Our Editorial Standards and Policies

TechCabal is a Big Cabal Media publication covering technology development, business and innovation in Africa. From startup launches and fundraises to mergers, expansions and closures, TechCabal chronicles and leads the conversation about the people, policies, and economics influencing the development of the industry across various sub-sectors. In addition, TechCabal reports on the various ways technology development and innovation impact the everyday lives of Africans in the continent and diaspora. 

Our goal is to carry out journalism that serves our audiences with accuracy, honesty, transparency, and rigour. 

To the ecosystem and businesses we cover, we remain committed to fair, thorough, and impartial coverage with the understanding that our mission is integral to building and sustaining a thriving industry for everyone.

As a media organisation, upholding our integrity and journalistic independence as well as keeping the trust of our audiences is crucial. 

Below are the editorial and ethical standards that our reporters, editors, photo and video producers, graphic designers, and any other individual involved in the making and/or publishing of any editorial product are bound by in the carrying out of their work, whether as full-time staff or freelance contractors. 

As we grow and evolve as a truly Pan-African newsroom, this document will grow and evolve alongside us to reflect the global journalistic standards we hold ourselves to. 

Big Cabal Media, January 2025

Accuracy

Corrections

Every reporter must gather and report on information that is not only accurate and fact-checked but has been obtained through legal and ethical journalistic processes. Always attribute information and never plagiarise. 

Reporters are primarily responsible for ensuring that they speak with appropriate and diverse sources, verify and fact-check information, and produce accurate and balanced news stories, analysis or feature articles. 

Reporters are also responsible for ensuring that facts are not deliberately distorted or misrepresented. 

The need for speed does not absolve reporters from the responsibility to be accurate. However, we understand that sometimes errors may filter into a published story despite a reporter’s best efforts and editors’ input. We correct fact-based errors as soon as they are made known to us and make transparent to our readers any corrections or clarifications made during the life of a story. 

If you notice any errors in our coverage, kindly send an email to editor@techcabal.com 

Take-downs

TechCabal will not take down an already published story, text or visual.

Our reporters take great care to research, report and put together stories, and our editors edit extensively for accuracy, balance, and fairness among other details, before publication. 

We are committed to correcting any fact-based inaccuracies in a published story and being transparent about our mistakes. If you notice any errors in our coverage, kindly send an email to editor@techcabal.com 

Sources

Anonymity

In line with global journalism standards, we prioritise transparency by attributing facts and quotes to fully named sources. 

Anonymity, full or partial (the use of pseudonyms or first names only), is granted only when a source’s life or livelihood is at risk. For example, a source who might lose their job or face retaliation for being linked to a published story can be granted anonymity.

Reporters must evaluate a source’s motives for requesting anonymity, explicitly clarify whether a conversation is off-the-record or on background, and remain cautious of being used to advance an agenda. 

Information from anonymous sources must be verified through publicly available records or on-the-record sources whenever possible. 

Audiences must be provided with enough context and description to assess the reliability and motives of anonymous sources without revealing their identity. 

Once anonymity is granted, we honour it and explicitly explain to readers why a source is anonymous (it is not enough to simply say that a source has requested anonymity, full or partial).

Rarely will a story be published with entirely anonymised sources. 

In instances where a story cannot run with on-the-record sources, reporters must evaluate the information they’ve gathered and the credibility of the sources who have provided the information on background or off-the-record. Reporters will work with the relevant editor to decide whether the story is crucial to the publication’s mission to inform and lead tech conversations in Africa and can be published without a named source. 

Fair Reporting

We aim to produce reporting that is balanced, well contextualised, and enables our audience to fully understand its impact in the ecosystem. We strive to present multiple perspectives and avoid sensationalism or misleading representations. 

Reporters must ensure sources are represented without distortion or selective quoting, and that all relevant context to the full understanding of a story is presented. 

Especially for conflict stories, we offer all individuals, organisations and institutions the opportunity to respond to allegations or criticisms at least twenty-four hours before publication. 

Reporters must be transparent about the terms of their engagement with sources—on-the-record, off-the-record, or on background—and ensure these terms are fully understood, documented and honoured. 

Relationship with Sources

To report fairly and with rigour, our reporters are required to develop and build often long-term relationships with industry stakeholders. 

Reporters must strive towards maintaining healthy and robust relationships with potential or current sources without this impairing their editorial independence or judgement. 

Relationships with sources whose nature presents clear or likely conflicts of interest are prohibited. 

Overall, reporters must ensure that their relationships with sources advance the mission of the publication as a fair, accurate and responsible chronicler of the growth and development of technology across Africa. 

Gifts and Favours

Editorial staff may not receive personal gifts and favours from individuals or organisations we cover or are likely to in exchange for editorial coverage or favours (e.g. seeing the entirety of a news or feature article before publication). 

If at all accepted, personal gifts should be of negligible monetary value and present no outright or perceived conflict of interest. If in doubt, editorial staff should seek the advice of the editor-in-chief before accepting any gifts, monetary or otherwise. 

Overall, reporters must ensure that their decisions as they pertain to current or potential sources advance the mission of the publication as a fair, accurate and responsible chronicler of the growth and development of technology across Africa. 

Responsibility to the news

At TechCabal, it is both the responsibility and contractual obligation of every reporter to rigorously pursue news stories they deem relevant and vital to their beats. Our coverage is driven by the core principle of serving our readers with accurate, comprehensive, and insightful reporting on Africa’s technology ecosystem.

To uphold this commitment, our reporters are expected to: a) pursue news leads and tips diligently and with empathy, b) be open about their methods and processes, c) make reasonable efforts and offer relevant sources ample time to respond to requests for comments (per global journalistic standards, at least 24 hours), and d) rigorously verify all facts, data, and sources before publication.

Conflicts of Interest

Editorial Independence

Like many global media businesses, TechCabal partly relies on advertising, sponsorships and grants to generate revenue. 

As an industry-specific publication, many of these organisations and institutions are those we report on or are likely to report on.

While the editorial and business departments communicate with each other in the business interests of Big Cabal Media, the editorial department maintains strict independence in deciding what stories it pursues as it is crucial to understanding technology and innovation in Africa.

Neither the institutions and organisations that TechCabal does business with, nor their individual representatives, have any decision-making power or influence in assigning, directing, editing or influencing what we report or how we report it. 

Paid-for content is always clearly identified on TechCabal’s platforms and is separate from editorial. 

Outside Work

Editorial staff cannot pitch or publish stories that could be considered a part of TechCabal’s coverage (topics and geographic areas) elsewhere.

In exceptional circumstances (i.e. where such publication may benefit the reporter and organisation as a whole), approval must be sought from the editor-in-chief or Editorial Director prior to the fact. 

Likewise, freelance contractors cannot sell stories or photographs they have been commissioned to produce for TechCabal platforms to other media outlets that may or may not be direct competitors. 

Speaking Engagements

Reporters and other editorial staff are encouraged, with advance notice to their line managers, to participate in industry events or broadcast conversations such as podcasts or television interviews as these boost not only the organisation’s but their individual profiles. 

However, reporters and editorial staff must take care that they represent the work and mission of the publication accurately when speaking as representatives/staff of TechCabal. 

To reuse or reprint any media on any TechCabal platform, seek express permission by writing to editor@techcabal.com.