Editorial Standards & Contributor Safety

These standards apply to everything the AYP Media Center publishes: the AYP Newsroom, Youth Voices (Voice of the Provinces), podcasts, the photo and video gallery and AYP social channels. AYP is an unregistered, volunteer, online youth platform in its founding phase. These standards describe how we work today and the rules every contributor, editor and volunteer follows.

In scope:

• education, scholarships and skills;
• skills and livelihoods: small business, online work, crafts;
• culture and heritage in our home languages;
• diaspora life: study, work and settling in host communities;
• health and wellbeing, using public information from WHO and UNICEF;
• climate and environment: water, drought and disaster preparedness;
• digital skills, and media and information literacy;
• scam and misinformation alerts affecting Afghans abroad (for example fake visa, job or scholarship offers);
• AYP’s own work: courses, Think Tank publications and Youth Pulse findings.

Out of scope: politics, security, conflict, and the conduct of any authority. We do not publish breaking news, incident reports or political statements, and we do not republish other outlets’ news feeds.

From the Founding Session onward, every story is checked by two people before publication. The first reviewer checks content and facts; the second checks safety (identities, places, dates, images and consent). Until two reviewers are available, the Media Center publishes only AYP’s own updates and holds community stories unpublished.

• the topic is on the in-scope list;
• every number has a named and linked source (for example a UN agency, WHO or a university), or it is removed;
• claims about other people are attributed, or removed;
• at least one independent check: a second source, a document or a well-known public fact;
• no rumours and no unverified “sources say”;
• dates are given as month or season, and places as province or region at most.

• we keep a written consent record for every identifiable person, stating what was agreed (quote, photo, voice or name) and the date;
• consent covers one use only; reuse needs new consent;
• children’s faces are always blurred, and children are never named;
• anyone can withdraw consent at any time, without giving a reason;
• takedown: write to [email protected] with the page link. We act within 72 hours, and at once when a person’s safety is concerned.

Contributors publish under a pen name or as “AYP community contributor” by default. We never publish the real name, face, voice or exact place of a contributor living in Afghanistan. Contributors outside Afghanistan may choose to use their own name, only by asking in writing.

• send photos and stories to the editor only, by direct message, as normal photos (not as files); never post faces, exact places or dates in any group or channel;
• do not show faces without consent; always blur the faces of children;
• do not write the exact place or date;
• we remove location data (metadata) from every image and file before publishing;
• no photos of security forces, checkpoints, government buildings or protests.

If we get something wrong, we correct it within 72 hours of a valid report. A dated “Correction” note is added to the item, saying what changed. Every correction is recorded in our corrections log. To report an error, write to [email protected].

AYP is a volunteer platform and never handles money. AYP never pays contributors and never collects money from them, for stories, training or membership. If anyone asks you for money in AYP’s name, do not pay and tell us at [email protected].

Some stories are hard to hear or to write. Contributors and editors may say no to any task, take a break or stop at any time. Editors never review distressing material alone, and no story is worth putting anyone at risk. If a story would require going somewhere unsafe, asking officials or photographing people who have not agreed, do not do it.

Status: Planned. Eight short modules, in Farsi-e-Dari and Pashto first, with an English version:

1. Mission, neutrality and the topic list
2. Personal and device safety
3. Consent and dignity
4. Photos and video, safely
5. Writing a community story and checking facts
6. The AYP editorial workflow
7. Wellbeing and stress
8. Media and information literacy

Reference guides: CPJ Safety Kit and RSF Safety Guide for Journalists.

• AYP Media Center
• AYP Newsroom
• Voice of the Provinces
• Safeguarding and PSEAH Policy
• All policies