever said. Every quote attributed to a named person in a published article must be verified against the source. If the source cannot be confirmed, the quote is removed.
• No hallucinated facts. AI generates facts that are false with high confidence. Every material fact (company names, valuations, dates, percentages, legal statuses) is checked against primary sources. We do not publish “AI says” as a source.
• No synthetic identities. We do not create AI-generated headshots, profiles, or bios that impersonate real individuals. AI-generated illustrative characters (e.g. for stock-style graphics) are labelled “AI-generated”.
• No Content escapes human review. In normal operation, no article is published without human review, and no automated pipeline publishes AI output directly. Our platform includes an automated-publishing capability that is currently disabled; where it is used, any automatically-published article that is not reviewed or edited by a human editor within a defined review window (currently 24 hours) is automatically withdrawn from publication. We disclose any use of this capability.
• Originality check. Before publication, the editor assesses whether the article is substantively different from its source material in structure, voice, analysis, and framing. If the article reads as a paraphrase rather than a transformation, it is sent back for further editorial work.
• Commercial-tier tools only. We use only paid commercial licences for all AI tools whose output is published on the Website. Free-tier AI outputs are not used in published Content. Tool subscriptions are tracked in the Company’s vendor register.

10. Prohibited Editorial Practices

The following are prohibited across all editorial operations:

• Plagiarism — verbatim or substantially similar reproduction of another publication’s work without attribution or licence.
• Fabrication — invention of facts, events, sources, quotes, or data.
• Manipulation — selective omission of material facts that changes the meaning of an article.
• Undisclosed conflicts — publishing without disclosing financial, personal, or professional relationships with the subject.
• Undisclosed sponsorship — presenting paid or incentivised content as independent editorial.
• Clickbait — headlines, thumbnails, or meta descriptions that materially misrepresent the content of the article.
• Hotlinking — directly linking to images hosted on third-party servers without permission or licence. All images must be hosted on Company infrastructure.
• Deepfakes and synthetic impersonation — AI-generated likenesses of real, identifiable persons without their informed written consent.
• Unsubstantiated claims — claims about health, finance, legal rights, or product performance that cannot be verified, in compliance with the ASCI Code and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• SEO manipulation — hidden text, keyword stuffing, link schemes, or cloaking.
• Using AI tools to create, process, or distribute Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII) of any kind.
• We strictly prohibit the use of AI to generate child sexual abuse material, non-consensual intimate imagery, or any content that promotes hate speech or targeted harassment.

11. Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Every article is reviewed, as part of the editorial process, for compliance with:

• Copyright Act 1957 — is the article original or sufficiently transformed? Is all third-party content attributed or licensed?
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Section 356 — defamation. Has the right-of-reply protocol been followed for negative claims?
• ASCI Code — are claims substantiated? Are testimonials genuine? Are disclaimers present where required?
• Consumer Protection Act 2019 — does the article avoid misleading representations?
• DPDPA 2023 — does the article avoid publishing personal data without consent?
• IT Rules 2021, Rule 3(1)(b) — does the article avoid the 11 categories of prohibited content?
• IT Rules 2021, Part III, Rule 9 — Code of Ethics for publishers (applied on a precautionary basis pending formal classification assessment).
• Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954 — no unsubstantiated cure, prevention, or treatment claims.

12. Reader Engagement

We welcome reader engagement. The following channels are available:

• Story tips and pitches: founders@wiseworkmedia.com
• Corrections: founders@wiseworkmedia.com
• Right-of-reply and response requests: founders@wiseworkmedia.com
• Grievances: legal@wiseworkmedia.com
• Copyright concerns: legal@wiseworkmedia.com

We do not pay for story tips or source information. We do not guarantee coverage of any pitched topic.

13. Editorial Leadership and Accountability

The Editor-in-Chief has final authority over all editorial decisions. As of the date of this Policy:

• Editor-in-Chief: Shishir Kumar
• Contact: founders@wiseworkmedia.com

As the team grows and additional editors, reporters, or correspondents join, the masthead at /about will be updated. Each editorial team member will be bound by this Policy as a condition of engagement.

14. Applicability to Other Wisework Media Publications

This Editorial Policy is designed as a master template. When Wisework Media Private Limited launches additional publications, each will adopt this Policy with only the publication name and editorial-beat description substituted. The core standards — human review, AI disclosure, source attribution, right of reply, corrections, editorial independence, and prohibited practices — are universal and non-negotiable across the group.

15. Updates to this Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in law, technology, editorial practice, or team structure. Material changes will be notified by a prominent notice on the Website. The Effective Date at the top indicates the most recent revision. A changelog is maintained below.

16. Contact

• Editorial queries: founders@wiseworkmedia.com
• Corrections: founders@wiseworkmedia.com
• Postal: Wisework Media Private Limited, Flat No. 2804, Panchsheel Green 1, Tower F1, Bishrakh, Gautam Buddha Nagar – 201306, Uttar Pradesh, India