Version 2 \u2014 August 2026. This charter binds the Ak\u00e8da M\u00e9dia newsroom. It is public and can be amended: any change will be dated and flagged here.<\/p>\n
Ak\u00e8da has a business model that must be stated clearly, because it could be confusing: the media sells publication services, and it publishes analyses<\/strong>. An entrepreneur can pay for their profile to appear; the same week, the newsroom may publish an analysis of their sector.<\/p>\n If these two things look alike on screen, readers no longer know what they are reading \u2014 and the value of the analyses collapses along with trust. This charter therefore sets the boundary, and says how it is made visible.<\/p>\n Everything published on Ak\u00e8da falls into one of these categories, flagged by a visible label at the top of the page.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In that case, the one who pays is the reader \u2014 never the subject of the article.<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n An article paid for by its subject, however, never comes under the newsroom: it carries the label Sponsored content<\/strong>, and it cannot be presented otherwise.<\/p>\n This section concerns money paid by the subject<\/em> of a piece of content \u2014 company, institution, project leader \u2014 and not the subscription paid by a reader, which buys no influence.<\/p>\n Paying for a publication on Ak\u00e8da buys a place and editing work<\/strong> : proofreading, layout, hosting, distribution in our sections and newsletters.<\/p>\n It does not buy:<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n A refusal gives rise to a full refund.<\/p>\n An expert publishes free of charge and receives 60% of each individual sale<\/strong> of their work. In return, they accept the following rules.<\/p>\n Expert work is not included in the subscription<\/strong> : it is bought individually. That is the counterpart of paying the author. Subscribers get a discount.<\/p>\n For investment files published in Invest in Benin<\/em>, each listing states explicitly the level of verification reached: self-declared documents, documents reviewed, or site visit carried out.<\/p>\n Ak\u00e8da guarantees neither a project leader\u2019s solvency, nor the success of an investment, nor the accuracy of figures a third party gives us.<\/strong> We check what we can check, we say so, and we stop there. No content on the site constitutes personalised investment advice.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n To report an error: write to us stating the article and the point disputed.<\/p>\n An article\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n On the platform Invest in Benin<\/em>, a project leader\u2019s identity can be hidden at their request: it is then shared with investors after a confidentiality agreement is signed.<\/p>\n Ak\u00e8da 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.<\/p>\n The Ak\u00e8da M\u00e9dia newsroom, under the responsibility of its publication management. Any question or dispute about how it is applied can be sent to us directly.<\/p>\n What you pay for is flagged as such; what we write is not for sale.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is paid for, what is not, and how we flag it.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1829","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akeda.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akeda.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akeda.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akeda.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/akeda.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1835,"href":"https:\/\/akeda.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1829\/revisions\/1835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akeda.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. The families of content<\/h2>\n
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\n \nFamily<\/th>\n Who writes it<\/th>\n Who pays<\/th>\n Flagging<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Newsroom \u2014 free access<\/td>\n The Ak\u00e8da newsroom<\/td>\n Nobody \u2014 funded by subscriptions and advertising<\/td>\n News \u00b7 Analysis \u00b7 Data Benin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Newsroom \u2014 subscribers only<\/td>\n The Ak\u00e8da newsroom<\/td>\n The reader<\/strong>, through their subscription<\/td>\n Label Subscribers only<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Commissioned publication<\/td>\n The newsroom, based on material provided by the subject<\/td>\n The subject of the article<\/strong><\/td>\n Label Sponsored content<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Expert contribution<\/td>\n An outside expert, reviewed by the newsroom<\/td>\n The reader, per item \u2014 the author receives 60%<\/td>\n Label Expertise<\/strong> and the author\u2019s name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Advertising<\/td>\n The advertiser<\/td>\n The advertiser<\/td>\n Identified box, advertiser\u2019s name shown<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Paid does not mean commissioned<\/h3>\n
2. What money buys \u2014 and what it does not<\/h2>\n
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3. The right to refuse<\/h2>\n
4. Expert contributions<\/h2>\n
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5. What we check, and what we do not<\/h2>\n
6. Corrections<\/h2>\n
7. Sources and anonymity<\/h2>\n
8. Personal data<\/h2>\n
9. Who applies this charter<\/h2>\n
In one sentence<\/h3>\n