Editorial policy
How GCI Media decides what to publish, and the line between reporting, analysis and opinion.
Independence
Editorial decisions are made by GCI Media alone. No outside party — sponsor, partner, city, or agency — can commission coverage, review an article before publication, or influence how a city is described or ranked.
Fact, analysis and opinion
We separate three things explicitly. A fact is something we can point at a source for. Analysis is our interpretation of those facts, and is written so a reader can disagree with the interpretation while accepting the facts. Opinion is labelled as such. If we cannot source a claim, we do not make it.
Cities we write about
Coverage is not for sale and placement in any list or comparison cannot be purchased. Where an article involves a city we have a relationship with, that relationship is disclosed in the article.
Interviews
An interview contains only what the participant actually said. We do not compress several people into a composite, invent a quote to illustrate a point, or attribute a paraphrase as a direct quotation. Participants are named with their real role and organisation.
Sponsored content
GCI Media currently carries no advertising, sponsorship or affiliate links. If that changes, sponsored work will be labelled clearly at the top of the page and in the article's metadata, a sponsor will never be able to buy a ranking or alter a methodology, and sponsored material will never be styled to resemble independent editorial.
Conflicts of interest
Where a writer has a financial or professional interest in a subject, it is disclosed in the article. GCI Media is published by Global City Intelligence, so any article about the platform itself is a self-interested one and is labelled a GCI Update rather than independent analysis.