Journalist Faq's

Stories can be posted under four categories: Free, Shared, Exclusive and Bid (auction-based).

Free stories: There is neither a cost nor any limit to the number of times they can be downloaded by media houses. Shared stories: Authors/journalists can limit the number of times a story can be purchased and they also set a price for it. Exclusive stories: These can only be purchased once by a single media house. Bid (auction-based stories): Buyers bid for a story, with the highest bidder winning the right to use it. Journalists need to add auction time limits (on an hourly basis) and bidding range for such stories.

The stories can be priced in any currency. The media houses will see the price in their local currencies.

All payments are made through Stripe or Bill.com as per availability of the payment gateway. The payment made by the media house towards purchase of the contents gets automatically split between 5WH and the journalist. While 15 percent of the sale proceeds comes to 5WH, the rest goes to the journalist after deduction of any commission, taxes, and service charges assessed by the payment gateway. All proceeds shall be calculated in United States currency. Please put your receivable amount in USD while doing the registration process on Bill.Com.

The notification section on the journalist’s dashboard will notify it.

You can submit the story in any of the selected languages approved by the Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board approves a journalist on the basis of his/her resume, work experience, sample of published work, references, and recommendations.

Privacy and security of stories are a priority for us. Stories that are saved cannot be seen by any other person. Stories posted by Person A cannot be fully viewed by Person B until they are purchased. Following purchase, Person B will have access to the full story with all documents/visuals, if any.

No. However, writers should keep readers in mind while deciding the length of a story.

A story can be available for a maximum of 180 days, depending on its relevance for media houses and readers at large. For example, stories with a longer shelf-life – like a travelogue – may remain for a longer duration.

Jobs are posted by media houses registered with our platform.

5WH platform accepts photos in jpg, jpeg, PNG and TIFF formats. Ideally, photos should be of 300 DPI and of a maximum size of 4MB. You can upload a maximum of 300 MB of data (including photos, videos, text and audio) at a time.

5WH has a group of News Auditors from across the world – each with at least 10 years’ experience in the media. Usually, three News Auditors audit first five of your stories. The next five stories are audited by one news auditor if you maintain 2.5 star ratings. Thereafter all the stories are audited on a random basis.

Registration fee to join 5WH platform is USD150. We offer annual (USD100), half-yearly (USD80), quarterly (USD50) and monthly (USD20) plans for registered journalists.

A journalist can be removed from the platform on several grounds. These include low ratings from News Auditors and Media Houses. A registered journalist ought to maintain a minimum star rating of 2.5 to continue on the platform. Further, recommendation of Ethics Committee; if articles are consistently of poor quality or plagiarized; low output over three months; dishonoring of commitment on assignments; and any activity that is in conflict with ethical standards of the 5WH platform could be the reason for suspension or removal.

Media House Faq's

A media house can join by A) registering using the sign-up process; B) on the invitation of 5WH; or C) through the recommendation of journalists or media houses registered with 5WH.

Membership helps you access the platform, including its translation and transcription services, and the bidding module.

Our annual membership costs $100. There are also half-year, quarterly and monthly plans for US$80, US$50 and US$20, respectively.

You will receive an e-mail alert for renewal 30 days before the expiry of your membership. The bell icon in your profile will also show the reminder.

There are four types of stories on the platform: Free stories: There is neither a cost nor any limit to the number of times they can be downloaded by media houses. Shared stories: Authors/journalists can limit the number of times a story can be purchased and they also set a price for it. Exclusive stories: These can only be purchased once by a single media house. Bid (auction-based stories): Buyers bid for a story, with the highest bidder winning the right to use it. Journalists need to add auction time limits (on an hourly basis) and bidding range for such stories.

Yes. You can download all types of stories after you purchase them. ‘Free’ stories are, well, free.

You have to bid on the auction story posted by a journalist. The story will go to the highest bidder.

Journalists themselves set the price of a story -- unless it comes under the ‘Free’ category. However, if a story is purchased by a News Agency, the price goes up 5x. If a media house with a viewership/readership of more than a million buys the story, the price goes up 3x. If a media house with viewership/circulation of 500,000 to one million would pay 2x.

When a media house logs in, the platform will automatically highlight stories and content on the basis of their profile, usage and keywords.

The first one refers to an assignment offered by a media house for freelancers, while the second one denotes offers from the freelancers to file stories with pre-approval of the media house.

Yes, there are restrictions. The buyer will not redistribute or resell stories or content to others beyond the buyer’s own outlets.

The payment is made to the 5WH platform through Stripe, its payment gateway. It ensures transfer of the due amount to the account of the journalist. In countries where Stripe is not available, we use other traditional methods of wire transfers. In addition, we continue to work and research on other payment gateways as well.

You may seek to hire the services of freelancers who are registered with 5WH through this space. 5WH offers you this service free of cost to advertise your jobs for journalists, if any.

The first one refers to an assignment offered by a media house for freelancers, while the second one denotes offers from the freelancers to file stories with pre-approval of the media house.

News Auditor Faq's

News Auditors form the most important part of the 5WH platform. They are reviewers who diligently assess the content posted by journalists before they are uploaded for media houses to see and purchase.

News Auditors have vast responsibilities as the credibility and quality of the platform depend on their independent, objective and unbiased assessment of the content they audit. Their reviews are benchmarks for the products on sale. News Auditors are a part of 5WH, but they act independently.

There are nine prescribed parameters to be adhered to by the News Auditors. In addition to the 5 Ws & H – Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How – that the Auditors need to follow while rating and reviewing a story, they are required to check the following: (1) Grammar/Texture, (2) Contextuality/Topicality, (3) Originality, (4) Consistency/Clarity, (5) Objectivity/Accuracy, (6) Headline/Pitch & Content match, (7) Content, add-on elements/Caption match, (8) Vulgarity/Inflammatory Quotient, (9) Attribution/Credit to sources.

The rating and review of News Auditors help both media houses and journalists. While editors of media outlets get an overall impression of the stories or the content before purchase, the latter also receive feedback on the quality of their content.

No. A News Auditor cannot speak to the journalist/author.

No, the journalist/author cannot challenge the News Auditors’ review or rating.

Yes, the News Auditors’ rating/review will certainly influence the purchase decision of media houses. However, their decision is not solely dependent on the News Auditors’ rating/review. They may like the story pitch and contact the concerned author/journalist to purchase the story.

Editorial Board Faq's

Eminent journalists with a minimum experience of 20 years in the media are eligible to be on the 5WH Editorial Board.

The role and responsibilities of the members of the Editorial Board include the following: (a) review of assigned documents and products; (b) submission of a descriptive report on documents perused when required; and (c) recommendation for listing or non-listing of a journalist. The members would recommend measures for improvement or expansion of the platform at the request of the 5WH management.

The members are invited by the 5WH management. The areas of interest, language and country of the member are taken into consideration for selection.

After receiving a formal invitation from the 5WH management, the individual is required to register with the platform.

The Editorial Board approves a journalist on the basis of his/her resume, work experience, sample of published work, references, and recommendations.

Ethics Committe Faq's

As envisaged in the Master Contract with 5WH, the member will (a) Review assigned biographical information, documents, and products submitted as a complaint for an ethics violation by a registered journalist; (b) Analyze the documents and products by applying the current Code of Ethics as published and adopted by the SPJ; (c) Prepare a report setting out the facts of the complaint of the journalist’s work; (d) Provide a recommendation for continuing to list or for delisting; (e) Include any recommendations for conditions of improvement or expansion and (f) Discuss recommendation with 5WH at the request of authorized 5WH representative as and when needed.

Members are veteran journalists invited by the 5WH management.

They can join 5WH only by invitation.

The structure of the Ethics Committee is decided by the 5WH management. The committee is headed by an ombudsman and two members.

Journalists and media houses registered with 5WH can raise complaints.