Editorial Standards and Practices
SBLY Media, an entity of SBLY, seeks to serve the media landscape as the next generation of digital storytellers with content that people want to share. In a sea of news that can be discouraging, SBLY Media’s eight domains provide an escape into a good laugh at human nature, a touching moment that often goes unnoticed, something useful or all that’s good with the world. While we bring a casual light-heartedness to our content and our family of readers that join us, we take very seriously our Editorial Standards as this is what allows readers to know they are getting information we’ve vetted and can trust. Our writers and editors follow a code of ethics and conduct to ensure our content is factually accurate, as unbiased as humanly possible and safe for the entire family.
SBLY Media does not receive outside funding which allows us to stay true to keeping our content in line with our optimistic values.
Our websites include Shareably at shareably.net, Parenting Isn’t Easy at parentingisnteasy.co, Spotlight at spotlightstories.co, Sweet and Savory at sweetandsavory.co, See It Live at seeitlive.co, Animal Channel at animalchannel.co, Home Hacks at homehacks.co and Relieved at relieved.co, and each shares content specific to its audience.
Our Standards
Readers can be assured by the following standards we follow at SBLY Media:
- Family-friendly content - We are aware that our audience comes to our websites and content to brighten their day or learn something useful. We try to take it one step further to ensure readers can feel comfortable sharing with their friends and family.
- Fact-checked - While most of our content is for entertainment purposes, we have processes in place to ensure that the human-interest, health and other fact-based stories we publish are factually accurate. We are also careful to ensure that images we use are properly sourced and attributed.
- Zero tolerance for plagiarism - We have a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism. If we discover a writer has plagiarized content verbatim, we take immediate action and discontinue our working relationship with the writer in question.
- Non-partisan - Our editorial independence allows us to keep our content unbiased and not politically connected. While individuals in our stories may have their own leaning we work to keep the focus on the heart of the stories we share rather than on potentially divisive political or other biases.
- Treat mistakes with respect - Like all publishers, sometimes we make mistakes. If we make a mistake, we listen and take action to remedy the issue immediately and respectfully.
Family-friendly content
Our editors serve as the final gatekeepers who check that any content we write is vetted before it is published to align with our family-friendly values. We carefully source content, monitor the language we use and treat sensitive subjects with care by setting in place checks and balances from writer to editor to publishing. When editors receive a draft from a writer, in addition to checking for other important aspects of a piece, they look to make sure the language used is appropriate for anyone to view. This allows us to keep the stories that we share accessible for people of all ages.
Fact-checked
Writers provide sources for all of their stories and are asked to check that their content is accurate before submitting a piece. Editors then double check that all sources and the stories we share are fact-checked again. This double-layer of our process allows readers to rest easy knowing we have vetted the content we publish for accuracy.
Zero tolerance for plagarism
All of the content we publish is properly sourced and written by our writers. Writers are aware that we do not tolerate plagiarism and editors double check work before it is published to ensure that writers have given credit to any original sources and that lines and non-general language from other sources are not copied. If a writer is found to have plagiarized, it is a stark violation of our editorial standards and we let them go immediately.
Non-partisan
In order to keep our content family-friendly and accessible to all ages, we do not promote any political leaning or ideologies in our work. Writers and editors ensure that language is unbiased and treats subjects fairly. While we may share a story in which the subject of the story has a particular leaning, we acknowledge that these are not the politics or ideologies held by SBLY Media and we do our best to keep the content we publish clear and free of any language that expresses a particular leaning.
Treat mistakes with respect
As humans creating content, we acknowledge that sometimes we make mistakes. When we catch a mistake or a mistake is brought to our attention, we take steps as soon as possible to remedy the situation. Sometimes this means an article needs to be rewritten to reflect newly discovered information, an image needs to be cited differently or a story needs to be taken down completely. We treat each issue that arises individually and with respect.
Editorial Team
Our editorial team includes a team of editors, an editorial lead and a managing editor who are all well-versed in SBLY Media’s audience and take pride in creating content that entertains, uplifts or informs readers. This team upholds SBLY Media’s editorial standards by communicating with writers, setting up internal processes that make our standards clear and doing a final edit of any piece before it goes live.
Not only do our writers follow guidelines outlined in an internal Writer Handbook, but after they have written any content, our team of editors combs through each piece to fact-check, proofread and prepare the final piece for publication. This serves as a checks and balances process to ensure that our writers have followed the standards we’ve set forth and to make sure the piece captures the spirit of our content.