Publishing PolicyAbout Publishing Policy
For brands as good as their word.
What Is a Publishing Policy?
A publishing policy is a public document where an organization states the standards that govern how it creates, verifies, and distributes information.
It covers the practices that define how an organization publishes: verification processes, content standards, corrections procedures, AI disclosure, transparency commitments, and accountability measures.
What makes it different from an internal style guide or a terms-of-service page: a publishing policy is self-defined (not imposed by a regulator), publicly stated (not kept internal), and independently citable (licensed CC-BY once published, so anyone can reference it).
What Makes It Different
Verified to your domain
Your policy is cryptographically tied to your URL through domain verification. It's not a social media post or a PDF — it's proof that the organization behind the domain stands behind the standards.
Structured, not open-ended
A guided framework ensures every policy addresses the topics that matter — sourcing, corrections, AI disclosure, accountability. You decide where you stand on each. You can't skip the hard questions.
Public and citable
Published policies are CC-BY licensed and timestamped. Your audience can reference your commitments, and you can't quietly walk them back. That's the point — accountability requires a record.
The Problem
Trust in information is eroding. AI-generated content is accelerating it. Everyone talks about misinformation — the false claims, the misleading headlines, the fabricated stories. But misinformation is a symptom.
The cause is malpublishing: organizations releasing information to the public without clear standards for accuracy, transparency, or accountability. There would be no misinformation without publishing malpractice.
The conversation has focused on what audiences should do — fact-check, be skeptical, media-literate. But the responsibility belongs to the organizations that control the platforms, the publications, and the URLs where information originates. They should define what they stand for, and stand behind it publicly.
Malpublishing
“Malpublish” /mal-PUB-lish/ (verb)
To publish in a manner that violates your own stated ethical standards.
Term coined March 2023 by Roarke Clinton. malpublish.org
Unlike universal ethics codes that try to apply the same rules to everyone, malpublishing is personal. A tabloid and an academic journal have different standards — and that's fine. What matters is that each organization clearly states its own standards and lives up to them.
Publishing Policy inverts the typical approach. Instead of defining what's bad and asking organizations to avoid it, we ask: what do you stand for? Your commitments become your standard. Violating them is malpublishing — for you.
If you commit to two-source verification, then publishing without it is malpublishing. If you commit to disclosing AI-generated content, then publishing it without disclosure is malpublishing. The definition follows from the commitment.
Open by Design
Published policies are licensed CC-BY 4.0. Anyone can quote, share, or reference a published policy with attribution — even if the publisher later deletes it.
This is intentional. A publishing policy is a public commitment, and public commitments should be citable. If an organization says “we verify every claim with two independent sources,” their audience should be able to hold them to it.
Unpublished drafts are private and never shared. The license only applies when you choose to publish.
Who's Behind This
Publishing Policy is built and operated by Roarke Clinton. The entire codebase is public — you can see exactly what we're building, how it works, and every change we make.
The plan is to incorporate as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit so the platform is governed independently, not controlled by any single person or company. Until that happens, it's a one-person operation with public code and transparent development.
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