CoinMinutes’ Initiatives for Advancing Ethical Crypto Journalism

The harsh reality is that crypto journalism, in general, is filled with low-quality content.

Writers boost the value of coins that they hold in secret. “Journalists” rehash the content of press releases without checking the facts. Some publications basically become the marketing departments of those who pay them.

At Coinminutes Cryptocurrency, we chose to operate differently. Our whole operation was grounded in a single idea: be honest, even if it makes you look uncomfortable.

The​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Importance of Ethics in Crypto Journalism

We need to discuss the reasons the matter being so important.

How about the story of fake news that Walmart would accept Litecoin? In fact, the value skyrocketed in an hour by 30%. A lot of people bought in, as they thought it was a golden opportunity. However, soon after, the truth was revealed. Prices plummeted. People of the street lost money as a result of the fact that no one thought of verifying a simple press release.

This is an example of the extraordinary power that crypto journalism is capable of.

Real Money, Real Consequences

Writing about crypto is on a different level compared to writing movie reviews. For instance, no one will go bankrupt just because you gave a badly made movie five stars. However, if you write a misleading article about a DeFi protocol, then an individual can lose their entire life savings.

I have witnessed this. One of my friends bought into a certain project after he saw a coverage that looked so genuine. Later, it was revealed that the article was basically an advertising piece – just that it wasn’t disclosed. He lost $3,000, a thing he could have never done if he hadn’t lost the money.

Useful Reference: https://soundcloud.com/coinminutescrypto

Writing about crypto carries real financial consequences.

Building Trust in a Trustless World

Isn’t Crypto supposed to be trustless? We don’t have to trust anyone since everything is done by the code. But still, people rely on the news to get information. The whole ecosystem is the one that suffers when this trust disappears.

Good journalism creates communities with keen understanding. Meanwhile, bad journalism creates people with huge crypto bags.

Education Matters More Than Hype

Most users of Cryptocurrency Market are still novices. They are trying to get the meaning of DeFi, NFTs, Layer 2 solutions which are very complicated and even experts differ their opinions on these topics. It is not our task to hype up the newest trend. It is our task to provide the truth and also indicate the importance of the ​‍​‌‍​‍‌matter.

CoinMinutes’​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Core Ethical Principles

We don’t just pipe up about ethics. We put them in writing and actually adhere to them.

No Trading What We Cover

Your guess is as good as ours but we are sure that it is one of their very first and most known rules, at the very least. Without doubt, our writers cannot have the tokens of which they write and are the holders. Absolutely. You cannot give impartial coverage of something in which you are financially invested. It is simple human psychology.

We didn’t really expound on this later, as we learned this lesson very early. One of our first writers was cranking out articles about coins going up that he owned like there was no tomorrow. The bias was quite subtle but still present. Indeed, we changed the policy right away.

Multiple Sources, Every Time

When we do say something, we prove it, too. The reviews of the code always come with the link to the very code. Price predictions always come with the data backing them. Regulatory analysis always comes from referenced specific laws and court cases.

They should be allowed to judge for themselves seeing the evidence of our thinking. They may concur or differ with us, but they will know why we arrived at our conclusions.

Show Your Work

When we declare, we provide the support for those statements. Code audits show the link to the actual code. Price forecasts have the data supporting them. Regulatory discussion refers to specific laws and court cases.

Consumers have the right to interpret our reasoning. They can be of the same or different opinion, but they will be aware of the fact that we have arrived at our decisions in that way. ​‍​‌‍​‍‌

Commitments​‍​‌‍​‍‌ to Maintain and Enhance Ethical Norms

We actually keep our self-accountability in this manner.

Induction Program With Real Impact

None of the writers can publish any of their works before they have gone through ethics training. It is not a one-time, short, and superficial presentation – instead, it is comprehensive training. They get the knowledge of spotting conflicts of interest, technical verification of claims, and source protection.

To keep their knowledge up-to-date, the experienced writers are also called for refresher training sessions every quarter.

Examining Editorial

Before being published, every work is verified by four different tiers of people:

• The writer makes the first draft

• A technical expert checks the accuracy of the information and the data

• A senior editor assesses the text for style, bias, and compliance

• The managing editor makes the final decision

Is it more time-consuming? Certainly. Is it valuable though? Definitely.

Community Accountability

One of the things we do is to make public our editorial guidelines. Of course, we set the standards, and the readers can call us when we do not live up to them. And it is exactly what they do, which is precisely what we expect.

Communities’ opinion has been instrumental in helping us to find mistakes that we overlooked. It has also been helpful in covering areas we have not thought of. Moreover, some of our best articles are those that come from reader’s ​‍​‌‍​‍‌ideas.

Leveraging​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Technology for Ethical Journalism

Technology alone cannot make the right decisions, but it definitely can help by bringing to light issues that we are not able to see.

Automated Fact-Checking

We instantly verify the transaction claims by using blockchain explorers. The price information is automatically cross-checked through various exchanges. The verification of smart contract addresses is done even before the release of the publication.

These are just simple things, but they go a long way in stopping embarrassing errors.

Automated fact-checking—blockchain data, prices, and contracts are verified instantly to prevent mistakes.

Bias Detection

Natural language processing tools analyze the content of our articles to identify any promotional language. They indicate the use of extreme positive or negative tone. They recognize instances of the excessive use of technical jargon.

They are not flawless, but quite valuable. Human editors still have the final say.

Plagiarism Prevention

Tools for content scanning verify each article in comparison with already published works. On numerous occasions, we have discovered instances of unintentional plagiarism. Authors sometimes adopt certain expressions from their sources without being aware of it.

It is far better to be identifying the instances before the articles are published rather than having to face accusations later ​‍​‌‍​‍‌on.

Measuring​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Impact and Continuous Improvement

Measuring ethical journalism is challenging. It is not as straightforward as measuring clicks or ad revenue.

Correction Rates

We monitor how frequently we have to issue corrections. A lower rate of corrections indicates that fact-checking is more thorough. Higher correction rates may signify a need for additional staff training or the pressure of tight deadlines.

At the moment, our correction rate is less than 2% of the articles we have published. Not flawless, but we are making progress.

Reader Trust Surveys

We conduct trust and satisfaction surveys with readers every quarter. Receiving feedback anonymously allows us to uncover issues that we might not be able to see from the inside. Conversations on social media serve as another source of insight.

The feedback is not always comfortable. However, honest criticism is always better than false compliments.

Industry Recognition

Our work is cited by other publications regularly. It means they trust our reporting enough to be willing to risk their reputation. Our team gets invited to talk about ethics in journalism at crypto conferences.

Being trusted by the readers is more important than ​‍​‌‍​‍‌recognition.

Conclusion

Truthful ethical crypto journalism involves more than just abiding by policies. It entails providing help to the readers who rely on the right information in order to take financial decisions.

We are not flawless. Occasionally, we stumble. However, we make an effort to find these mistakes before the release of the publication, to rectify them rapidly if we don’t, and to take a lesson from each fault.

The crypto industry is a good client of quality and professional journalism. That’s the type of journalism we are offering, in progress and article by ​‍​‌‍​‍‌article.

Picked For You: CoinMinutes Practices for Ethical Review of Crypto Content