Editorial Standards

What this page is

Közet is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that reports in Uyghur, English and Mandarin on Uyghurs, their homeland, and the world around them. This page sets out the standards every Közet report, investigation and Radar edition is held to, and how to reach us when we get something wrong.

We publish these standards because our credibility is the only asset we have. Readers inside and outside the region, in Beijing and in Washington, should be able to check what we did and hold us to it. These standards are built on the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics and the membership standards of the Institute for Nonprofit News, of which Közet is a member, and draw on the published practices of leading investigative and open-source newsrooms, adapted to the particular problem of reporting on a closed region from outside it.

These standards apply to every person who reports, edits or produces content for Közet, including freelancers and contributors, and to every tool we use.

Independence

Közet is nonpartisan. It does not advocate for policies, sanctions, legislation or political outcomes, and is not aligned with any government, party or movement. Közet does report from a standpoint, and states it: the people of the region are entitled to accurate information about their own affairs, in their own language, and Közet names their places as they name them. Beyond that, we report what we can establish, attribute what we cannot, and leave conclusions to readers.

Funders have no role in editorial decisions. No funder sees a story before publication, assigns a story, or is told what we are working on. Közet’s institutional funders are the National Endowment for Democracy, which is funded by the U.S. Congress; Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a nonprofit; and the Freedom Media Lab at American University, which has made a gift grant. None has any role in what Közet reports. Our donor transparency policy is set out below. Közet’s founder, Kasim Kashgar, reported for Voice of America, a U.S.-government-funded broadcaster, from 2019 to 2025; Közet has no relationship with VOA or its parent agency.
We do not take positions. Közet does not endorse candidates, campaigns, sanctions, boycotts or legislation, and does not sign open letters or petitions. Staff do not participate in advocacy on the subjects we cover. Közet does not publish editorials or opinion. Explainers are labeled as explainers and held to the same sourcing standards as reported stories.
Governments and advocacy organizations are sources, not partners. We treat statements from the Chinese government, the U.S. government, and Uyghur advocacy organizations by the same rule: attributed, verified where possible, and never adopted as Közet’s own voice. We label advocacy groups as such.
We use our own words. Közet does not adopt the vocabulary of any party to the story. Official Chinese terms such as “counter-terrorism,” “de-extremification” and “vocational training” appear only in quotation marks or with attribution. Terms used by advocacy groups appear with attribution. Közet’s usage of the region’s names is under review; see Language, names and terminology.
Staff disclose conflicts. Reporters and editors disclose to the editor in chief any family, financial or organizational tie to a subject of their reporting, and are reassigned where a reasonable reader would question their independence. Family inside the region is not in itself a conflict; it is a reason for the source-protection rules below.

Editorial independence and donor transparency

Közet is a publication of Uyghur Monitor Inc., a nonprofit incorporated in Delaware and recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service under section 501(c)(3). Közet subscribes to the standards of editorial independence and donor transparency adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Editorial independence. Közet retains full authority over editorial content. We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, foundations and organizations to support our work, and we maintain a firewall between news judgments and all sources of revenue. We cede no right of review or influence over editorial content to any funder, and our news judgments are made independently, not on the basis of donor support. Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their views. This policy is included in every grant and donor agreement.

Donor transparency. We publish the names of all donors who give $5,000 or more in a year, and the names of all institutional funders regardless of amount, on our About page, and update the list at least annually. We accept anonymous gifts only where we can ensure that the gift cannot be used to influence coverage, and anonymous gifts will not exceed 15 percent of annual revenue. We will not accept donations from sources that, in the judgment of editorial leadership, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence, including any government of the People’s Republic of China or any entity acting on its behalf. We disclose within a story any funder with a direct interest in it.

Advertising and sponsored content. Közet does not currently carry advertising or sponsored content. If it does in future, such content will be prominently labeled and will have no influence on editorial decisions.

Sourcing and verification

A claim appears in Közet’s voice only when Közet has verified it. Everything else is attributed to the person, document or outlet that made it.

Primary sources first. Where a primary record exists (a court document, a government bulletin, a corporate filing, a procurement notice, an official transcript, the original social-media post), we read it ourselves before reporting it. We do not rely on a news report, an aggregator or an AI-generated summary of a document we could have opened. Where a primary record is behind a block we cannot pass, we say so and name what we relied on instead.

Two sources for state-media claims. A factual claim that originates in Chinese state or party media runs in Közet’s voice only with a second, independent source. Otherwise it is reported as what the outlet said. The same rule applies to claims originating with advocacy organizations.

Absence claims name their evidence. When we report that something was not said or not done (a statement that does not mention Uyghurs, a readout that omits a topic), we name every document we reviewed. Silence in the public record is not evidence of silence in private; we say which it is.

Findings stay the size of their evidence. A UN finding about the region is not a finding about a county; a court record that a company’s shares were auctioned is not a record of who owns the building. We do not stretch a source to cover a specific place, person or claim it does not name.

Numbers carry their scope. A company’s figure is reported with its true scope (companywide, regional, one project). A figure that has appeared in earlier official reporting is identified as repeated, not new.

Images and video. Geolocation and chronolocation are done by Közet and described in the story: what was compared with what, and what the comparison does and does not establish. A broadcaster’s caption is the broadcaster’s claim about its footage until we have watched the footage; we say which.

Documents from inside the region. Documents provided to Közet are checked for authenticity before use, by methods appropriate to the document (metadata, internal consistency, corroboration against public records, consultation with a specialist), and the story describes how the document was authenticated to the extent that doing so does not expose the source.

What we could not verify is stated. Every investigation and every Radar item says what Közet could not confirm. We do not omit a limitation because it weakens a story.

Identification of people. Names, photographs and identifying details of people inside the region, or with family inside it, are published only with informed consent or when the person is a public official acting in an official capacity. See Source protection.

Attribution, quotation and originality

Every fact that is not Közet’s own finding is attributed in the sentence where it appears, and the source’s relationship to the state or to a party in the story is named.

Outlets are identified by ownership. “Xinjiang Daily, the regional party committee’s newspaper”; “CCTV, the state broadcaster”; “China News Service, a state news agency”; “The Paper, a Shanghai state-owned outlet”; “South China Morning Post, owned by Alibaba.” Sponsored or commercial content is labeled as such. Advocacy organizations are labeled as advocacy organizations.
Quotations are short and marked. Direct quotations from other outlets or documents are kept to a phrase or a sentence, placed in quotation marks, and attributed in the same sentence. We do not run another outlet’s sentence in our own voice.
Translations are ours. Közet translates Chinese, Uyghur and other source material itself. We do not reproduce another outlet’s English rendering of a Chinese or Uyghur text. Original-language text is kept in the evidence register.
No borrowed structure. We do not reuse another outlet’s headline, lede, framing or sequence of points, even paraphrased.
Credit for other outlets’ reporting. When another outlet broke a story, we say so and link to it.
Similarity check. Every piece is run through a similarity checker before publication and the report is kept with the day’s evidence register.
Our own work. Reuse of Közet’s previously published language is permitted and is not attributed, but a summary of a Közet investigation must not claim more than the investigation established.
Use of Közet’s work by others is governed by our Republishing page, which sets out how to cite, quote and republish Közet reporting.

Language, names and terminology

Közet’s wording is chosen to describe accurately, not to signal a side.

Subject	Közet usage	Why
Place names	Uyghur name first, official Chinese name in parentheses on first mention: Qumul (Hami), Qarghiliq (Yecheng), Yarkent (Shache), Maralbishi (Bachu), Tumshuq. Urumqi, Kashgar, Aksu, Korla as commonly rendered.	The region’s people have their own names for their places; readers who know the Chinese names can find them.
The region	“The region,” “the Uyghur region,” or the official name “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” when describing a government body. Közet is preparing an explainer on the region’s names, including “East Turkistan,” and will set its usage rule when it is published; until then the name appears as the people and organizations using it use it, with attribution.	Neither the state’s shorthand nor a political movement’s.
Party bodies	The 党代会 is “the five-yearly meeting of the Chinese Communist Party’s delegates for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” on first mention, then “the regional party meeting.” Not “congress” alone.	“Congress” invites the reader to picture a legislature.
The XPCC	“Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC)” on first mention, then “XPCC.”	Never “the Corps” or “Bingtuan” alone.
Official terms	“Counter-terrorism,” “de-extremification,” “vocational training,” “ethnic unity,” “Sinicization of religion,” “labor transfer” appear in quotation marks or with “what it calls.”	These are the state’s characterizations.
Allegations of abuse	“Forced labor,” “camps,” “genocide,” “crimes against humanity” appear only with attribution to a named body (a UN finding, a court, a government determination, a named report).	A characterization is reported as whose characterization it is.
Detention facilities	Described by what the record shows: “a facility the government calls a vocational training center,” “a detention facility,” “a prison,” as documented.	The record, not a label.
People	Full names as the person uses them; Uyghur names transliterated consistently across editions, with Chinese-character renderings given where they aid identification in documents.	Consistency across editions.
Advocacy groups	Named and identified as advocacy organizations on first mention.	Readers should know who is speaking.

The Uyghur and Chinese editions follow the same rules in their own scripts. A standing note on place names is linked from every Radar.

Minimizing harm

Közet weighs the public interest in every piece of information against the harm its publication could cause to the people it concerns. Accuracy is necessary but not sufficient.

Private individuals and officials are treated differently. Officials and institutions acting in an official capacity are named and scrutinized. Private individuals are identified only where identification serves the story and the person has consented or cannot reasonably be harmed by it.
State records are the state’s account. A conviction, detention record or administrative finding from a Chinese court or agency is reported as that body’s record, not as an established fact about the person. Közet does not republish personal details from state records without a reporting purpose.
Relatives, children and bystanders. Family members of officials, children, and people who appear incidentally in footage or documents are not identified unless they are themselves the subject of the story and the test above is met.
Trauma and dignity. People who have experienced detention, loss or violence are interviewed with care for their wellbeing, told how their account will be used, and not pressed for details that serve curiosity rather than the public interest.
Images of suffering are published only when they are essential to the story, verified, and presented without sensationalism.
No payment, no deception. Közet does not pay for information or interviews. It does not use deception or undercover methods; a rare exception would require the editor in chief’s approval, an overwhelming public interest that cannot be served otherwise, and disclosure in the story.
Leaked and hacked material is used only when authenticated, when the public interest is substantial, and when publication does not expose the person who provided it. The story says how the material was obtained to the extent that is safe.
Staff conduct online. Staff do not say on social media what they could not say in a Közet story, and do not comment publicly on subjects they cover in ways that would compromise their independence.

Right of reply

Anyone whose conduct is described critically in a Közet story is given the opportunity to respond before publication, with the substance of what we intend to report and a reasonable deadline.

Companies and governments. Questions are sent in writing to the press office or an identified spokesperson, with a deadline of at least one business day for a daily item and longer for an investigation. The story records that questions were sent and whether a response was received. The investigation carries the date, channel and deadline; a summary or Radar item says only that the party did not respond before publication and links to the investigation.
Attribution of responses. On-the-record responses are quoted with name and title. A response offered on background, attributable to “a spokesperson,” is accepted and attributed that way. Közet does not accept responses on terms that prevent us from reporting that we asked.
People inside the region. We do not seek comment from a private individual inside the region, or from their family, when the contact itself could expose them to retaliation. The story says that we did not approach them and why, as a matter of source protection rather than oversight.
Officials inside the region. Officials and institutions in the region are approached through published channels. We record the attempt and its outcome.
Substantial new allegations after publication are put to the subject before a follow-up runs.

Source protection and security

People who speak to Közet, and their families, face risks that most newsrooms’ sources do not. Protecting them takes precedence over completeness, speed and competitive advantage.

Risk assessment before contact. Before approaching anyone with ties inside the region, the reporter and an editor record a written assessment of the risk to that person and to their family, and how the story will be written to manage it. A story is not published if the assessment finds the risk cannot be managed.
Informed consent. Sources are told, in their own language, how they will be described, what could be inferred from the story, and that publication cannot be undone. Consent is recorded. A source can withdraw consent up to publication.
Anonymity. We grant anonymity when a named source could face retaliation. The story describes the basis for the source’s knowledge and the reason for anonymity. At least one editor knows the identity of every anonymous source.
Identifying details. We remove details that would identify a source or a family member to someone who knows them: workplaces, neighborhoods, ages, dates, the number and ages of children. Composite descriptions are never used; omission is.
Documents and files. Original files from sources are stored encrypted, with metadata stripped from any version that is published or shared. We publish documents only when their publication cannot be traced to a source.
Communications. Sources are contacted on channels appropriate to the risk, which for anyone inside the region means not through Chinese platforms. Reporters do not retain source communications on devices that cross borders.
Family of staff. Staff with family inside the region are not required to report on subjects where that reporting could endanger their family, and may withhold a byline.
No disclosure under pressure. Közet does not identify sources to funders, partners or governments, and will resist legal demands to do so by every lawful means available to it.

Archiving and the evidence register

Every source Közet relies on is archived at the time of use, and the archive is linked beside the original wherever a source is cited.

Public archives by default. State media, official documents, corporate filings, government statements and advocacy-group releases are archived publicly (archive.ph or the Internet Archive) before publication and linked next to the original URL in the Sources list.
Private archives by exception. Any source that identifies, locates or could endanger an individual, any material provided to Közet by a source, and any material relating to an unpublished investigation is archived privately and cited without a public archive link.
If the original changes. When a source is altered or removed after publication, the archive stands as the record and the story notes the change. We do not silently replace links.
Video and files. Video, audio and documents are downloaded and stored with a hash and a capture time; an archive that did not capture a video is marked as partial.
The evidence register. For every story and every Radar edition, Közet keeps a register with one row per source: original URL, archive URL, capture time, what the source supports, the original-language text of any quotation, its translation, verification status and open questions. The register is the basis for any correction and is retained for as long as the story remains published.

Use of AI tools

Közet uses AI tools for research assistance, translation drafts, transcription and first drafts of routine material. Every fact, quotation, translation and attribution in a published piece has been checked by a Közet editor against the primary source.

No AI-generated text is published without human review and editing.
AI tools are never the source of a fact. A claim an AI tool produces is a lead to verify, not a finding.
AI tools are not used to generate images or video presented as real, to alter photographs or footage, or to produce quotations.
Material that identifies a source, or documents provided by a source, is not entered into any AI tool that retains or trains on inputs.
Where AI assistance was material to how a story was produced (for example, large-scale document analysis), the story says so.

Covering the diaspora

Közet reports on the Uyghur diaspora with the same standards it applies to governments and companies. Being part of a community is not a reason to cover it less rigorously.

Community organizations are subjects as well as sources. Advocacy groups, cultural associations, religious bodies and political organizations in the diaspora are reported on, including critically, by the same rules as any institution. Their statements are attributed; their claims are verified; their finances and governance are fair subjects when the public interest warrants.
Staff ties are disclosed. Staff who hold positions in, or have family ties to, a diaspora organization do not report on it. Membership in the community is not a conflict; a role in an organization under coverage is.
Diaspora individuals carry the same risks. People in the diaspora can face pressure on relatives inside the region as a consequence of appearing in a story. The source-protection and harm-minimization rules apply to them in full, including risk assessment before contact and informed consent.
Internal disputes are reported, not refereed. Where diaspora organizations or figures are in conflict, Közet reports the facts of the dispute with each side attributed and does not take a side.
Not a bulletin. Közet does not publish announcements, appeals or statements from diaspora organizations as news. Events are listed in Radar when they are newsworthy, with the organizer named.

Radar

Radar is Közet’s daily roundup, compiled by Közet’s editors from Közet’s own reporting, public documents and attributed reporting from other outlets. Radar drafts are prepared with AI research assistance; every item is verified against its source and written by a Közet editor before publication. Radar is published under the byline Közet Staff, and a named editor is responsible for each edition.

Each item is attributed in the sentence where the claim appears; the outlet’s ownership or state tie is named.
Items that rest on a record Közet has read say so; items Közet could not verify say that.
Statements by governments and companies are reported as statements, not facts.
The lead item is the most consequential item of the day, whatever its source; Közet’s own work does not have a reserved place.
On the Radar lists what is scheduled or expected. It does not announce Közet’s reporting plans or deadlines set with other parties.
Radar does not repeat an item from a previous edition without a substantive update.
Sources are listed with original and archived links.
Each edition’s address is kozet.org/radar-YYYY-MM-DD.

Corrections

Közet corrects errors promptly, visibly and in every edition and language in which the error appeared. We would rather be corrected by a reader than be wrong in the record.

What we correct. Errors of fact, misattributed statements, mistranslations that change meaning, wrong names or places, and misleading omissions. Differences of interpretation are not corrections; they may be addressed in a follow-up or an editor’s note.

How corrections appear.

A correction is added at the top of the story, dated, stating what was wrong and what is right. The error is fixed in the text. The original wording is not silently removed; the correction note says what changed.
A clarification is used when the original was accurate but incomplete or open to misreading, and appears the same way.
An update adds new information (for example, a response received after publication) and is marked with the date.
Typographical fixes that do not change meaning are made without a note.

Where corrections appear. Every correction is logged, with the story’s title, the date of the correction and the text of the note, on this page under Corrections log, and in any social post or newsletter that carried the error.

Removal. We do not remove published stories except where a court orders it or where publication endangers a person; in either case a note explains the removal.

How to request a correction. Email corrections@kozet.org with the story’s link, the passage in question, and the evidence. We acknowledge every request promptly and aim to decide within a week; the editor in chief makes the decision.

Corrections log

Date	Story	Correction
		No corrections to date.

Bylines, accountability and contact

Bylines. Investigations and reported stories carry the names of the reporters who did the work. Radar and other desk products carry the byline Közet Staff; a named editor is responsible for each edition. A staff member or contributor who could be endangered by publishing under their own name may write under a pen name or withhold a byline; the work is held to the same standards, and the editor in chief remains accountable for it.

Datelines. Közet is a distributed newsroom; Uyghur Monitor Inc. is incorporated in Delaware, and Közet’s editors and contributors work from the United States and other countries. A dateline states where the reporter was when the reporting was done, not where the story takes place: a story about Urumqi reported from New York carries a New York dateline, which tells the reader the reporting was done remotely. A story reported from several places carries no dateline. No dateline is used where it could help identify a contributor whose safety depends on anonymity. Radar and other desk products carry no dateline.

Editorial responsibility. The editor in chief is responsible for everything Közet publishes, including compliance with these standards. Complaints that are not resolved by the editor in chief may be raised with the board of directors, whose members are listed on the About page.

Outside work and gifts. Staff do not accept payment, travel or gifts from governments, companies or organizations we cover. Speaking engagements and outside writing are disclosed to the editor in chief.

Funding. See Editorial independence and donor transparency above. Our funders are listed on the About page.

Contact. For corrections: corrections@kozet.org. For tips, story ideas and all other matters: contact@kozet.org. Do not send sensitive information by ordinary email; our Contact page explains how to reach us safely, and secure channels will be listed there as they become available.

Review of these standards. These standards are reviewed annually and whenever an incident shows they need changing. Changes are dated below.

Date	Change
2026-10-22	First published.