Brown Brothers Media operates a portfolio of publications covering food, technology, human behavior, parenting, business, science, and a few other subjects. Across all of them, we use a shared editorial framework that shapes how content gets researched, written, edited, and published. We’ve refined this framework as our publishing has scaled, and want to share how it now works.
Editorial team bylines
Most articles across our publications are produced as a collective editorial effort: research, drafting, fact-checking, editing, review. Where that’s the case, the byline is the publication’s editorial team rather than a single individual. This applies to most of our daily output. Articles by named members of our team or named freelance contributors continue to carry their individual bylines.
AI tools in our workflow
AI tools assist with research, drafting, source discovery, and editorial review workflows. Editors are responsible for final publication decisions.
We don’t use AI to fabricate quotes, invent sources, or present AI-generated content as first-hand reporting from real individuals.
Pen names and contributor identity
We sometimes use pen names for contributor bylines. A pen name might be a real member of our editorial team or a freelance contributor writing under a chosen name, or it might be an editorial device for personal-essay format content where a consistent voice serves the piece. Where a pen name is used as an editorial device, the byline page says so plainly. We don’t present fabricated personas or attach false professional credentials to bylines.
Per-article framing
Articles touching on health, mental health, finance, legal questions, or interpretive frameworks include a short notice at the end. The notice tells readers, plainly, that the content is for general information and reflection, not a substitute for advice from a qualified professional. This makes explicit something that should be obvious about everything we publish. It’s editorial. It draws on research and observation, not clinical, financial, or legal credentials.
Network-wide standards
The editorial standards that apply across all Brown Brothers Media publications live in our network-wide editorial guidelines. Each publication’s own editorial policy references those standards and applies them in the context of that publication’s subject matter. The standards cover sourcing, editorial review, AI use, contributor identity, corrections, content standards, and editorial independence.
Why we share this
We publish a lot of content, and we want readers to understand how it gets made. The framework above describes how our editorial work actually happens, in plain terms. Publishing has changed over the past few years, AI being part of that change, and we think publishers should be open about how they’re working now rather than letting practice and disclosure drift apart.
This framework applies forward and back. As part of adopting it, we are working through older articles across our publications, updating or retiring content that does not reflect our current standards.
For questions, write to [email protected].