We hold the following truth to be self-evident: every article on Bristol IndyMedia, like any piece of media in the modern world, should be consumed critically. We should not "believe everything we read in the papers", but take the responsibility to analyse all the arguments, and doubt all the facts...

Having said this, BIMC appreciates that we (along with our users) have a responsibility to ensure that the quality of material on our newswire is of a reasonable standard. BIMC do not commit to checking every fact in every article, but we do take our general responsibility to standards very seriously. This is particularly important when articles are of a personal nature, and could have very serious implications for a person's life and happiness.

In the event of an article appearing on our newswire that is of a very personal nature we leave the following options open:

1. we may choose to hide, or delete the article. We follow the usual editorial guidelines here - http://bristol.indymedia.org/editorial - but are particularly strict where damaging allegations are apparently uncorroborated and unproven.
   
   
2. If we have the time and energy and we believe the article is particularly important, we may take it upon ourselves to seek verification of the article. Thus, although the article may be hidden in the first place, we can unhide it at a later date.
   
   The method of verification can take a variety of forms. Simply doing some research and using respected sources can be enough. In the case of personal allegations things are more difficult. Our approach tends to be to use "networks of trust". Thus we seek to contact individuals whom we trust and who can vouch for the article, or who can vouch for other individuals who may be able to vouch for the article.
   
   This is the method that we used to verify the article concerning the undercover policeman. We note that this is a difficult, and subjective process; its worth as a process tends to diminish as the chain of trust grows longer. On the other hand (sadly) the activist community is fairly small and so this method is generally effective.

It is very important to note that we do not commit to verifying any given article that appears on the newswire. We are a small bunch of volunteers with limited resources; it is largely up to individuals within BIMC to decide if they have the time to verify a particular article. Thus articles concerned with specific, damaging, individual allegations are quite likely to be hidden or deleted.

Given the general approach outlined above, users should be careful how they use the newswire. We expect users to maintain high standards; we also appreciate that users may not be able to publicise evidence for a particular article. In such a circumstance they should feel free to communicate with BIMC to ensure that, when their article is published, it is not immediately hidden or deleted. If people specifically request BIMC's help with questions of verification then we will always do our best to help out.