Editorial Policy

Editorial Policy

Mission Statement

Epicstream is committed to upholding the highest standards in journalism. We are a one-stop news source for fans of fantasy & sci-fi, superheroes, Star Wars, the MCU, DC, pop culture, anime and K-wave and we pride ourselves on being a trusted, expert voice in these spaces.

Especially in the current online publishing world, we believe it’s more important than ever to center our readers and commit to publishing accurate, original and engaging content written by fans, for fans.

Ethics

Epicstream is a subsidiary of UK-based publisher Gfinity Digital Media. In all our work, we aim to abide by the core principles of ethical journalism, as outlined by the Ethical Journalism Network.

1. Accuracy

As a trusted voice in the online publishing space, Epicstream commits to creating content that is accurate and well-researched. We clearly separate corroborated facts from speculation,opinion, fan theories and unconfirmed industry rumors. Where we cannot find confirmation from a trustworthy source, we clearly state so.

2. Independence

Our writers and editors do not act on behalf of any interests, whether cultural, political or corporate. Whenever we publish sponsored or affiliate content, it is clearly marked as such, and we always give our honest review of the product(s) discussed.

We will never change our opinion of a movie or show because we have signed an NDA or entered into a sponsorship. When content is restricted by an NDA, this will be clearly disclosed to our readers to maintain transparency.

Additionally, writers are required to disclose any conflicts of interest to their editors.

3. Impartiality

All our articles offer a balanced view and supply necessary context for readers to understand all sides of a story.

Reviews are the only exception – while we strive for a fair and complex point of view in our reporting, reviews rate titles on a scale of 1 to 10, from terrible to exceptional. The assessment is based on critical appraisal, fan reaction, box office results and our own reviewers’ expertise on the subject.

4. Humanity

All of our articles are written with our audience in mind – we strive to offer the kind of useful and informative content we ourselves, as fans of the online geekdom space, would like to read.

Additionally, we take special care when writing about sensitive topics and avoid publishing harmful content. When covering controversial topics, we respect every subject’s right of reply and give them the appropriate amount of time to respond before publishing.

5. Accountability

We encourage comments and feedback from our readers. When we make mistakes, we correct them as soon as possible.

Please see below our full corrections and article retraction policies.

In addition to these ethical guidelines, Epicstream is committed to respecting every individual’s privacy, thoroughly fact-checking and researching every article and making our sources available for further information whenever that is possible.

In all our reporting, we strive to follow the guidance set out by The Society of Professional Journalists in their Code of Ethics alongside the IPSO’s Editors’ Code of Practice.

Corrections

We're committed to transparency and accountability with our audience. Therefore, if we discover any factual inaccuracies in our content, we promptly correct them. A note is added at the end of the article detailing the nature of the error and the subsequent correction.

If an error significantly alters the article's meaning, we update the content with the correct information and clearly explain the previous inaccuracies near the article's start.

We are committed to fixing mistakes promptly and are open to reader feedback. If you notice any inaccuracies in our reporting, please contact gdm@gfinity.net and include the URL for the article you are raising issue with.

Article Retraction Policy

Our general policy is to keep all content on our website. However, in exceptional cases, particularly those involving legal issues, we might need to remove an article. In such instances, an editor's note will be placed in the original article's location, outlining the reasons for its removal.

Fact-Checking

We are committed to factual accuracy in all of our reporting. This is why Epicstream has a team of well-trained and experienced editors ensuring every article we publish conforms to our high editorial standards. We also strive to only use trustworthy and reliable information sources and disclose them whenever possible.

Unless we are protecting the identity of an anonymous source, writers are required to list and link to all of their sources of information. These are made available in order to uphold the site’s journalistic credibility and to enable readers to research and verify for themselves the content we publish.

Writers and editors are trained on which sources are considered trustworthy by GDM and instructed to only use those.

Our articles always distinguish between corroborated fact, rumor, fan theory, conjecture and speculation, and state it clearly to avoid misleading readers.

Our editors verify every article before publication to ensure the work meets the above criteria. Additionally, our editorial team performs occasional spot-checks to ensure all our content is up to the highest standard.

If you notice any factual inaccuracies in our reporting, please get in touch via our contact options listed below and on the Contact Us page.

Bylines Policy

All of our articles have a byline containing the author’s full name with a link to their bio. We also make public our authors’ areas of expertise, experience, and social media details.

Reviews

We use a scale from 1 to 10 to review movies and TV series that our audience is interested in. Here is what numbers on the scale mean:

  • 10: Once-in-a-decade
  • 9: Excellent
  • 8: Very Good
  • 7: Good
  • 6: Fun, better than most
  • 5: Average
  • 4: Only for fans of the genre
  • 3: Poor
  • 2: Not even for fans
  • 1: Terrible

The score reflects the reviewer's opinion at the time of writing. Our priority is always the audience; we never let advertising, sponsorship deals, or the prospect of future access to products influence our reviews.

Review scores and opinions may be shared with producers or networks for their marketing materials, but we do not alter our opinions or scores for promotional purposes.

Epicstream has established content partnerships with brands that sponsor some of our articles. Through this funding, we are able to produce even more of the content our readers enjoy.

As we are committed to transparency and accountability to our readers, all articles published in partnership with a brand, are clearly labelled as 'sponsored content' or 'supported editorial'.

For more information, visit our Sponsorship Policy page.

Comments

Epicstream’s comment system lets fans weigh in on the news, features, and guides we publish about their favorite topics. As such, we encourage participation from all corners of a fandom.

However, these comments are strictly moderated to ensure they adhere to our community standards. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards hate speech, harassment, abusive language or behavior, trolling, and any kind of discrimination.

If you see a comment that falls short of these standards, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team at gdm@gfinity.net. We strive to answer every query as quickly as possible.

AI-Generated Content

Epicstream is committed to keeping people at the heart of its content and does not use any AI tool in its article creation process.

Plagiarism

Epicstream has a strict zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism. If you notice any content on our site that falls short of that standard, please contact us immediately.