Reporters at Mirror and OK publisher Reach have been warned they could be sacked if they add links to third-party commercial websites into articles without permission.
The email to reporters sent last night was originally interpreted as banning any outside links without permission. But Reach has since clarified that unauthorised commercial linking is the concern.
The issue appears to have been highlighted after a freelance reporter was found to have added links to escort agencies and casinos into articles.
The missive is also a response to journalists being approached by SEO marketers trying to secure links for their commercial clients in articles.
The note to reporters says: “The only links we can add to stories are to Reach articles and web pages, or to affiliates from lists approved by our affiliates team.
“Any other link must be approved by a content editor in advance of publication.
“Placing links in articles to third parties which is done without pre-approval is a disciplinary matter which can lead to dismissal.”
An updated note shared with senior staff this morning emphasised that it was fine for reporters to link to the source of stories (for example Reddit, Tiktok or the BBC) when citing them.
In October Press Gazette reported that many UK newsbrands including The Times and Telegraph appear to have a policy of never linking to rival publishers even when lifting large chunks of information from them. Our research found that the Mirror, Sun and Mail Online were more likely to credit other publishers with links.
The Association of Online Publishers offers the following guidance on this topic: “Fair attribution is vital to help publishers get credit for the time, money, and effort they put into sourcing, investigating, and producing original content.
“As well as helping direct users to the original source of a story, linking is vitally important for SEO. Google uses links from ‘prominent websites’ as a signal to determine ‘authoritativeness’ – a key factor in determining ranking.”
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