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Editorial charter

What is paid for, what is not, and how we flag it.

Version 2 — August 2026. This charter binds the Akèda Média newsroom. It is public and can be amended: any change will be dated and flagged here.

Why this charter exists

Akèda has a business model that must be stated clearly, because it could be confusing: the media sells publication services, and it publishes analyses. An entrepreneur can pay for their profile to appear; the same week, the newsroom may publish an analysis of their sector.

If these two things look alike on screen, readers no longer know what they are reading — and the value of the analyses collapses along with trust. This charter therefore sets the boundary, and says how it is made visible.

1. The families of content

Everything published on Akèda falls into one of these categories, flagged by a visible label at the top of the page.

What distinguishes the content
Family	Who writes it	Who pays	Flagging
Newsroom — free access	The Akèda newsroom	Nobody — funded by subscriptions and advertising	News · Analysis · Data Benin
Newsroom — subscribers only	The Akèda newsroom	The reader, through their subscription	Label Subscribers only
Commissioned publication	The newsroom, based on material provided by the subject	The subject of the article	Label Sponsored content
Expert contribution	An outside expert, reviewed by the newsroom	The reader, per item — the author receives 60%	Label Expertise and the author’s name
Advertising	The advertiser	The advertiser	Identified box, advertiser’s name shown

Paid does not mean commissioned

It is the easiest confusion to make, and the one with the heaviest consequences. Some of our investigations, analyses and data work are reserved for subscribers: they are expensive to produce, and the subscription is what allows us to produce them without selling them to those they are about.

In that case, the one who pays is the reader — never the subject of the article. Content reserved for subscribers follows exactly the same rules as free content: the same verification standards, the same freedom of tone, the same right to displease. The only difference is that you have to subscribe to read it.

An article paid for by its subject, however, never comes under the newsroom: it carries the label Sponsored content, and it cannot be presented otherwise.

2. What money buys — and what it does not

This section concerns money paid by the subject of a piece of content — company, institution, project leader — and not the subscription paid by a reader, which buys no influence.

Paying for a publication on Akèda buys a place and editing work : proofreading, layout, hosting, distribution in our sections and newsletters.

It does not buy:

a favourable opinion from the newsroom in another piece of content;
the removal or modification of an existing article;
the absence of critical coverage later on;
a place in the editorial sections — a commissioned publication never becomes an “Analysis”.

An advertiser or publication client remains a subject like any other. If they are covered in a newsroom article, their status as an advertiser is mentioned in the article.

3. The right to refuse

The newsroom refuses a commissioned publication, without having to justify it, in the following cases: an unverifiable claim presented as fact, disparagement of a named competitor, a promise of financial returns, content contrary to Beninese law, or a topic the newsroom believes would mislead the reader.

A refusal gives rise to a full refund.

4. Expert contributions

An expert publishes free of charge and receives 60% of each individual sale of their work. In return, they accept the following rules.

No automatic publication. The newsroom reviews, checks the sources and may ask for corrections or refuse.
The method is public. No study goes online unless its methodology and limits are made explicit.
Conflicts of interest are declared with every contribution, and shown where they exist.
A disguised promotional contribution leads to immediate removal, without payment.

Expert work is not included in the subscription : it is bought individually. That is the counterpart of paying the author. Subscribers get a discount.

5. What we check, and what we do not

For investment files published in Invest in Benin, each listing states explicitly the level of verification reached: self-declared documents, documents reviewed, or site visit carried out.

Akèda guarantees neither a project leader’s solvency, nor the success of an investment, nor the accuracy of figures a third party gives us. We check what we can check, we say so, and we stop there. No content on the site constitutes personalised investment advice.

6. Corrections

An error reported and confirmed is corrected as quickly as possible. The correction is noted at the bottom of the article, with its date. We never silently change content already published.

To report an error: write to us stating the article and the point disputed.

7. Sources and anonymity

An article’s sources are cited, except when their safety, job or business would be threatened. In that case, anonymity is flagged to the reader and the newsroom alone takes responsibility for it.

On the platform Invest in Benin, a project leader’s identity can be hidden at their request: it is then shared with investors after a confidentiality agreement is signed.

8. Personal data

Akèda does not collect any applications on behalf of the organisations whose calls it relays: the forms prepare the message and send the applicant to the organisation concerned. Details of the processing are set out in our privacy policy.

9. Who applies this charter

The Akèda Média newsroom, under the responsibility of its publication management. Any question or dispute about how it is applied can be sent to us directly.