Who we are
Changing the Narrative ("CTN", "we", "us") is an independent, member-supported media platform publishing podcasts, articles and photo stories at changingthenarrative.media and content.changingthenarrative.media.
We carry no advertising and we do not sell or rent personal data. We collect only what we need to publish our work, run our newsletter and memberships, and reply to you.
The data controller is Chris King.
For anything about your personal data, email [email protected]. We aim to reply within one month, as the law requires.
What we collect
What | When | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
Email address, and name if you give it | You subscribe to the newsletter or become a member | You |
Membership tier and payment status | You take out a paid membership | You and our payment provider |
Comments you post | You comment on an article or episode | You |
Emails and what you tell us in them | You contact us | You |
Newsletter engagement (opens, link clicks) | You receive our newsletter | Our newsletter system (Ghost, sending through Mailgun) |
Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, referring site | You visit our sites or listen to an episode | Your browser or podcast app |
We never receive your full card details; payments are handled by our payment provider.
How we use your data, and why we're allowed to
Purpose | Lawful basis (UK GDPR / EU GDPR Art. 6) |
|---|---|
Sending the newsletter you signed up for | Consent; you can withdraw it at any time via the unsubscribe link |
Providing your membership and member-only content | Contract |
Taking payments and keeping financial records | Contract; legal obligation for accounting records |
Replying to your messages | Legitimate interests (answering people who contact us) |
Showing and moderating comments | Legitimate interests (running a respectful comment space) |
Understanding which content is read and listened to, in aggregate | Legitimate interests (deciding what to make next) |
Keeping our sites secure and working | Legitimate interests |
We do not use your data for advertising, profiling or automated decision-making, and we do not sell it.
Newsletter, membership and payments
Our newsletter and memberships run on Ghost, open-source publishing software that we host ourselves; your member record is stored on our own server, not with Ghost's company.
- Newsletter: you can unsubscribe from any email using the link at the bottom, or from your account page.
- Paid membership: payments are processed by Stripe, which receives your payment details directly and acts as an independent controller for fraud prevention and its own legal obligations. See Stripe's privacy policy.
- Signing in: Ghost sends a one-time sign-in link to your email address and sets a cookie to keep you signed in.
- Email delivery: Ghost sends our newsletters and account emails through Mailgun, an email delivery service acting on our behalf.
Analytics and cookies
We use no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Our content site uses Ghost's built-in web analytics, which run without tracking cookies and give us aggregate figures such as page views, referring sites, device types and approximate country. The analytics data is processed by Tinybird running on our own server.
The cookies we do use are strictly necessary:
Cookie | Set by | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Member sign-in cookies (ghost-members-ssr) | content.changingthenarrative.media | Keep you signed in as a member |
Security cookies (for example __cf_bm) | Cloudflare | Protect our sites from bots and attacks |
[CONFIRM: any cookies set by WordPress plugins on changingthenarrative.media] | changingthenarrative.media | [CONFIRM] |
Embedded content: where we embed a YouTube video, YouTube may set its own cookies and receive your IP address when you play it.
Podcasts
Our podcasts are hosted on our own server using Castopod, open-source podcast software, at podcasts.changingthenarrative.media. When your podcast app or browser downloads an episode, we count it so we know how many people listen.
To do this without storing who you are, Castopod combines your IP address and app details with a secret key and the date, and keeps only a scrambled one-way code. It never stores your IP address in plain form, and the code expires every day at midnight. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests (measuring our audience).
If you listen through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or another platform, that platform's own privacy policy also applies.
Social media and our publishing tools
We publish on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Bluesky. When you follow, comment on or message us there, that platform's privacy policy applies to what it collects.
We schedule our own posts with Postiz, open-source software we host on our own server. Postiz connects only to CTN's own social media accounts, using access permissions we grant it. It does not access our audiences' accounts or collect data about people who see our posts. It stores the access tokens for our accounts and the posts and media we schedule, on our server.
YouTube API Services
Our Postiz instance uses YouTube API Services to upload and schedule videos on CTN's own YouTube channel. By using it, we are bound by the YouTube Terms of Service, and Google's handling of data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
- What we access: the channel's basic details, the videos we upload and their settings, and channel analytics.
- How we use it: only to publish and manage CTN's own content. We do not share it with anyone.
- Storage: access tokens and scheduled-post data are kept on our server until we disconnect the channel or delete the post.
- Revoking access: access can be revoked at any time through the Google security settings page, as well as by disconnecting the channel in Postiz.
- Questions: email [email protected].
YouTube's Developer Policies require a privacy policy to say the app uses YouTube API Services and to link the Google Privacy Policy, and to explain how users can revoke access through Google's security settings; this section covers those points.
Who we share data with
We share personal data only with the service providers below, which process it on our behalf and under contract. We never share it for marketing.
Provider | What they do for us | Where |
|---|---|---|
Hetzner Online | Hosts our server (content site, membership database, newsletter list, podcasts, analytics, Postiz) | Germany |
Infomaniak | Hosts our main website, changingthenarrative.media | Switzerland |
Cloudflare | Delivers our sites quickly and protects them from attacks | Global network; US company |
Stripe | Processes membership payments | Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd. (Ireland) and its affiliates; US parent company |
Mailgun | Sends our newsletters and account emails | EU region; US company |
Proton | Our email inbox, for messages you send us | Switzerland |
We may also disclose data where the law requires it.
International transfers: the UK and EU recognise Switzerland and Germany/the EU as giving adequate protection. Where a provider transfers data to the US, we rely on [CONFIRM: the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and UK Extension, or standard contractual clauses, for each US provider].
How long we keep data
Data | How long |
|---|---|
Free newsletter subscription | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it |
Membership account | For as long as you are a member, then 12 months after it ends, unless you ask us to delete it sooner |
Payment and accounting records | As long as tax law requires |
Comments | Until you or we delete them |
Emails you send us | 2 years after our last exchange |
Podcast listening codes | Expire daily at midnight |
Aggregate analytics | Kept indefinitely, as they do not identify you |
Server and security logs | 30 days |
Your rights
Under UK GDPR and EU GDPR you have the right to:
- get a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- have inaccurate data corrected
- have your data deleted
- restrict or object to how we use it, including anything based on legitimate interests
- receive your data in a portable format
- withdraw consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing
To use any of these rights, email [email protected]. It is free, and we will reply within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or, if you live in the EU, to the data protection authority in your country.
Children, security and changes
Children: our content is aimed at adults. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 16. If you think a child has given us their details, contact us and we will delete them.
Security: our sites run over encrypted HTTPS connections, our server sits behind a firewall that allows only the connections our services need, and access to member data is limited to us. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the regulator where the law requires.
Changes: we will update this policy when our practices change, and show the date below. For significant changes, we will email members and subscribers.
Last updated: 29th October 2026