Code of Ethics

This Code of Ethics statement sets the tone for all Simpler Media Group, Inc. (“SMG”) and covers our general conduct and the way by which we operate our editorial websites (“SMG Sites”), including CMSWire.com and Reworked.co.

Our Mission and Principles

Our mission at SMG is to advance the careers of our members through high impact information, networking and recognition. As such we always strive for accuracy and independence in the development of our editorial, events and research content.

We strongly support the four main principles of the Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics statement:

Seek truth and report it. Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Minimize harm. Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.
Act independently. Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.
Be accountable. Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Editorial Independence, Disclosures and Conflicts of Interest

SMG’s editorial team makes independent choices about what to publish and is structured in manner as to be almost entirely unaware of the nature of SMG commercial relationships.

Any links in SMG’s editorial content will server to further the topic at hand, and will never be part of any link payment scheme, link exchange or otherwise.

We do occasionally accept travel, lodging and meals as part of our live event coverage, but only if those accommodations are determined to be reasonable and bring value to our audience through coverage opportunities.

SMG employees have been known to accept t-shirts, pens, bags and other swag, but do not accept any monetary compensation or items of significant value.

Swag, travel, meals and any other items or services received from external contacts do not factor into our coverage considerations or opinions.

Any person writing for SMG editorial purposes will disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest (e.g., financial, employment-related or any other relationship that could potentially influence their perspective) related to the subject of the content.

Editorial Corrections and Updates

Although it is always our intention to report accurately, mistakes happen.

We correct any errors in stories and disclose what was corrected. Note that minor typos and grammatical errors may be exempt from this kind of disclosure, but if the meaning or context is changed by an update, we will disclose what was altered.

If additional context becomes available after a story is originally posted, any additions will be clearly denoted within the content.

Attribution, Sourcing and Plagiarism

While we strive to use original sources whenever possible, in cases where stories are based on secondary sources, we will give clear credit and link to the original story if possible.

We take plagiarism very seriously at SMG. Our writers agree to uphold our standards by giving proper attribution to the words and unique ideas of others, whether citing a direct quote or a paraphrased idea.

Facts or common knowledge do not require attribution.

When in doubt, synthesize any material and thoroughly rewrite everything. Changing a few words or the order of words is not enough.

Unless specifically noted as a quote, content produced on SMG Sites is original and unique. All quotes will be properly attributed.

Any images that are used in SMG’s editorial content will be images that either SMG has created or SMG has licensed for this specific use.

We do not pay sources for special access, knowledge or news. On the very rare occasion we use an anonymous source, we will verify the source’s validity before publication and will protect that source’s identity.

Occasionally we may determine an unverified story is important enough to report. In these circumstances we will identify such stories as rumor or speculation as well as reach out to other sources to either confirm or deny.

Embargoes and NDAs

We see products and services throughout their lifecycle and in some cases before the product or service is released. While our editorial team tends to respect embargoes and NDAs, we will not agree to or allow any limitations on coverage or tone and we are fully aware that some individuals and outlets break embargoes as a matter of normal business.

Use of AI by SMG’s Editorial Team

As a native digital publisher focused on the evolution of technology in digital experiences, the workplace and in the realm of artificial intelligence itself, SMG is naturally experimenting with and looking for ways to use technology to improve our operations, bring depth, breadth and general impact to our coverage, and for making our staff more empowered.

As we continue to explore the use of AI across SMG, these principles guide our decision making:

Serve Our Members. Our investments in AI and otherwise should always service to further SMG’s mission of advancing the careers of our members through high impact knowledge, networking and recognition.
Human in the Loop. We utilize AI to improve our practices, react more quickly and with 20+ years of editorial history, we employ machine intelligence to help us dig out context on current events from our archives. However, as impressive as present technologies are, we retain human oversight of our editorial content.
Transparent, Ethical Use. SMG Editorial leadership maintain high standards for the accuracy, provenance and usefulness any content we publish. Today SMG utilizes AI to help our team quickly summarize basic news events and for both research and brainstorming purposes. All visuals and imagery that we produce carry clear attribution and we are presently working on a labeling system for news content that is substantially generated by AI. As of May 2025 SMG is undertaking experimentation with AI-assisted news generation, with the goal of informing our members of key events in as timely a fashion as possible.
Respect for Privacy. We will not input personal data or proprietary information into AI systems. SMG’s use of AI tools must comply with Simpler Media Group’s privacy policy.

Contributed Articles

At SMG, we believe it’s important to hear from a variety of industry voices. We therefore believe it is both necessary and good to bring in industry practitioners (software vendors, agencies, analysts and consultants) as a way to deliver more impactful and authoritative content.

In these cases, we provide a brief bio of the author to reveal any connections the author may have with the industry. We further work actively to prevent any promotional messaging coming through via these contributed articles. We do not accept payment for any contributed articles.

General Conduct, Safe & Respectful Workplace

SMG is committed to providing a safe and respectful work environment free from unlawful harassment, discrimination and retaliation. We will take all reasonable steps to maintain a workplace that fosters positive working relationships.

We prohibit any form of discrimination and harassment in the workplace, including harassment based on sex or any other personal characteristic protected under federal, state or local law. We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to prevent and address such behavior. Our commitment extends to all persons involved in our operations and prohibits unlawful discrimination and harassment by and against worksite employees, interns, job applicants, contingent workers, vendors, others providing services in the workplace pursuant to a contract, clients, volunteers or visitors.

Feedback Options

We stand by the statements we’ve made here and are happy to receive any feedback or suggestions about how we could do a better job (or really any feedback at all). You can reach our editors via [email protected] and you can reach our founder and publisher, Brice Dunwoodie, via [email protected].

If you feel you need to report a general conduct issue to SMG’s management, you may send a note to [email protected] and we will respond in at timely manner.

Last Revised: 13-May-2025