How trusted is your content? It will be with an editorial policy.

An editorial policy isn't just a nice-to-have, it's your brand's trust anchor. 

In the past, those who produced content had journalistic standards to uphold, which meant (for the most part) you could trust what you were reading. 

Now, everyone’s a publisher. No printing press required. If you have a LinkedIn account, a Substack, or a smartphone with a decent signal, you’re in the content business.  

But not everyone has standards. Or policies. Or even a second set of eyes before “send” gets pressed. 

And that’s the problem. 

Because trust is built with transparency 

“Policy” might sound like something from the filing cabinet of a compliance officer. 

(Our founder Angela would’ve rolled her eyes once too. But in a world overflowing with content, an editorial policy isn’t bureaucracy. It says: we’re not just making content.  

We’re thinking about how we make it and are willing to share how we do it. It’s a bit like a physicist scribbling the equations on the blackboard, only you don’t need a maths degree to follow along this time. 

Policies build trust not because they sound official, but because they pull back the curtain. They show your audience (and your team) that you’ve considered the why, the how, and the impact, not just the output.  

Of course, publishing a policy isn’t the end game. The real work of a policy is applying it, even when it’s inconvenient. And the trust equation goes a bit further than transparency alone (but that’s an article for another day).  

It’s not about making your content more vanilla. It’s about naming the nuance. 

An editorial policy says what your content might not have space to say or assumes people already know (when they don’t). It helps your audience read you better, and your team write you better; it turns fuzzy instincts into shared standards. 

And this part matters: we’re not saying you shouldn’t have a bias, an interest, or a point of view. We’re saying you should name it. 

We’re a PR agency. Of course, we believe in the power of PR. Of course we believe in the power of a strong agency/partner relationship. That’s not buried in the fine print, we call it out. 

Case in point: we believe so strongly that every business should have an editorial policy, we offer it as a service. You’ll see that mentioned at the end. 

So yes, disclaimer made, bias declared, still worth reading. What we’re against is pretending to be neutral when you’re not - or hiding vested interests behind the guise of objectivity.  

"A good policy makes it clear where you stand and why."

Still though... who’s going to read it? 

Fair question. Most people don’t care how the sausage is made. Many won’t read your editorial policy. That’s okay. It’s not written for headlines; it’s written for the quality of the work that reaches them. 

Think of it like sound design: invisible when done well, distracting when not. A good policy shapes the clarity, accuracy, and consistency behind what your audience does see, even if they never peek behind the curtain. 

This isn’t a manifesto. It’s a movement 

A policy can’t fix distrust on its own. But it can help protect your brand against suspicion and show that you’re not afraid to be held accountable. 

"We’ve published our own editorial policy, not to tick a box, but to set a standard. It’s how we hold ourselves accountable."

So, marketing managers, consultants, business owners, and directors, let’s do this together. If more brands make their editorial values public, we all raise the bar. And in a world full of misinformation, disinformation, hot takes, and deepfakes, that matters. 

Show us your standards. 

Want help writing yours? 

We’d love to help.  

Email hello@brainchild.co.nz and let’s build the bones of something you can stand behind.