About Us

Cerge Media is an independent online magazine based in London. We write about technology and the people, companies and decisions behind it: artificial intelligence, startups, cybersecurity, consumer gadgets and the business of tech. We started the site because we wanted to read coverage that explained what was actually happening, why it mattered and who it affected, without the breathless tone of a press release or the jargon of a trade journal.

What we’re trying to do

Technology now shapes how people work, shop, bank, vote, learn and talk to each other. A lot of the writing about it falls into two camps: cheerleading for whatever is new, or a general sense of dread. Neither is much use when you’re trying to decide whether to adopt a tool at work, whether a startup’s claims stand up, or what a new piece of regulation will mean for your business.

Our aim is simpler. We want to explain technology clearly, test claims against evidence, and give a proper sense of the trade-offs. When something is genuinely impressive, we’ll say so. When a product launch is mostly marketing, we’ll say that too. And when the honest answer is “nobody knows yet”, we’ll tell you that rather than pretend otherwise.

We are a UK publication, so we pay particular attention to what technology news means for readers here: British regulators, UK law, the pound in your pocket and the companies building things in this country. We still cover Silicon Valley, Shenzhen and Brussels, but we try to bring the story home.

What we cover

Our coverage is organised into six sections. They overlap constantly, which is rather the point.

AI

Artificial intelligence gets more coverage than almost anything else in tech, and much of it is noise. We focus on what models and tools can actually do, how they’re being used in real organisations, the research worth paying attention to, and the policy and ethical questions that follow. We’re interested in the unglamorous parts too: data, compute costs, energy use and copyright.

Startups

We cover early-stage companies, the founders running them and the investors backing them, with a bias towards the UK and Europe. That includes funding rounds, but also the harder stories: pivots, failures, layoffs and what founders learnt the expensive way. We treat company announcements as a starting point for questions, not as news in themselves.

Tech

This is our broadest section: software, platforms, infrastructure, telecoms, the internet and the big companies that run much of it. Expect explainers and analysis of how everyday technology works under the bonnet.

Cybersecurity

Breaches, ransomware, scams, privacy and the security practices that actually reduce risk. We try to write about security in a way that is useful to ordinary readers and small businesses as well as specialists, and we’re careful not to publish details that would help an attacker more than a defender.

Gadgets

Phones, laptops, wearables, smart home kit and the occasional oddity. Our gadget coverage looks at whether something is worth the money, who it’s for and what the compromises are. We are not interested in rewriting spec sheets.

Business

The money side of tech: earnings, markets, competition law, regulation, workplaces and the economics of the platforms we all depend on. This is where we look at how technology changes industries that don’t think of themselves as tech companies at all.

Our editorial standards

Readers should be able to trust what they read here. That trust has to be earned piece by piece, so we hold ourselves to a set of working rules. The full detail is in our Editorial Policy; the short version follows.

• Fact-checking. Figures, dates, quotes and claims are checked against the original source before publication. If we can’t confirm something, we leave it out or say plainly that it’s unconfirmed.
• Sourcing. We prefer primary sources: official statistics, regulatory filings, court documents, academic research and statements from the organisations involved. We link to them wherever we can so you can check our work.
• Corrections. When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so. Significant corrections are noted at the foot of the article with the date they were made. We don’t quietly rewrite history.
• Independence from advertisers. Advertisers and sponsors have no say over our editorial coverage. Sponsored content is always clearly labelled, and a commercial relationship never buys a favourable review or the removal of critical reporting.
• Use of images. We use photographs that are free to use under open licences, such as those from Wikimedia Commons, or images supplied by companies for press use. We credit the photographer and licence wherever we use a free-licensed image. We don’t use photos of private individuals in ways that could embarrass or harm them.

Where AI tools help with research or editing, a human editor reviews every article before it goes live and takes responsibility for its accuracy. We explain this in more detail in our editorial policy.

Who we write for

We write for curious people. Some of our readers work in technology; many don’t, and simply want to understand the tools and companies that shape their lives. We aim for articles clear enough for a newcomer and specific enough for someone who knows the subject well.

A small business owner wondering whether to trust a new AI tool with customer data, a student weighing up a career in cybersecurity, an investor trying to see past the pitch deck: these are the people we have in mind.

The Cerge Media shop

We also run a small online shop selling Cerge Media branded stationery and desk accessories: notebooks, pens, mugs, tote bags and a few other things we’d happily use ourselves. It’s a modest operation and it helps support the magazine alongside advertising.

The shop is run separately from our editorial work, and we don’t review or promote our own merchandise in our journalism. You can read about delivery and returns on our Shipping & Returns page, and the full shop terms in our Terms and Conditions.

How we’re funded

Cerge Media is free to read. We pay for it through display advertising, clearly labelled sponsored content and partnerships, occasional affiliate links (which we always disclose), and sales from the shop. Our Advertise With Us page sets out what we will and won’t accept from commercial partners, and our Disclaimer explains how affiliate and sponsored content is marked.

Get involved

We welcome tips, story ideas and pitches from freelance writers and experts in their field. If you’d like to contribute, have a look at our Write for Us guidelines first. They explain what we’re looking for and how to pitch.

If you spot a mistake in something we’ve published, please tell us. We would much rather hear about an error than leave it uncorrected.

How to reach us

The quickest way to get in touch is by email at [email protected]. The same address handles editorial enquiries, corrections, advertising, shop orders and privacy requests, so it helps if you put a clear subject line on your message. You can also use the form on our Contact Us page.

We’re based in London, United Kingdom, and we aim to reply to messages within two to three working days.