Prism House Media Ltd. (company number 16629483, registered office 12 Hatton Garden, 4th Floor, London EC1N 8AN, United Kingdom) is the data controller for readingwire.co.uk. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal data when you interact with our website, subscribe to our newsletter, contact our editorial team, or use any of our services. It is written in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We take your privacy seriously and are committed to being transparent about our practices.
What data we collect
We collect only the personal data that you provide to us directly, or that is generated through your use of our site within the boundaries of your consent or our legitimate interests. Specifically, we may collect:
- Email correspondence: If you contact us via any of our function emails (including info@readingwire.co.uk, editorial, newsdesk, tips, press, corrections, complaints, factcheck, legal, privacy, advertising, partnerships, publisher, copyright, affiliate or sponsored), we will retain your email address, name and the contents of your message to respond to your enquiry.
- Newsletter subscriptions: When you sign up via our Newsletter page, we collect your email address and, optionally, your name. We use this solely to send you the publications you have requested, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of every email.
- Technical and analytics data: We automatically collect information such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, device type and pages you visit on readingwire.co.uk. This is gathered through analytics providers who act as our processors, helping us understand how our site is used and improve our content.
- Advertising and affiliate tracking cookies: We use cookies and similar technologies to serve relevant advertising and to track affiliate link performance. For full details, please see our Cookie Policy. No personally identifiable information is shared with advertisers without your explicit consent where required.
Purposes and lawful bases for processing
We process your personal data only for specific, legitimate purposes. These include:
- To respond to your communications: Lawful basis — legitimate interests (to operate our news publication and engage with readers).
- To send newsletters and updates: Lawful basis — consent (which you can withdraw at any time).
- To improve our website and content: Lawful basis — legitimate interests (to analyse readership and editorial performance).
- To serve advertising and manage affiliates: Lawful basis — consent for non-essential cookies; legitimate interests for basic operational cookies.
- To comply with legal obligations: Lawful basis — legal obligation (e.g., retaining records for tax or regulatory purposes).
Data retention
We retain your personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. Newsletter subscriber data is retained until you unsubscribe. Correspondence is retained for the duration of the enquiry and up to two years afterwards for audit and record-keeping purposes. Analytics data is retained in a de-identified form for up to 26 months. After these periods, data is securely deleted or anonymised.
Data sharing and processors
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We share data only with trusted processors who provide services such as email distribution, website hosting, analytics and advertising delivery. These processors are contractually bound to process data only on our instructions and in compliance with UK GDPR. Where data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses.
Your rights under UK GDPR
You have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Right of access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to erasure: You can request deletion of your data where there is no compelling reason for us to keep it.
- Right to restriction: You can ask us to temporarily stop processing your data in certain circumstances.
- Right to data portability: You can request a machine-readable copy of data you have provided to us.
- Right to object: You can object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@readingwire.co.uk. We will respond within one month. We do not have a formally appointed Data Protection Officer; all privacy enquiries are handled by our editorial and legal team under the supervision of our Editor-in-Chief, Jonathan Whitfield.
Source confidentiality and tips
We are committed to protecting the confidentiality of our sources. If you wish to share information with our journalists securely, please see our Tip Us page for guidance. Any personal data provided through tips is handled with the utmost discretion and only used for journalistic purposes. We will not disclose your identity without your consent unless required by law.
Complaints
If you believe we have not handled your personal data in accordance with this policy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent data protection authority. You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/ or via their helpline on 0303 123 1113. We encourage you to contact us first at privacy@readingwire.co.uk so we can resolve any concerns directly.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page, and where appropriate, notified to you by email. We recommend you review this page periodically.
Contact
If you have any questions about this policy or about how we handle your data, please contact us:
Prism House Media Ltd.
12 Hatton Garden, 4th Floor
London EC1N 8AN
United Kingdom
Privacy enquiries: privacy@readingwire.co.uk
Main phone: +44 20 4587 6130
For more about our organisation, see our About Us page, our Our Team page, and our Ownership & Funding page.