Submission guidelines

East Post primarily publishes news and reports filed by our staff reporters and columnists. However, we also commission stories from freelance journalists in the Indian subcontinent and outside. Freelance journalists often help us fill coverage gaps, especially in areas where we do not have correspondents or contributors. Moreover, we always welcome compelling investigative story pitches or original perspectives on issues that matter a lot.

We encourage freelance journalists to understand how East Post approaches stories and how it emphasises original stories and research works. Our primary focus remains on human-interest stories, long-form narratives and field reports that bring a fresh perspective not already covered by others. Moreover, we weigh stories according to the impact that they can create.

 

Thus, we always welcome a well-crafted pitch from freelance journalists and look forward to stories that bring facts to light and help readers seek truth from them.

 

If you are a freelance journalist looking forward to working with East Post, then here are a few things you should take note of:

 

The pitch

Originality

Fresh perspective

You should write a compelling, well-crafted pitch within 200-300 words regarding your story and why you think East Post should publish it. You need not mention all details but emphasise the human-interest angle and how it will be impactful for our readers.

Send your pitch to [email protected] along with your CV and contact details. We receive a lot of pitches from freelance contributors; however, we can’t respond to each one.

If East Post’s editorial team considers your pitch, you will receive a response within seven to ten working days.

The story should be an original one and not published elsewhere. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited in East Post. It may be a follow-up to an original story published elsewhere, but it should add unique value to be considered for publication. 

Please ensure that you have your preliminary investigations done and have enough data to support the story before pitching. The East Post editorial team will entertain no story with copyright infringement. 

The story should bring a fresh perspective and must not reiterate what’s already in the public domain. It should be balanced and backed by data, evidence and facts. 

What's unacceptable?

East Post will not publish any article that:

  1. Promotes hatred based on caste, creed, religion, gender, language, nationality, disability, etc.
  2. Promotes violence, unlawful activities, terrorism, etc.
  3. Carries out political propaganda on behalf of one or more political parties or blocs against another.
  4. Libellous in nature and is done to malign one’s character.
  5. Promotes hostility between countries, people, communities, nationalities, religions, etc.
  6. Does advertisement for brands, public relations activities or corporate crisis management.
  7. Promotes pornography, sexual abuse, child pornography, child abuse, prostitution, or other prohibited acts under the law.
  8. Any content the publication of which may violate any law.

Format

Contract

Guidance

While your pitch should be in the body of an email and not in any other format, we may decide how you will submit the final content once the pitch is accepted. 

Once your pitch is selected, East Post will execute a contract with you which will provide details of the terms and conditions both parties should abide by and mention the remuneration and deadline of story submission. 

When your pitch is selected, East Post will provide you with an assignment editor, your single point of contact in the organisation. You will report to the assignment editor each step of your story. 

Deadline

Copyediting

Under no circumstances deadlines for submission should be missed. East Post’s editorial team will decide on a case-to-case basis if any unforeseen circumstances prevent freelance journalists from filing their stories within the deadline. 

Although we at East Post will proof check and edit the copies before publication, the submissions with too many language/grammar errors will be rejected after sending it to the writer for two revisions. The contract shall be nullified in such cases. 

Please adhere to the guidelines and send your pitch to us.

You can read here how we work with freelance writers.  

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