The worlds of gastronomy and wine are living a new era. More and more, a growing number of consumers develop their own voice in blogs and other expressions of social networks on the Internet, communicating and exchanging with other consumers assessments, recommendations and experiences around products, establishments, people, brands, etc.
The blogsphere and social networks are becoming a powerful reference point, used by a wide audience to decide where to go, what to do, what to buy or as a means of keeping in touch with the current events of this growing sector, at a moment where the role of critics and traditional guides is changing and facing new challenges. To occupy that growing sphere of social and economic influence, and to help a growing segment of the audience to choose, gives writers, creators and editors of blogs a great responsibility about the messages that they communicate and their effects on consumers and producers.
The authors of blogs and webs with gastronomic and wine contents who subscribe to this Code believe that now is the moment to take a step forward. We believe in the exchange of voices, in the growing role of the Internet and in these new formats of publishing. We believe in the consumer’s and the user’s voice. And as we believe in their importance, we want to commit ourselves to publishing contents with quality, reliable and truthful, in our blogs and social webs. For this reason, we want to make this public, sharing with everybody some basic principles for our self-regulation, which we will apply to the elaboration of our contents, and which respect the author’s independence and creative freedom, and which can be subscribed to by anyone. /p>
The principles of the Cuisine Code
- We clearly distinguish in our texts information from subjective comments about a place, product or services, correct any mistakes in our contents which we might have made and we credit the authorship or origin of the contents that we have not made, unless the original source states that it is not necessary.
- We reject the publication in our blogs of slanderous allegations and defamations about other persons, be it in our texts or in comments that incur in these practices, so we reserve the right to remove any participation in this sense. In our opinion, this does not infringe the freedom of expression of authors or participants.
- We point out if the product or services that we discuss have been sent to us by its promoter or owner, if we have obtained any benefit from it and if the information we publish has not been checked by ourselves. When possible, we point out the means by which we reached or knew about that product or services.
- We state if we maintain a family relationship or friendship with the people in charge or owners of the products and services about which we talk. Equally, we state any preferential treatment that we may receive, and which is different to the normal one with usual consumers.
- We identify, whenever possible, the price of the products and services which we discuss.
