Editorial Policy

I started this website for two reasons. The first is to provide a snapshot of current issues that interest me, including a fair assessment of multiple sides of each issue outside of the echo chambers. The second is to share my own thoughts and have a creative outlet.

Bear in mind that most content on this site is researched and written by me in evenings and spare time, and I also edit all content on the site. It may not be perfect.

— Jamie Small

Covering the sides

I attempt to find the best takes on both sides (or more sides if it is multi-faceted) of an issue, and present them in one place. I’m not trying to be particularly centrist, both-sidesist, or whataboutist. I’m just trying to gather information and treat it fairly. This helps inform my own opinion, and hopefully will help you make your own mind up.

I’m not going to waste time talking about people’s bad-faith or extremist arguments, on either side of any issue.

When covering what other people say about any issue, my policy is to be fair and accurate, and true to the original writer’s (or speaker’s) intent.

I aim to uphold journalistic standards when representing the words of others, acknowledging that I do not have the resources of a real news organisation.

Other people’s takes and reporting will be referenced inline, and linked where possible.

Opinion

Each article will contain a clearly-labelled section with my opinion, or “My cuppa tea”.

This is just my opinion, and where appropriate I will attempt to explain my biases.

Corrections

Corrections will be made to factually incorrect content, and a notice of the correction will be posted at the top of the article.

If you notice something you believe is incorrect, email it to jamie@cuppatea.nz.

Comments

I will do my best to allow good faith comments and criticism, even if I don’t agree with what is being said.

Maybe have a cup of tea before you post your hot take. I will remove comments that contain:

• hate speech
• extremely distasteful language
• personal attacks against other users
• anything that is illegal or infringes on someone’s human rights
• obvious spam, bot or AI content
• harmful trolling and deliberate spread of misinformation

I may also ban accounts for repeated or egregious breaches.

I reserve the right to delete any comments for any reason, though I will endeavour to do this as little as possible.

The comment section on each article is open for two weeks after it is published. I may reopen comments on particular articles by discretion if an issue comes back up in the news and the article starts getting new attention.

Artificial intelligence

None of the content on this website is written by AI.

I sometimes use AI as a tool, for example using ChatGPT to summarise something for my own knowledge, or asking it questions about something I don’t understand. In every case, I will check real sources before writing about any information supplied to me by AI tools.

Tea reviews

Why are there tea reviews on this website? Just for fun. I love tea.

Learn more about the five-star rating system here.