1. Scope
These Publishing Principles apply to the news stories, blog posts, magazine issues, city guide, event pages and place pages published on the duzcepte.com website and in the mobile app of Düzcepte, operated by the Düzcepte team. All of this content is prepared for and about Düzce. Posts, comments, reviews, listings and community messages shared by residents are user content; they are governed by the Community Guidelines rather than by these principles, and they do not reflect the views of the editorial team.
2. Who publishes
Content is prepared, edited and published by the editorial team: the administrators and moderators authorised in the Düzcepte admin panel. The editorial team is responsible for every piece. When a story or post was written by a particular person, that person's name and role are shown above it and the name links to an author page with a short biography and their other pieces. Author pages are published only with the person's explicit consent; when consent is withdrawn the page and the byline are removed, and the piece stays online under the editorial team's name.
3. Accuracy and verification
The editorial team publishes only what it can verify. An event is checked against at least one reliable source and, where possible, against the statement of the institution concerned. Official figures (such as population, area, health and transport information) are given with their source and date; in the city guide each figure carries its source and the year it refers to. An unverifiable claim is not presented as news; where the public interest requires reporting it, it is clearly attributed to whoever made it.
Time-sensitive information such as event times, pharmacies on duty and transport is based on the current announcement of the institution or organiser concerned. When it changes the page is updated; the page of an event that has been cancelled or postponed says so clearly, and the event is removed from the lists. Information sent in by readers is verified against an independent source before it is published.
Every section of the city guide is read again at set intervals. A section whose review is overdue is taken off the guide until it has been read again; we would rather show nothing than present outdated information as if it were certain.
4. Crediting sources
When information from another institution or publication is used, the source is named clearly. Content arriving from other sites' news feeds (RSS) is published only as its title, a short summary and a link to the original story; the full text of a story is never copied. Such content is the source site's work; it is kept out of search engine indexes and sends the reader to the source. Events imported from ticketing sites name the site where the tickets are sold. When an institution's press release is used, its author is named.
5. Independence and conflicts of interest
Editorial decisions are made independently of commercial relationships. A business that uses a paid package on Düzcepte is not made the subject of a story, nor shielded from criticism, for that reason. If a member of the editorial team has to write about a subject in which they have a personal or business interest, the interest is stated in the piece or the piece is given to another member of the team. The editorial team does not accept gifts or payments in return for coverage from the people or institutions it reports on.
6. Advertising and sponsored content
News and advertising are kept apart. Page ads, featured businesses, campaigns and sponsored notifications are paid for and are marked as advertising or sponsored in a way readers can clearly recognise. Campaigns and promotions a business publishes from its own panel are that business's content. Content written for payment is never presented as news.
7. Translation
Content is prepared in Turkish. The English and Russian versions are written by the editorial team, or prepared with machine translation and reviewed by an editor. When the Turkish text changes, the Turkish version is shown in place of a translation that has not been reviewed again. If a translation is found to differ in meaning, the Turkish text prevails and the translation is corrected under the Corrections Policy.
8. Use of artificial intelligence
The city assistant in the Düzcepte app answers readers' questions from the city knowledge pack prepared by the editorial team and from published content; its answers are not presented as news. The editorial team does not generate pieces with artificial intelligence and publish them directly. When an assistive tool is used for tasks such as translation, summarising or proofreading, the editorial team remains responsible for the published text, and an editor reads the text before it is published.
9. Personal data and sensitive subjects
The private lives of individuals appear in stories only when the public interest requires it. The identities of children, victims of crime and people in vulnerable situations are not disclosed. Death notices are published with the information provided by families or relatives, and as they wish. The names, phone numbers and self-descriptions of residents looking for work are not shown on the website. Personal data is processed under the Privacy Policy and the KVKK Disclosure Notice.
10. Corrections and contact
When we notice, or are told about, wrong or incomplete information, we act under the Corrections Policy. For correction requests, comments and complaints about our content you can write to destek@duzcepte.com or reach us through destek@duzcepte.com. Every message is read and answered by the editorial team.
11. Updates
These principles may be updated as the service develops. The current text is always published at duzcepte.com; the version date at the top of the page shows the latest change.