Section 3: Accuracy

Research on the Internet
Checking the facts
Advertising for contributors
Stale pages

Introduction
The British Council’s commitment to accuracy is a core editorial value and fundamental to our reputation. Our output must be well-sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear language. We must be honest and open about what we don’t know and avoid unfounded speculation. If an issue is controversial, relevant opinions as well as facts may need to be considered.

Research on the Internet
The internet provides a rich variety of research sources for content developers to use, including the web. But the internet can sometimes attract hoaxers or people who are trying to deceive and therefore we may need to take special precautions.

Checking the facts
Staff must be rigorous about establishing the origins of material derived from the internet. We must also be alert to the possibility that a site may be a hoax site. Any contributor found through the internet must be thoroughly checked. We must talk to them before involving them in any activity to make sure they are who they say they are.

Advertising for contributors
We should only advertise on the internet for contributors to our activity as a last resort when other research methods have been exhausted. The people who reply are self-selecting and may seek to appear regularly as 'serial guests'. We need to screen out those who are unsuitable or dishonest and those prone to exaggeration.

Any proposal to use a chat room or message board to find contributors must be referred, like other forms of advertising, to the Senior eStrategy Manager

Stale pages
If our websites contain material that is clearly out of date, the British Council’s reputation for high editorial standards may be undermined. Pages must be reviewed frequently and at least twice a year to decide whether they are out of date. At the same time, page owners must test any links to check whether the sites being linked to still exist and, if so, to see that the material remains accurate, suitable and relevant.

At the time when pages are posted on the web, the department responsible for their creation must decide on a coherent management strategy for those pages. Consideration needs to be given to how long the pages should remain on the site, whether they will need frequent updating or whether they should be removed after a short period. Page owners may plan to move pages to a different area which is clearly labelled as containing archive material or clearly label the pages as archived.

News pages must be, by definition, up to date. Any other page that advertises its topicality must also be up to date. Pages that refer to a specific event will normally need to be updated, archived or removed immediately after the event has happened.