Our editorial ethics policy

Axios’ editorial team always aims to discern the truth, verify its accuracy and write in an objective manner without conflicts of interest.

• When speaking with sources, we will state clearly who we are and what we do.
• We will maintain professionalism with all sources, both in person and on social media.
• We will clarify with the source which parts of a conversation are on-the-record and off-the-record.
• We will respect and be civil to all people we have contact with.
• If a person or a company is being accused of something, or is being portrayed in a strong negative light, they will be contacted to try and get their viewpoint before publication.
• While striving to get it right the first time, if a mistake happens, we will always be transparent and follow our Corrections Protocol.
• We will never falsify any part of our news and we will always provide attribution to others if they are the source of our information.

There is a strong firewall between our editorial department and the non-editorial segments of Axios. Decisions made by the editorial department are 100% separate from our advertisers, sponsors and investors. All new ideas, projects and contact outreach from sales or events must go through the editor in chief. There is more explanation here.

• If a story involves an investor, board member or business partner, we disclose the relationship in the story or on the bottom of the story. If a story is on the advertising sponsor, we reserve the right to remove the advertisement if we believe it could cause reader confusion.
• We clearly differentiate non-journalistic pieces, including advertisements and sponsors, in all of our news products so as not to cause confusion to our audience.
• The editorial department pays our own way. However, a journalist providing a service like moderating a panel or taking a leadership role in a conference may accept travel-related expenses with manager approval. Sometimes, a journalist may accept an honorarium when giving a speech — these must be pre-approved on an individual basis by both their manager and the editor in chief. If a story comes out of those travels, this will be disclosed.
• A journalist reviewing a product (such as a car or a piece of new technology) may accept temporary use of that product to write a full review. The manufacturer knows the review of the product will not be affected by the loan. The product will only be used for the review for a stated period of time.

If a journalist has a real or perceived conflict of interest (including financial or personal) to their beat, they are required to disclose this to their manager, the editor in chief and the standards editor. Efforts will be made to remove this possible conflict but if a conflict is unavoidable, this will be disclosed at the bottom of the story.