Draft Policy: Conflicts of Interest

Definition: A situation in which someone who has to make a decision in an official capacity stands to -- or appears to stand to -- profit personally or in a separate professional capacity from the decision. Conflicts of interest can be real or as perceived by a reasonable member of the community.

While Theatreview strives to uphold professional standards, the New Zealand theatre community is small and close-knit. Therefore, it is inevitable that conflicts of interest will arise, including:

•Reviewers/Editors having artistic or financial involvement with a particular work of theatre,

•Reviewers/Editors reviewing people they have worked with before or will work with in future,

•Reviewers/Editors reviewing work by companies they have been/will be involved with,

•Reviewers/Editors reviewing work by people they are in personal relationships with, AND/OR

•Reviewers/Editors reviewing a work, artist, or company multiple times in a short period of time.

No person will be allowed to review a show or edit a review of a show in which they had direct artistic or financial involvement, either in the current or past seasons, or for which they have already been hired for future seasons.

In the event that a potential conflict of interest has identified, either the reviewer or the show being reviewed must bring that to the attention of the Managing Editor (or the Dance Editor if the conflict of interest applies to the Managing Editor) as soon as possible. Possibilities for managing a conflict of interest include:

•A written disclaimer at the bottom of the review explaining the possible conflict of interest,

•Choosing another reviewer to review the show, including after a show has received a review,

•Deleting the review from Theatreview,

•Retaining the review, but prohibiting the reviewer from reviewing future works by the company, AND/OR

•Any other arrangement deemed acceptable by the Managing Editor of Theatreview and the show being reviewed.

In the event the Managing Editor has a conflict of interest, the Dance Editor will be responsible for mediating the conflict of interest, including (re)assigning reviewers, editing a review, or proofreading/creating a disclaimer to be presented with the review.

Any person who has identified a conflict of interest in regards to a show ought to state that in any case they are commenting on the work on the Theatreview website unless the potential conflict of interest is patently obvious (eg, a person named in a review commenting on that review). Failure to declare the conflict of interest may result in comments being removed from the site.