Common use of Editorial Standards Clause in Contracts

Editorial Standards. A. Decisions about whether to publish or remove editorial content (e.g. articles; videos; podcasts; social media posts, excluding advertising content; or other non-advertising content) for which the Company controls publishing rights, is created by bargaining unit employees, and is for dissemination on Vox Media-owned and -operated digital verticals, or other distribution channels controlled by Vox Media, subject to the direction of the platform itself, (e.g., Vox Media's operated Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts) (defined for the purposes of this Article as "Editorial Content"), including modifications of the aforementioned Editorial Content, shall only be made by editorial staff, subject to editorial management, up through the level of the Publisher (subject to the right of the CEO of Vox Media to make such decisions because of legitimate business considerations, and also subject to the review and direction by the legal team for legal, compliance, and use considerations, and the review and input by the product and technology teams for technology-related considerations). Except for legal compliance or use considerations, the CEO or Publisher shall not decline to publish Editorial Content, or shall not remove or modify Editorial Content, due to a request from a third- party that is based on said third-party's business considerations. B. Bargaining unit employees shall not be reassigned to a different beat or assignment based solely on a request from an advertiser, sponsor, outside investor, or entity that is a subject of the employee’s reporting. C. Bargaining unit employees shall have the right to raise concerns with affiliate links embedded in their editorial work if they reasonably believe the link(s) will create the appearance of a conflict of interest. The Company will assess and respond to the concern(s) in good faith within three (3) business days. The Company will notify the employee as to whether the affiliate links will remain included in the work and will provide the reasoning behind such decision. If the work is unpublished, the Company will refrain from publishing the work with the affiliate link until this process is complete. The decision to include affiliate links remains at the sole discretion of the Company. D. All content that fits the FTC definition of "Native Advertising" shall be labeled and identified in compliance with applicable law. This provision shall be subject to the grievance provisions of this Agreement, but not the arbitration provisions of this Agreement. Should the issue not be resolved via the grievance process, further legal remedy may be sought. E. Communications concerning staffing or other Company-specific matters will not be credited to the staff of the vertical if they are written and published by public relations employees not in the Union. F. Creators of "Editorial Content", as that term is defined in paragraph (a) herein, shall not be required to work on content for which advertisers or sponsors have approval over content in the published work. This shall not apply to circumstances where a host is required to read advertising copy, except that, if a bargaining unit employee, for a deeply held personal belief, objects to a specific copy, they may express that objection to the Company, and the Company will make commercially reasonable efforts to find an alternative that does not create the same objection. G. Articles which are indicated as being presented by a third-party or sponsor shall have a clearly visible link on the vertical's homepage, and on the page on which the article is presented, to the vertical's policy on advertisers and sponsored content. H. The Company shall disclose to the Guild in a timely manner the existence of new on-going syndication agreements (other than one-off syndication agreements), and license agreements with publishers to publish their property or properties on the Company's proprietary publishing platform. I. The Company shall disclose to the Guild in a timely manner all new material investors in the Company (i.e., those who invest at least 5% of the value of the Company), and other new investors in the Company who are otherwise publicly disclosed on the Vox Media webpage. J. Bargaining unit employees shall not be assigned to create content which is demonstrably false, or may be reasonably construed to violate ethical journalistic standards.