Publisher & Creator Guidelines

To register as a Nagrik contributor and publish content:

• You must be at least 18 years of age and legally competent under the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
• You must provide verified identification details, phone number, and legitimate personal information during onboarding.
• You may not operate sock-puppet accounts, impersonate public officials, or publish under false pretenses.
• You are personally and legally responsible for all dispatches, media, and comments submitted through your publisher account.

Contributors must witness the events they report or verify them directly with credible primary sources:

• Always confirm names, dates, localities, and casualty numbers before hitting publish.
• When reporting on allegations against local contractors, hospitals, or government officials, always offer the subject an opportunity to respond.
• Clearly identify your sources unless protecting a vulnerable whistleblower under severe threat.

You own your footage. Nagrik operates on an author-first copyright framework:

• You retain 100% intellectual property ownership of your original video footage, audio, and text.
• By uploading to Nagrik, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, transcode, stream, distribute, and display your report across our apps, web portals, and social channels.
• You remain free to license or sell your original footage to other media outlets or documentary filmmakers.

Never upload footage, photographs, or audio clips recorded by other journalists, television news channels, or private individuals without written consent or clear statutory license.

Stripping third-party watermarks or recording a TV broadcast with your phone to pass it off as your own field work is a severe violation resulting in immediate account termination.

Hyperlocal news relies on spatial precision. Publishers must:

• Tag the exact locality, town, and district where the event actually occurred. Never spoof GPS coordinates or tag an unrelated city for extra views.
• Write clear, factual headlines. Do not use sensationalist clickbait, exaggerated claims (e.g., "MUST WATCH! SHOCKING!!"), or misleading thumbnails.
• Ensure the publication date corresponds to the actual timing of the incident.

You must disclose any commercial, political, or personal interest in subjects you cover:

• Never accept gifts, cash payments, or hospitality from local politicians or businesses in exchange for favorable coverage or suppressing negative reports.
• If a business pays you to cover an opening or product launch, the dispatch MUST be explicitly tagged as "Sponsored" using our studio tools.
• Extortion or blackmailing local officials with the threat of negative news dispatches is a serious criminal offense that will be reported to the police.

Political news must remain balanced and factual. Publishers must not act as de facto mouthpieces for political parties or candidates. During elections, contributors must comply with the Model Code of Conduct set by the Election Commission of India and refrain from publishing unverified exit polls or campaign propaganda masked as unbiased news.

If generative AI tools are used to assist in drafting copy, organizing research, or translating spoken audio, the publisher must ensure all factual statements have been verified by a human reporter. The use of generative AI imagery or voice synthesis to depict real events or real individuals is strictly banned.

Nagrik employs algorithmic fraud detection to protect community advertisers and readers. The following practices result in immediate ban and forfeiture of earnings:

• Fake Engagement: Using automated bots, click farms, VPN refreshers, or incentivized view groups to artificially inflate view counts.
• Duplicate Submissions: Uploading the same video multiple times with different titles to game the feed.
• Content Scraping: Mass downloading reports from other platforms to republish on Nagrik.
• Spam & Commercial Flooding: Flooding the local wire with repetitive commercial announcements.

Publishers are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their login credentials and OTPs. Payout bank accounts and UPI VPA IDs must belong to the registered publisher. Sharing or selling publisher accounts to third parties is strictly prohibited.

Violations of these guidelines will trigger warnings, temporary suspension, or permanent de-platforming depending on severity. If you believe an enforcement action was taken in error, you may file a formal appeal with supporting facts by emailing wizzlingsupport@gmail.com.