Editorial Policy

This page explains how headlines get onto The News Gator, and what to do if something is wrong.

Our source list is fixed and visible

We aggregate from a fixed list of third-party publishers, shown in full on the front page. Sources are added or removed deliberately, and the list is the same for every visitor.

Selection and ordering are automated

Stories may be organized and ordered using automated rules and internal scoring systems. There is no per-story human sign-off before a headline appears, and the order you see is produced by those systems rather than chosen by an editor.

Stories stop appearing on the front page once they are no longer recent.

Headlines are the publisher’s own words

The headline text we display is the text the publisher supplied in their own feed. We do not rewrite headlines, and we do not add our own summary or commentary to another publisher’s story. The category label shown on a story is ours, and is applied automatically.

Related coverage is not yet grouped

Grouping coverage of the same event from different publishers into a single topic is under development and is not switched on. Until it is, two publishers covering one story appear as two separate entries. We would rather show you that plainly than claim a grouping we are not yet confident in.

We link out, we do not republish

We show a headline, a timestamp, a category and, where available, the image the publisher supplied in their feed. Every one of those links to the publisher’s own page. We do not host article text, and we do not place our own branding on another publisher’s reporting. Copyright in the underlying reporting remains with the publisher.

Inclusion is not endorsement

A story appearing here does not mean we agree with it, and it does not mean we have verified it. The accuracy of any article is the responsibility of the publisher who wrote it. If you believe a story is wrong, the publisher who wrote it is the right place to raise it, and their page is one click away.

Corrections and removals

If something on this site is wrong — a headline attributed to the wrong publisher, a broken or misdirected link, or a story you believe should not be listed — we want to fix it. A published contact address is not yet available; until it is, corrections can be raised with the publisher concerned.

Changes to this policy

When what the site does changes, this page changes with it, and the review date above moves.