Writing for nuze

nuze is a home for independent journalists, not a feed of takes. Readers come for full-length stories by people who were there or did the work to find out. Here's what makes a story land.

What works here

  • Reporting, not reaction. Something happened, you found out what, and you tell the reader. Analysis and opinion are welcome when they're built on that.
  • Full length. There's no character limit and no reward for brevity. Take the space the story needs — 600 words or 6,000.
  • First-hand. What you saw, who you spoke to, what the documents say. Rewrites of other outlets' coverage don't get far.
  • Show your work. Every story has a Sources section. Use it. Stories that cite their sources are marked on the feed, and readers notice.

Before you publish

  1. Story type. News, Investigation, Analysis, Opinion, Explainer or Interview — pick the one it actually is. Readers see it above the title and judge the piece by what it claims to be: an opinion piece is allowed a point of view; a news piece isn't.
  2. Title. Say what happened. “Council approves 400 homes on green belt site despite 2,000 objections” beats “A troubling decision in Stockport.”
  3. Subtitle. One line under the title: what happened and why it matters. (Newsrooms call this the standfirst or the deck.) It's what readers see on the feed, in search and in share previews — write it, don't leave it to the first paragraph.
  4. First paragraph. The story in three sentences. If you skip the subtitle, this is used instead.
  5. Cover image. Your own photo if you have one. Add a caption and a credit — the image tools have fields for both. Never use someone else's photo without permission.
  6. Key points. For anything long, put a three-to-five-bullet summary at the top (the Key points button). It's what the reader who won't finish still takes away, and what gets quoted when the story is shared.
  7. Pull quotes. Select the one line you'd want on a poster and press Pull quote. Use one or two in a long read, not one per paragraph.
  8. Content warning. Graphic images, violence, sexual assault, suicide: set the warning. Readers see it first and choose to open the story; the cover stays hidden and cards flag it. It isn't censorship — it's consent — and it lets you publish the hard stuff without ambushing anyone.
  9. Numbers. Paste rows straight from a spreadsheet onto an empty line and they become a table; press Chart and paste the same rows to draw bars or a line. Always name the source.
  10. Media. Paste a YouTube, Vimeo, X, Bluesky, TikTok, SoundCloud or Spotify link on an empty line (or use Embed in the toolbar) and it becomes a player. Quote the post; don't screenshot it.
  11. Topics. Up to five. Readers who follow a topic see your story even if they've never heard of you. Be specific: “Housing” and “Stockport”, not “News”.
  12. Location. The town or city the story is about — its dateline. Readers browse stories near them, and search engines index the place. Only the town is stored, never your position.
  13. Documents. Got the actual FOI response, court filing, contract or memo? Attach the PDF. Readers can open it right under your story — “here is the document” is the strongest thing a story can say. Redact names and personal details before uploading.
  14. Sources. Links to the documents, data, recordings and original coverage behind the story. Label each so a reader knows what it is before clicking. Then use Cite in the toolbar to put a marker1 beside the claim each source backs — the numbers stay right if you reorder or remove sources.
  15. How we reported this. A short account of your methods, shown in a box under the story: who you interviewed, what you read, where the numbers came from, who you asked for comment and what they said, anything to disclose, and whether AI tools were used. Readers trust a story more when they can see how it was made — and it is where you say “we asked, they didn't reply” on the record.
  16. Follow-ups and series. Reporting rarely ends with one story. Mark a new story as a follow-up to an earlier one of yours and both are linked: readers of the old story are told there is a newer one. Group a run of stories into a named series and they get their own page, numbered in the order you published them, with previous and next links on each part.

Your perspective

nuze doesn't pretend every story is neutral. Instead, journalists declare where they stand — left, centre-left, centre, centre-right, right, or non-political — and it's shown next to their name. Readers rate how one-sided a story felt, and see other perspectives on the same topic underneath it.

Declaring a perspective is optional, but readers trust it. A story from someone who's upfront about their politics reads as honest; one that claims to be from nowhere reads as hiding something.

Responses

Think another journalist got it wrong, or left something out? Don't just comment — press Write a response under their story and publish your own. It's listed beneath theirs with your perspective next to it, they're notified, and readers get both sides on one page. That is the whole idea of nuze.

Corrections

Every edit to a published story is public: what changed, when, and your note on why. That isn't a penalty — it's how corrections build trust instead of eroding it. When you fix something, say so in the note (“Corrected the vote count; it was 7–4, not 8–3”). Silent edits get noticed and remembered.

Comments

You moderate your own threads: remove comments, block people. Readers must have an account and a confirmed email to comment. Replying to good-faith questions is worth the time; feeding trolls never is.

Growing your readership

  • Your invite link — www.nuze.com/join/your-username. Anyone who signs up through it follows you automatically. Put it in your newsletter, your bios, your email signature. Find it in Analytics.
  • Share every story. The share bar on each story makes proper previews for X, WhatsApp and Facebook.
  • Let others reprint you. Set a story's republish licence to CC BY and any newspaper, blog or newsletter can carry it — with your name and a link back baked into the copy they take. Free distribution, and every reprint is an advert for you. Keep “all rights reserved” for work you plan to sell.
  • Embed your stories. The share bar's Embed button gives you a card for your own website or newsletter that links back here. On WordPress and most blog platforms, pasting the story link alone does the same.
  • RSS. Every journalist and topic has a feed (/u/your-username/feed.xml) for readers who use one.
  • Consistency. Subscribers get your stories on their homepage and in a daily digest. A story a week beats five in one day and nothing for a month.
  • Schedule. Write when you can; the editor can publish at a set time.

The rules

Short version: don't make things up, don't copy, don't harass, don't dox. The full version is the Community Guidelines. Copyright complaints go through the takedown process.

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