Standards and policies
Government Policy Newslinks is always adding new webpages to its monitoring lists, and we encourage subscribers to let us know about webpages that should be added to our nightly harvest.
Not all webpages are acceptable, however, due to a variety of technical reasons. And not all press releases and other informational materials found on those webpages are suitable for our reports.
Notwithstanding these objective constraints: No website or press release is rejected solely due to the content of its press releases. We apply no litmus test—ideological, partisan, religious or otherwise—to the selection process. Our editors are instructed to use all press releases which invoke a public policy issue, and can help meet the news and information needs of our subscribers.
WEBSITES
To qualify for our monitoring list, an organization must post its public policy-related press releases on its website. A website can be rejected for several reasons such as poor design, long download time, and dormancy.
DESIGN: A website must include an index page that lists press releases in reverse chronological order (so that the most recent one is on top) together with a link that will display the press release. The index page entries should be limited to no more than a few dozen press releases, and each entry should include the date of release. The URL for the Index Page should never be changed, and press releases should not be categorized by their subject matter. Also, webpages that are created in response to inquiries (such as Active Server Pages) cannot be monitored because they do not exist until an inquiry is submitted.
DOWNLOAD: An Index Page that takes more than 5 seconds to download will be removed from the monitoring list. Fast downloads can be achieved by eliminating graphic and dynamic elements from the Index Page, and by limiting the number of entries on the Index Page to a few dozen or fewer of the organization’s most recent press releases.
DORMANCY: A website that fails to post a single public policy-related press release in a year will not be eligible for the monitoring list.
PRESS RELEASES
A “press release” is a communication that is distributed to the news media with no conditions attached to its use. To qualify for Government Policy Newslinks, a press release must express a point of view, statement, comment or provide information regarding an issue or incident that implicates a public policy matter, the nature of which might require present or future attention from government policymakers.
Government Policy Newslinks will not use press releases that are written as “hard news” or “feature” articles, display a copyright notice, or credit the author with a byline.
Furthermore, Government Policy Newslinks:
* will not use any press release that does not include a specific release date.
* will not use any press release that is late-posted, even if the release date is current. (This means that a press release with today’s date will not be used if it reacts to an event that occurred two or more days ago. For example, statements reacting to a singular event that occurred on Monday will be acceptable on Monday and Tuesday, but not on Wednesday or later.)
* will not knowingly use a press release that has been mooted or materially affected by subsequent events.
* will not use press releases that are “media advisories;” that is, announcements of media-specific events such as press conferences, background briefings, photo opportunities, etc.
* will not use press releases that announce the granting of rewards, awards, honors, etc.
* will not use press releases that serve a laudatory purpose.
* will not use press releases that contain specific messages aimed to an organization’s supporters, rather than to the general public.
* will not use press releases that contain express advocacy exhortations to participate in a grassroots or direct lobbying activity. (This includes “action alerts” that are more properly addressed to an organization’s members/supporters, and includes such messages as instructions to write or call a policymaker, or attend a rally or demonstration, or in any other way constitutes an appeal for public action.)
* will not use press releases that are rewrites or duplicates of press releases that have been issued by another organization, or is an article that has been published.
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