SITE MANUAL INSTRUCTION MANUALS GUIDE POLICIES AND RULES

2017 EDITION ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017

This year will mark the fifth anniversary of Royal Central first going to pixel. In this time, with the contribution of a dedicated team of writers and editors, we have evolved to become the most popular independent royal news outlet on the web. What’s more, our readership still continues to grow not just by the month, but by the week! As we look now towards appealing to new readers and producing an even wider range of content, maintaining a collective set of core principles and standardised practices is more important than ever both ensuring our published content is consistent for readers and in simplifying the steps Royal Central’s contributors have to take to get content published in the first place. The 2017 Site Manual, the fourth edition since we began, is intended to be the comprehensive authority on how Royal Central is run, what our style is and how to use the systems we have in place, most especially in the case of the latter the Desk - our own in-house developed content management system which contains all the tools contributors may need on a day-to-day basis. Uniquely this year, the Site Manual has been written and constructed for use on the Desk. While the original PDF document version will remain available, a number of more interactive and user-friendly aspects have been introduced to provide what is hoped will be more helpful and readily available guidance to team members. In keeping with our pledge to continue to simplify our processes and documentation, this year’s Site Manual once again sees a reduction in size compared to last year. The 2016 Manual contained a total of 6,874 words. This year’s contains 5,822.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 2 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Contents

POLICIES AND STRUCTURE 4 CONTRIBUTORS’ CODE OF CONDUCT 4 SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY 5 GENERAL GUIDANCE 5 ROYAL CENTRAL TWITTER ACCOUNTS 6 PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA 6 ROYAL CENTRAL FACEBOOK PAGES 6 ROYAL CENTRAL’S STRUCTURE 7 EXPENSES 8 PHOTOS 9 WHAT IS ROYAL CENTRAL? 11 STYLE GUIDE 12 SPELLING AND GRAMMAR 12 CORRECT FORM 13 GUIDANCE FOR CONTRIBUTORS 15 USING THE DESK 17 DASHBOARD 17 ASSIGNMENTS 18 ADMIN 21 CONTENT 25 MY SETTINGS 26 WRITING AN ARTICLE 27 EMAIL ACCOUNTS 31

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FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 3 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Policies and structure Contributors’ code of conduct

All contributors agree to be bound by these terms by submitting content to the Royal Central website. 1. By publishing an article on the Royal Central website, all contributors agree that the article’s original contents become the intellectual property of Royal Central. 2. By publishing an original photograph on the Royal Central website, contributors agree that Royal Central may reuse that photo at any time on the site. The photo remains the intellectual property of the photographer unless the photograph was taken on a trip for which the contributor has made an expenses claim (of any value), in which case all published photographs become the intellectual property of Royal Central. 3. The Editor-in-Chief is appointed by the Director of Royal Central. All other editorial and team appointments are made independently by the Editor- in-Chief. Contributors may be dismissed without warning or notice at any time. 4. While Royal Central retains the copyright to original published content on the site, contributors reserve the right to have their work anonymised on request. Contributors may ask an editor to remove their name and any other identifying features from content on the site at any time. 5. The Editor-in-Chief is in charge of the day-to-day running of the site. In his absence, the Deputy Editor assumes day-to-day responsibility, except where another individual has been given this responsibility by the Editor. 6. By submitting work for publication, all contributors agree that the work is entirely their own and that any content knowingly plagiarised could leave them - as the author - open to any legal challenges that may arise. Contributors who have knowingly plagiarised content and published it, or attempted to, on the Royal Central website MUST be dismissed by the Editor-in-Chief immediately. Editors will use plagiarism detector software to ensure all articles contain original content. 7. No article on the Royal Central website may be republished elsewhere without the express permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 4 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 8. No contributor may submit a sponsored article which they have been paid to publish on the Royal Central website without the prior knowledge and consent of the Editor-in-Chief. 9. Contributors are entitled to reclaim certain costs and expenses incurred during the course of writing for Royal Central. 10. Royal Central email accounts provided to editors and reporters are for use by that individual. The account may NOT be used for fraudulent, improper or otherwise unlawful activity. 11. All reporters must submit at least one article for publication every week, unless agreed otherwise with the Editor-in-Chief.

Social media policy

There are separate rules that apply to both personal and Royal Central social media accounts. The two are clearly delineated below.

GENERAL GUIDANCE

1. Covering breaking news is an important part of Royal Central’s social media use. However, senior contributors and editors who post updates to Royal Central’s social media are encouraged to exercise caution in posting unconfirmed stories or engaging in speculation as this can be detrimental to our reputation with readers. 2. The use of photos and videos on Royal Central’s social media should be done with care to obeying all relevant copyright law. Quoting tweets is a way in which images and videos can be shared with our readers, without needing to directly retweet content. 3. The number of updates on Royal Central social media should be kept to a minimum. Too many tweets will saturate our coverage and readers will pay less attention to the content we put out. 4. Copyright legislation also applies to the content of tweets. Contributors are reminded to credit tweets from other authors and not to plagiarise content posted by someone else.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 5 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 ROYAL CENTRAL TWITTER ACCOUNTS

1. The @RoyalCentral Twitter account may only be used for posting news and updates relating to royal news and the site itself. Personal, political, marketing tweets are not permitted. 2. Following other accounts from the @RoyalCentral Twitter account should only be done for Royal Central contributors and useful sources. 3. Only Royal Central contributors’ accounts should be retweeted from @RoyalCentral.

PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA

1. For those who wish to use their personal Twitter account for their Royal Central contributions, the use of the line ‘all views my own’ in your Twitter biography is encouraged. Alternatively, some contributors create a separate account for personal and Royal Central use. This is all optional however, except for editors who should include a line in their biography stating all views expressed are their own. 2. Contributors are reminded that where they identify themselves on social media as Royal Central contributors, their behaviour reflects on the site itself. Contributors are therefore asked not to do things which may damage the reputation of the site.

ROYAL CENTRAL FACEBOOK PAGES

1. Private messages on Royal Central’s Facebook pages should not be responded to. Readers are directed to the contact us page on our website and there are notices on the page indicating we don’t respond to direct messages through Facebook. 2. Articles submitted to the British Monarchist League should be posted at least an hour apart. This maximises the number of impressions it makes.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 6 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Royal Central’s structure

Royal Central has five different teams… • The Editorial team • The Technical/administrative team • The Reporting team • The European reporting team • The Blogging team The day-to-day running of the site is managed by the editorial team, headed by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor is also supported by a Deputy Editor and often one or more Assistant Editors. The Editorial team set the direction of the site and lead on news coverage. The administration of the site is managed by the technical/administrative team, consisting of one or more ‘directors’ who are responsible for managing major aspects of the site, such as communications. The reporting team is responsible for producing Royal Central’s news coverage and is led by a Chief Reporter who will often work closely with the editorial team in planning coverage. The European reporting team is led by an editor (Europe Editor) and deals solely with reporting on the European monarchies. Its reporters are chosen for their special expertise in European royal coverage. The blogging team produces Royal Central’s blog coverage. The Contacts section on the Desk will hold an up-to-date list of the members of each team and their respective roles. Each user account on the site is assigned a grade. You can view yours on the dashboard of the Desk under ‘My Account’. The grade relates to the access permission the account has on site. From top down they are …

• Administrator (Grade 1) • Reporter (Grade 4A) • Editor (Grade 2) • Blogger (Grade 4B) • Senior Contributor (Grade 3)

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While Royal Central remains unable to pay or employ contributors, we do recognise that it would be unacceptable for contributors to incur costs in the course of writing for the site. Therefore, Royal Central permits (limited) expenses claims for work carried out on behalf of the site. All expenses claim totalling over £40 must be cleared in advance with the Director. Anything less may be submitted in an expenses claim through the Desk after purchase. There is no definitive list of what may or may not be claimed as expenses as it will largely depend on the context of the claim. Generally, though, contributors may claim for the cost of travel to and from covering an event for Royal Central; cost of hotel accommodation relating to Royal Central work; the cost of stationery and any other reasonable costs they may incur in writing for Royal Central. The principle that we will always use when assessing an expenses claim is whether a contributor has been left out of pocket due to their work for the site. If so, claims will almost invariably be accepted. The following however are examples of things which cannot be claimed on expenses: • Any kind of payment for number of hours worked. • Personal costs (e.g. purchase of a newspaper to read during journey). • Claims exceeding £40 where approval hasn’t been given before purchase. Travel expenses can usually be claimed to cover the total cost incurred. Below are the rates and limits for this….

Type Rate Comments Car/motorbike 20p per mile Cost of parking (if any) may be claimed too Bus Cost of return ticket - Train Cost of return ticket Standard class only Taxi Cost of fare Taxi travel permitted only in exceptional cases

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 8 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Claims for cost of lunch are usually accepted where a contributor is out for more than 3-4 hours. Claims for accommodation when covering long- distance engagements are considered. All claims should be submitted with appropriate evidence. A receipt is usually sufficient.

Photos

Although Royal Central’s budget means we are unable to use professional photographs in all our articles, there are a number of different sources we use to illustrate our posts on the website. Royal Central MUST be compliant with legislation on copyright and intellectual property. Individual contributors are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary permissions to use a photograph in an article, though editors should conduct the appropriate checks when posts are submitted for review to be sure.

All photos used on the Royal Central website MUST have the permission of their author for use. If in doubt, ask an editor. ! Contributors should never take an image from Google or any website unless they know they have the author’s permission to use it. The following is a list of sources for photos and their limitations…

Source Description Flickr Some of Flickr’s photos are uploaded using what’s flickr.com called a ‘Creative Commons’ licence. This means that anyone can reuse them, providing that appropriate credit is given. This symbol with “some rights reserved” usually means we can use the photo…

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FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 9 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Defence Imagery For any engagement involving the Royal Family defenceimagery.mod.uk and the Armed Forces, there will be photographs available for use shortly after on Defence Imagery. They are free-to-use so long as credit is given. Credit should be given as: “© Crown Copyright 2016, [PHOTOGRAPHER NAME]”. We can only use these photographs for reporting on the event the pictures show, however. BBC/ITV Pictures For photos of upcoming TV shows on the royals, use bbcpictures.co.uk the appropriate TV channel’s website. Always itvpictures.co.uk ensure the appropriate credit is included. Twitter Many royal events are well-attended by members of twitter.com the public who often photograph the occasion and post the pictures to Twitter. We can make use of these photos where we have no others to furnish our articles. Simply send a tweet to the tweeter of the photo saying something along the lines of: “Hello. Would it be okay if I used this photo in an article on @RoyalCentral if I credit you?” NEVER use this method to ask professional photographers for photos. You can usually judge whether the photos are professional by their quality. Emailing around Often, royal engagements will be photographed by in-house photographers at events, especially charity events and small organisations. Usually, these organisations will be pleased to let us use their photos as they see the opportunity for publicity. Simply emailing organisations to ask for photos from events (within reason) usually renders good results.

It is acceptable for articles to include photos using the Getty Images embed tool, however certain changes will need to be made to the settings of the article to accommodate this. Consult with an editor about how to do this. Embedding images from Instagram in articles is permitted where a current photo is needed, and no other source is practicable. Only official accounts may be used for this (for example the official Royal Instagram account). Embedding from Instagram can only be done after consultation with an editor.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 10 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 To ensure the formatting of pictures is correct, contributors are reminded to only use landscape orientated photos (i.e. that are wider than they are tall). In cases of any doubt over whether a photo can be used, always consult a senior editor. Never assume you have permission to use it.

What is Royal Central?

Royal Central is the Internet’s most popular independent source for the latest news on the and an up-and-coming favourite for news on the Monarchies of the world. With five years of experience covering the biggest royal events, and receiving over six million unique readers in 2016 alone, the website remains one of the most trusted authorities for all things royal. Our aim is simple. To provide high-quality news and blog content to readers about royals past and present, in our own unique style. One of the things readers value most about Royal Central is the contextual analysis we add to news and blog articles, explaining the meaning and significance of certain events and stories. We have three general objectives for reporting news: we should be quick, we should be accurate and we should be informative. Meeting these key objectives ensures our readers go away feeling like they’ve gained something from our writing, and ensures they keep coming back in future. We aim to have quality built-in to our articles with a ‘right first time’ approach. This ensures we retain our reputation for being a trustworthy source for royal news (over 90% of our readers say they trust our content). Royal Central is also unique in that it is staffed by volunteers; people who are enthusiastic about all things royal and love to share their passion with others through writing for the site. In summary, we provide a broad range of articles catering for all readers - whether they’re interested in the present day Royal Family or if they prefer to read about the history. Our blog content is regarded highly by our readers, including a range of articles explaining complex royal matters and unique analyses on royal topics they won’t find anywhere else on the Internet.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 11 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Style guide Spelling and grammar

Royal Central is a British website. As such, we always use British English spellings across the site - regardless of the nationality of the post’s author. Contributors must ensure British English variations of words are used on published copy. Here are some conventions which Royal Central follows in all its writing. • The letter s should not be dropped from a possessive word. For example, Charles’s and never Charles’ and the Princess’s and never the Princess’. • Abbreviations are given without an intervening full stop where the abbreviation starts and ends with the same letter as the full word. For example Doctor Jones should be abbreviated to Dr Jones and never Dr. Jones and Saint Patrick is always abbreviated to St Patrick, never St. Patrick. • The numbers 1-10 are given in their full, written form (e.g. one, three, five, seven) and any number 11 or above is given as numerals (e.g. 11, 25, 1,350). • The definite article (“the”) should not be capitalised on royal when given in a sentence, with the exception of ‘The Queen’. • Don’t capitalise the word ‘royal’, except where it is a reference to an institution such as “Royal Family” or “Royal Household”. Some words can be spelt legitimately in a number of ways. For the avoidance of doubt, Royal Central tries to use only one form where possible. Below is a list of common words that have multiple spellings, with the form Royal Central takes in bold. • Canada has a Governor General (without hyphen) every other has a Governor-General (with hyphen). Use Governor-General for unspecific usage. • A person’s age is given with hyphens. e.g. 24-year-old • Privy Counsellor is just that. Not Councillor or a variant thereof. • Whisky… without an ‘e’.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 12 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 • Curtsy, not curtsey or any variant. • Focused (and its variants): has one ’s’. • Prince Philip has one ‘l’ in his name. has two in his surname. In cases of doubt over spelling or grammar, always consult an editor.

Correct form

The following is guidance on the correct titles to use for members of the Royal Family in the United Kingdom. The green column shows titles that should be used for that member of the Royal Family, while those in the red column should not be used under any circumstance as they are incorrect.

Name Accepted References Incorrect References

Queen Elizabeth II Her Majesty The Queen Queen of England The Queen Her

Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip

Prince Charles The Prince of Wales The Crown Prince Prince Charles Duke of Cornwall (in Cornwall) Duke of Rothesay (in Scotland)

Camilla The Duchess of Cornwall Princess Camilla The Duchess of Rothesay (in Scotland) The Princess of Wales Camilla Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Duchess Camilla

Prince William The Duke of Cambridge Wills Prince William Will The Earl of Strathearn (in Scotland) Prince William of Wales

Catherine The Duchess of Cambridge Princess Catherine/Kate The Countess of Strathearn (in Kate Middleton Scotland) Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine/Kate Duchess Catherine

Prince George Prince George (of Cambridge) Prince of Cambridge

Princess Charlotte Princess Charlotte (of Cambridge) Princess of Cambridge

Prince Harry Prince Harry (of Wales)

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Prince Andrew The Duke of York Prince Andrew The Earl of Inverness (in Scotland)

Princess Beatrice of York (of York)

Princess Eugenie of York (of York)

The Prince Edward The Earl of Wessex Prince Edward

The Countess of Wessex The Countess of Wessex Lady Wessex Sophie Sophie, Countess of Wessex Sophie Wessex

James Windsor James, Viscount Severn Prince James Lord Severn Lord/Viscount James THE Viscount/Lord Severn

Lady Louise Windsor Lady Louise (Windsor) Princess Louise Lady Windsor

The Princess Anne The Princess Royal Princess Anne

Sir Timothy Laurence Sir Timothy (Laurence) Prince Timothy Sir Laurence

Peter Phillips Peter Phillips Zara Tindall Zara Phillips Mia Tindall Mia Tindall

The The Duke of Kent Prince Edward

The Duchess of Kent The Duchess of Kent Princess Katharine Katharine

The Duke of Gloucester The Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard

The Duchess of The Duchess of Gloucester Princess Birgitte Gloucester Birgitte Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester

Prince Michael of Kent Prince Michael (of Kent) Princess Michael (of Kent) Princess Marie-Christine Marie-Christine Baroness

Princess Alexandra Princess Alexandra

The late Diana should be correctly referred to as Diana, Princess of Wales - never Princess Diana or ‘The’ Princess of Wales. Likewise the former wife of Prince Andrew is Sarah, Duchess of York. She may also be correctly referred to as Sarah Ferguson.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 14 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Guidance for contributors

Royal Central prefers to give contributors the freedom to write content in the way they wish, as far as is possible. All articles published on the Royal Central website must adhere to the following rules, however: • Be at least 300 words in length. • Contain at least one photo (which we can legally use). • Only contain original content. Accuracy in our content is also very important to Royal Central. Although editors will check over all content before it is published, it is contributors’ responsibility to ensure that facts, spellings and grammar are all in order as best they can be before submitting for review. Doing this saves editors time and helps maintain Royal Central’s reputation for quality. Avoid copying the contents of press releases into articles, or doing so and changing a few words. This is bad practice and amounts to plagiarism. Readers appreciate Royal Central’s contextual approach to news stories. Where possible, provide a wider context to the story you’re writing about to help readers understand its significance. Articles must not be submitted where more than 24 hours has passed since the event covered. The 24-hour window ensures that only the most relevant content is given to our readers. Editors should reject articles covering events from more than 24 hours ago. It is also important for contributors to consider the sources they use for their articles. Royal Central no longer maintains a list of banned sources for articles, however the use of certain websites as sources may still be discouraged due to repeated issues with accuracy. Where possible, contributors should verify a story with more than one source which is independent of the other (in other words, the second source doesn’t use the first source as the basis of its own story). Most kinds of article are accepted on Royal Central, providing it is relevant, original and fits in with the kind of story Royal Central conventionally covers.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 15 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 We do not publish stories relating to members of the Royal Family’s private lives except where there is an overwhelming public interest and/or it has been made a matter of comment by the Palace. Opinion pieces, even those which may be controversial, are strongly encouraged on Royal Central as they typically are among the best- performing articles on site. Contributors are reminded that Royal Central is a monarchist and not royalist publication, so while we are supportive of the institution of Monarchy, criticism of individual royals is acceptable and in line with our site policies.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 16 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Using the Desk The Desk is Royal Central’s most important tool. Developed in-house to have all the features that our teams require, it is intended as a one-stop source for everything from editorial guidance to the tools needed to write an article. The Desk can be accessed at desk.royalcentral.co.uk and is only accessible with a valid Royal Central login. Each of the following sections represents a corresponding section on the Desk (e.g. ‘dashboard’) and this guide explains what each part of the Desk does and how to use it. Dashboard

The Dashboard is where you’re able to control your posts submitted to the site. You can navigate through the sections using the blue buttons on the left-side (or at the bottom of the page on mobile or tablet).

! ! My posts allows you to see your own posts, including posts pending review by an editor; draft which you have saved but not submitted and scheduled posts. You can track their status here. All posts allows you to see all posts published lately on Royal Central. This can be useful if you’re planning to cover a story that’s not an assignment, to check whether another contributor is already covering it. Stats shows you the top 30 posts from the last 7 days on site and the number of hits they got. It’s not currently possible to show you your own posts in order of popularity, but this is something we’re looking to include in a later update to the Desk.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 17 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Search is a universal search tool for the Desk. It will search press releases, contacts, assignments and some other parts of the Desk for your query. My development is a tool available to reporters. Every two months editors will review their performance and set objectives. This allows reporters to improve their writing and can help those who wish to progress into writing or journalism as a career. The ‘rewards’ box on the right-hand side (or bottom-right on mobile version) will only be visible to those enrolled on the scheme. Otherwise, a default notice will appear. The ‘hits this month’ box tells you the total number of ‘hits’ (the total number of times articles or pages on site have been read) for the current month. The target below is set by the team, though there are no penalties for not reaching this.

Assignments

The Assignments system is how Royal Central assigns the majority of its articles to contributors. Here, you can browse available stories and select up to two to take up at any one time (you’ll need to complete or return at least one to take up another then).

! ! My assignments is a list of all the assignments you’ve taken up. You should submit your final article by the deadline time (shown on the above screenshot examples as 23 September, 22:00). News is only available to reporters and editors and shows all available news assignments on the Desk. Simply click on one to read more of it and take it up yourself.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 18 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 European royals, similarly, is only visible to reporters. This section is mainly used by our European reporting team, though other reporters are free and able to take up European assignments too. Blogs is available to all contributors and shows all available blog assignments. On the right-hand side of this section (or bottom-right on mobile) is ‘Assignments in progress’. Simply clicking this will show a small pop-up box with all assignments that are currently being worked on by other contributors. This section can be useful to ensure you’re not covering a story that’s already being worked on if you decide to write a post not from an assignment. Taking up an assignment on the Desk is very easy. You can freely browse the available assignments and read more of them by clicking on them. Once you’ve decided on one you’d like to cover, you can press the pink ‘take up assignment' button on the right-hand side of the page (or bottom-right on mobile)…

! ! After you’ve taken up an assignment, you will see three new buttons where the take up button was…

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! The first one ‘mark as complete’ will remove the assignment from your ‘my assignments’ section and let editors know you’re done. You’ll need to press this once you’ve submitted your post for review by an editor. The second button ‘create new post’ is a shortcut to create a new post (which will open in a new tab/window so you can keep the assignment open too). The bottom button ‘send back to Desk’ will return your assignment to the Desk for another contributor to take up. Use this if you decide you no longer want to cover an assignment.

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The Admin section provides contributors with tools and guidance on Royal Central. It’s accessible by all users.

! ! The Site Manual provides you with an interactive version of our rules and instruction manuals. You can also download the PDF version here which you can save to your PC or print out. Remember the Site Manual is constantly updated, so check back regularly to make sure you have the most up-to-date version. Video guides provides a step-by-step video demonstration of how to do certain things on Royal Central. The videos should be viewable on all devices, though some users may need to download the videos to watch them. Expenses allows contributors to submit expenses claims for review by the team. Royal Central permits the claiming of reasonable expenses in the course of writing for us. Refer to earlier guidance in the site manual for more information on this. Once you’ve submitted a claim, you can come back to track its progress.

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! By clicking on one of your claims, you can see the details you submitted and any administrative comments.

! You can submit a new claim at any time by pressing the ‘new expenses claim’ button on the right (or bottom-right on mobile) of expenses. Once you submit the claim, you will also receive email notifications when it is updated, accepted or refused. The Training section is currently still under development, though will be launched in the coming months, providing contributors with tools to improve their writing and to better understand Royal Central’s rules, practices and style.

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! Editors are responsible for assigning training activities. To complete one, simply open it by clicking on its , read the guidance and either complete the quiz at the end or click the ‘complete’ button.

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Discuss is a forum that allows contributors to propose, comment on and consider ideas to help improve the site. Anyone can propose or comment on an idea. There is also a space for an editor to respond to the idea or

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 23 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 comment so the team can see whether the idea is viable. With enough support, most ideas can be acted upon by the editorial or technical teams.

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! Available roles allows contributors to see of any vacancies in the editorial or other Royal Central teams. As part of our commitment to providing new opportunities to team members, many vacancies may be first advertised here to team members.

FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 24 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Email signature allows you to generate your email signature for use on webmail or your own webmail client. If your role changes, you can easily update your own email signature by coming to this part of the Desk and simply copying and pasting your updated signature, meaning you don’t need to contact the technical team for assistance.

Content

Royal Central reporters and editors automatically receive press releases directly to their email accounts, however this section of the Desk provides an archive of press releases dating back over a year. They are accessible by bloggers, however all users are reminded that most press releases contain sensitive content. Under Royal Central’s rules, you must not disclose their contents to an outside source without prior approval from the Editor-in-Chief.

! ! Simply click on one of the press releases to see it in full and download any attachments. The contacts section provides contributors with a range of contacts across royal palaces, government departments and organisations associated with the royals, as well as internal contacts for the reporting and editorial teams. This is our most up-to-date record of contacts, so should be the first port-of-call for all team members.

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! ! Simply click on one of the contacts to see the email address and phone number or search contacts using the tool at the top right of the page (or bottom-right on mobile). Documents is a collection of Royal Central’s documents that are accessible to all contributors. They typically include our bi-annual reports as well as special documents we’ve put out to assist the team. Remember these are also sensitive and for internal distribution among team members only. Photos provides guidance on where to source photos for articles and how to properly credit them.

My settings

By clicking the silver ‘settings’ button next to your name at the top-right of any page of the Desk, you can alter your personal settings across the site.

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FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 26 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Writing an article Royal Central uses WordPress as its Content Management System. On the whole, it’s a fairly versatile and easy to understand setup with most of its controls being visual. This section is a step-by-step guide on the actual process of writing an article.

P Most posts will be created from assignments, however contributors are free to write their own posts independently should they choose. Contributors should be clear as to what they’re writing before starting a post. Once you’re clear, simply press the ‘Create New Post’ button on the Desk.

1 A new page will now open in a new tab or window of your browser. The first thing you need to do is set the title of your post. Remember, it’s all readers have to go on before deciding whether to click and read!

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FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 27 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 2 Next, you need to select the category for your post. Typically only one category will be selected for a post, though it’s possible and acceptable to choose more than one if it’s appropriate.

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3 Now you need to write the contents of your article. There is a requirement that every article MUST contain 300 words.

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FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 28 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 4 Next you need to select at least one image for your article. To do this, scroll down the page and find the link that says “Set Featured Image”, click this and upload your image. Once you’ve uploaded it, simply press the blue ‘Set Featured Image’ button.

! You now must also include the relevant photo credit. If your article only has one image (which most articles will), simply insert the photo credit line in the “Featured Image Caption” box near the bottom of the page. You can include code here if necessary. DO NOT include a photo caption here, this box should only be used for the photo credit. Similarly, do NOT include a long link here either. Just a basic credit to the author, as they require.

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5 Finally, you should set a ‘Featured Headline’ for your post. This should be a VERY short summary of your article, in less than 5 words. This featured headline will show on places in the site where there's not enough room to show the full headline of the post.

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! ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 6 You’re now ready to submit your post for review. All you need to do is press the blue “Submit for Review” button to the right of the content editor. Once you do this, it will be sent to an editor who will proofread and publish it to the site. You’ll receive an automated email when your post has been published.

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FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Page 30 of 32 ROYAL CENTRAL SITE MANUAL 2017 Email accounts Royal Central’s editors and reporters are given their own individual email accounts when they join the editorial or reporting teams. This account is used by us for all correspondence relating to the site and is the address to which you will receive press releases and notifications about the site. We provide this tool also to allow contributors to contact external organisations with the professional look of an official email account and it allows contributors to keep their personal and Royal Central correspondence separate. The details on how to access your email account are emailed by the Technical Director when you join the team. Email addresses are always in the format of first- [email protected] unless you request differently. Most of our contributors set up this email account on their phones or an email client on their computers. How this is done varies from device to device, though usually an Internet search or a look in the device’s instruction manual will give a step-by-step guide. The details you’ll need are… Incoming mail server (IMAP): mail3.gridhost.co.uk Incoming port: 993 (SSL on) Outgoing mail server (SMTP): mail3.gridhost.co.uk Outgoing port: 465 (SSL on) Username: your full Royal Central email address Password: your email password Username and password must be put in for incoming and outgoing server. Alternatively you can access your emails through our webmail system at royalcentral.co.uk/webmail Queries regarding email accounts should be directed to the technical manager on [email protected] who can also provide step-by-step instructions for your device.

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