Below we have outlined the guiding principles at Watchdog Reviews®. Watchdog Reviews® is owned and operated by RKT Publishing, LLC. Please email us at info@watchdogreviews.com if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions.
Guiding Principles
At Watchdog Reviews® our goal is to follow a set of 5 guiding principles:
Credibility
We strive to consistently provide our readers with information that is credible, based on the information known to us, so that readers may be equipped to make their own judgments. In cases where inaccuracies have been brought to our attention within our content, we strive to take reasonable actions to address those inaccuracies.
Transparency
We are committed to demonstrating transparency across the business operations of Watchdog Reviews® by disclosing our advertising policy and information about certain partnerships we may enter into with third parties.
Trustworthiness
We work hard to make Watchdog Reviews® a trusted resource for tech enthusiasts. We have implemented a variety of measures to strengthen our trustworthiness, including implementing policies and procedures for content providers.
Diversity & Inclusivity
We believe that diversity and inclusion are vital to the fabric of Watchdog Reviews®. We celebrate diversity and strive to be inclusive with our publishing practices and our employment practices. We are conscious of the fact that our readers represent a broad cross-section of society, and we take steps to offer information for tech enthusiasts with diverse needs.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.
Community
Our community of tech enthusiasts is important to us at Watchdog Reviews®. Without loyal readers like you, we would not be able to continue providing informative guides and advice. We work hard to create a space where tech enthusiasts feel confident and empowered to make decisions regarding the tech products they buy. It’s for this reason we encourage our readers to provide us with feedback not only about our existing content, but also on content they would like to see in the future. We are always open to constructive criticism and welcome any feedback—both positive and negative—in an effort to further the interests of our community.
Ethics
Society for Professional Journalists Membership
We uphold ethical standards in journalism, as demonstrated by our official membership with Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ). As members, we abide by their four principles that form foundation of ethical journalism:
- Seek Truth and Report It: Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
- Minimize Harm: Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings deserving of respect.
- Act Independently: The highest and primary obligation of ethical journalism is to serve the public.
- Be Accountable and Transparent: Ethical journalism means taking responsibility for one’s work and explaining one’s decisions to the public.
Better Business Bureau Accreditation
We are accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The BBB is a non-profit organization with the goal to help foster “An ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers trust each other. The BBB only offers accreditation to businesses that they have determined to meet their accreditation standards.
The Cybersmile Foundation Membership
An estimated 37% of students experiencing cyberbullying at some point in their lives. To do our part to help decrease cyberbullying, we are a supporting member of The Cybersmile Foundation, a multi-award-winning nonprofit organization that is “committed to digital wellbeing and tackling all forms of abuse and bullying online.”
Guidelines
Our goal is to provide our readers with current research and information available at the time of publication. We disclose our research methods as well as our relationships with third-party providers. In the interests of transparency, we provide links to each of our sources. We make a conscious effort to cite reliable, current, and trustworthy resources such as government agencies, tech experts, scientific journals, esteemed associations and organizations, and other trustworthy entities.
When an article contains affiliate links (a.k.a. point-of-purchase links), we include a plainly apparent disclaimer stating this fact at the top of each page. To learn more about our advertising policy, please refer to the “Advertising” section below.
Our contributors strive to balance factual information with their professional perspectives. When an opinion, rather than a fact, has been presented, we require that it be clearly stated as such.
When reporting on research, we aim to represent each study as accurately as possible by avoiding generalizations and striving to make it known if the research is inconclusive or other considerations must be taken into account.
Quality Standards
Our content reflects our adherence to our own principles and guidelines, as well as ethical guidelines provided by standards set by The Trust Project and other relevant organizations that promote journalism ethics and standards, like The Society of Professional Journalists. We require that our contributors follow these standards and we use a team approach to ensure they uphold these editorial standards. Our team of independent editors strive to fact check articles so that articles are helpful to our readers.
Our editors strive to regularly review and update our content. Any articles that do not meet our standards are not published, edited for accuracy, or removed from our site. We pride ourselves on correcting errors and providing further clarification as quickly as possible.
Of course, it is not always possible to identify errors and/or respond to advances in research. That is why we always encourage our readers to let us know when something is inaccurate. Our readers are welcome to provide us with any feedback or point out any errors by contacting us either by mail or email.
Contributors
Our contributors at Watchdog Reviews® have been chosen not only for their expertise in technology, but also their journalistic skills and integrity. We believe that it’s important to represent a diverse group of voices, which is why we have taken steps to build a team that includes professional writers with tech expertise.
In order to inform our readers about who is responsible for piecing together our content, we’ve made it easier to find information about our authors on our About Page and in each article. All of our articles have the author’s name at the top of the page, along with their profile picture. More information can be found about each author in their full author bio, which you can find by clicking their name to navigate to their individual author page.
We maintain high standards for all of our contributors, and strive to ensure each of them upholds our own guidelines and set of ethics, as well as the SPJ Code of Ethics.
Advertising
Watchdog Reviews® participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an advertising program that allows us to earn a small commission when a user clicks an Amazon link and makes a purchase within a certain time period.
In line with our principle of transparency, this partnership is disclosed in each article, so our readers are informed about how we fund our sites. If you would like to read more, you can read about The Amazon Affiliate Program here.
Product Reviews
Content on the Site may include aggregated third party product reviews by other users from third party sites such as Amazon.com. We do receive an affiliate commission on some, but not all, of the products that we recommend if you decide to click through to the retailer site and make a purchase. Watchdog Reviews® does not accept compensation from product manufacturers in exchange for favorable reviews.
Disclaimer
While the information in the articles and elsewhere on this site is carefully researched and checked for accuracy and credibility, Watchdog Reviews® makes no warranty regarding the content of this site and will not be liable for any loss, damage, or injury arising from the use of any information on the site.
