Our mission

The Business Mail exists to report business news accurately and to explain why it matters. We serve readers who make decisions with the information they read: founders, executives, investors and professionals. That audience is poorly served by promotional filler, so we do not publish it without labelling it clearly.

Accuracy and verification

Every factual claim we publish should be traceable to a source we can stand behind. In practice that means:

• Financial figures are taken from filings, official releases or regulator statements rather than secondary reporting.
• Quotes are used as given. Where we condense for length, the meaning is preserved and the edit is indicated.
• Claims a company makes about itself are attributed to that company, not presented as established fact.
• Where we cannot verify something, we either say so plainly or we do not publish it.

We would rather publish later and be right than publish first and correct later.

Sources

We prefer named, on the record sources. We use unnamed sources only where the information is of clear public interest, where the source has a legitimate reason to require anonymity, and where we have corroborated the substance independently. We protect the identity of confidential sources.

Commissioned content

We publish commissioned business features. This funds the publication and we are open about it. The following rules are absolute:

• All commissioned content carries a visible label identifying it as such. The label appears on the article itself, not only in a footer or a policy page.
• Commissioned content is never presented as independent newsroom reporting.
• Commissioning a feature does not buy favourable coverage anywhere else on the site, and it does not protect a company from critical reporting.
• Commercial partners do not see editorial copy before publication and have no influence over what the newsroom covers.
• We decline commissioned content that is misleading, defamatory, or that promotes unregulated financial products or schemes.

A publication that quietly sells favourable coverage is worth nothing to its readers and, in the end, nothing to its commercial partners either. Labelling protects both.

Company announcements

Announcements we publish are identified as such and attributed to the issuing organisation. We may edit for length, clarity and house style. Publishing an announcement is not an endorsement of its claims, and we do not independently verify promotional claims within them beyond checking that they are not misleading or unlawful.

Use of artificial intelligence

We may use AI tools to assist with research, transcription, formatting and first drafts. Every article is reviewed and edited by a person before publication, and a human editor is accountable for its accuracy. We do not publish unreviewed machine generated articles.

Corrections

We correct errors promptly and visibly.

• Factual errors are corrected in the article and a correction note is appended stating what changed and when.
• Minor fixes such as spelling or broken links are made without a note.
• Where an error changed the meaning of a story, we say so explicitly rather than editing quietly.
• We do not delete articles to resolve complaints about accurate reporting.

To report an error, write to info@thebusinessmail.com with the article, the specific claim and the correct information.

Conflicts of interest

Contributors must disclose any financial interest, employment relationship or personal connection to a company they write about. Where a conflict cannot be avoided, it is disclosed within the article. Contributors do not trade on the basis of information obtained before publication.

Right of reply

Where an article makes a significant critical claim about a company or an individual, we seek comment before publication wherever practicable. If comment arrives after publication, we update the article to include it.

Images and attribution

We use licensed, public domain or supplied imagery and credit it where required. We do not present altered images as unaltered. Illustrative stock imagery is used only where it cannot be mistaken for documentary evidence of the events described.

Independence

Editorial decisions are made by the newsroom. No commercial partner or outside party has authority over what we publish or how we frame it.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent to info@thebusinessmail.com.