Editorial governance

How we handle criticism, access, and correction

TVI scores titles using a public methodology. Access may change when we can see a work. It does not change what we say about it.

Effective July 16, 2026. Last updated August 23, 2026.

Human judgment firstUnder the current standard, every score is a human judgment against the published rubric by a named rater, and no experiential claim is published beyond what that rater has actually seen. Scores published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026, carry the legacy label; see the migration note on our corrections page.
Show the methodScored criticism names the rubric version and keeps the dimensional breakdown visible.
Separate accessA screener, ticket, or interview never guarantees coverage, placement, or praise.
Correct the recordMaterial factual and scoring errors receive a visible note, not a silent rewrite.

What we publish

TV Intelligentsia is the credibility layer for what to watch. Our criticism appears in four distinct forms. Each form should tell the reader what evidence is available and what kind of judgment is being made.

Score pageA concise catalog record with the TVI Score, dimension breakdown, rationale, methodology link, and streaming information.
ReviewCriticism written after viewing. A scored review may carry Review schema and must match the catalog score.
EditorialAn interpretive essay. It may discuss a scored work, but its central purpose is an argument rather than a buying recommendation.
Primer or guideVerified pre-release context, source material, or viewing guidance. It carries no score or claim of having seen an unreleased work.
News AnalysisA sourced report about a current event paired with clearly labeled TVI interpretation. Factual reporting is linked to primary or authoritative sources. TVI Score commentary is analysis, not evidence that the methodology predicted an award, box office result, or audience response.

Watching and scoring

Every public score carries named human accountability and is checked against the weighted formula in the published methodology. Under the current standard a score is a human-first judgment produced against the published rubric with a full component record; scores made under our earlier workflow are labeled legacy and are being re-verified. AI may not watch, score, or simulate the experience of watching a title.

The catalog holds 2,606 films and series. Flagship reviews, Essential designations, and premiere-session scores are based on full viewings. Under the current standard TVI does not score from a trailer, a synopsis, a press kit, or another outlet's review. Earlier-workflow scores carry the legacy label.

TVI scores titles using a public methodology grounded in cognitive science, developmental psychology, and media-effects research, with credentialed review for children's content. The rubric is versioned and published in full at the methodology page, currently v1.3.1. Scores run 0 to 200 across three weighted dimensions: Cognitive Stimulation at 40 percent, Educational Value at 35 percent, and Craft & Quality at 25 percent.

  • Scored criticism identifies the methodology version used.
  • Quotes, plot sequence, character actions, names, dates, and credits are checked against the work or an authoritative source.
  • A score can change when new seasons, new evidence, or a documented scoring error materially change the basis for judgment.
  • Any material revision preserves the prior score, the new score, the date, and the reason.
IQ Score is a content rating, not an intelligence measurement. It describes properties of the work, not the ability or worth of its viewer.

Editorial independence and conflicts

TVI does not accept payment to score, review, rank, designate, promote, or secure public coverage for a title. Advertising, sponsorship, access, affiliate relationships, product sales, and commercial relationships may not determine a score or the conclusion of a review.

TVI is independently owned by TV Intelligentsia, Inc., a Delaware corporation operated from Nashville. No studio, distributor, streamer, network, ticketing company, or media conglomerate holds any ownership stake in TVI or any influence over its scores. TVI is not owned by a company that sells tickets to the films it rates.

TVI may undertake paid research, advisory, assessment, or practice-review work for studios, networks, distributors, and producers. A client cannot commission, preview, suppress, delay, or alter a public score, ranking, review, or finding. Paid work does not buy public coverage or favorable treatment.

When an organization becomes a client, its existing title scores remain public and unchanged, except for catalog-wide methodology updates applied under TVI's published revision protocol. Titles produced by that client are recused from new scoring, rankings, editorial designations, and promotional coverage for the duration of the engagement. The relationship and its dates are disclosed on relevant public pages.

TVI runs no display advertising, takes no sponsored placements, and earns no affiliate commission on any score, ranking, list, or streaming link.

Writers disclose a material personal, financial, employment, or close-family connection to a title, creator, distributor, or subject. When a conflict cannot be managed transparently, the writer does not cover the work.

Publicists may correct factual information. They do not approve criticism, scores, headlines, or conclusions before publication.

Screeners, screenings, and embargoes

TVI may accept press screenings, digital screeners, festival credentials, interviews, and standard press materials. Receiving access does not guarantee that TVI will publish, publish positively, or publish on a publicist's preferred angle.

  • Every embargo is recorded with an exact date, time, and timezone.
  • Screeners are personal and are not shared, recorded, or used to create unauthorized frame grabs.
  • Social, review, interview, and image embargoes are treated as separate restrictions when supplied separately.
  • Routine screener access is disclosed when it is material to reader trust or required by the provider.
  • An embargo or screener-security failure pauses the access program until the failure has been investigated and prevented from recurring.

Images and press assets

Film stills, key art, posters, unit photography, clips, and production notes are used only under the terms supplied by the owner, distributor, press portal, or publicist. An asset record tracks ownership, required credit, permitted channels, alteration rules, embargoes, and expiration.

Permission for editorial website use does not automatically include social media, newsletters, paid promotion, merchandise, or alteration. TVI does not treat a metadata API or an image URL as a blanket grant of copyright permission.

Stills and key art used in TVI criticism appear in an editorial and commentary context and are credited in a consistent form:

Title (year). Studio. Used for review.

A rights holder who believes an image on this site is used outside its permitted terms should write to jordan@tvintelligentsia.com with the page URL and the asset. We will remove or correct the use while we review the claim rather than after.

TVI brand assets and founder headshots offered on the press page may be used for editorial coverage of TV Intelligentsia, with accurate attribution and without implying endorsement.

AI assistance

Under the current standard, a named human is the rater of record for everything TVI scores. For the early catalog, a founder reviewed and approved each score, and our per-title records of who did so are inadequate. An LLM is never the rater of record, and final score authority is human, always. Under the current standard it never produces or pre-fills a score. In the early catalog the degree of AI assistance varied by title and a founder reviewed and approved each score, which is why those scores are labeled legacy.

AI tools may help organize research, compare structured data, transcribe interviews, identify unanswered questions, flag a new score as anomalous against the existing catalog, and test copy against TVI's standards. They may not invent a viewing experience, create scene evidence that the writer did not observe, fabricate a quote or source, or assign a public score.

Since the standard took effect in August 2026, every scoring record carries the named human rater of record, the viewing basis, whether AI assisted and how, and the fact that final score authority is human. Scores made under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026, carry inadequate per-title records; they are labeled as legacy scores and are being re-verified. See the August 2026 migration note on our corrections page.

The rule on AI: AI may generate candidate assessments or assist structured analysis. It may not watch a work, serve as the rater of record, or publish a final score without named human review and adoption.

Public title pages state each score's class (verified, legacy, or retired) and, for verified scores, the rater of record and session date; for verified scores, the session's AI-assistance record is available on request; legacy title pages do not carry current-standard receipt details. AI-assisted passes are declared and kept separate from human reliability statistics, because mixing them silently would corrupt the agreement measurements TVI collects on its own rubric.

The named author remains accountable for every published claim. Material AI-generated visual illustration is labeled when a reader could reasonably mistake it for documentary or production imagery.

Who reviews, and credentials

TVI names the human accountable for each kind of work. We state the roles plainly because readers and publicists should know exactly how large the publication is and who stands behind a score or claim.

Jordan Robinson, MD, MPHAccountable editor for the adult catalog and rater of record for its current-standard scores. Author of the published methodology and the accountable editor for adult criticism and score integrity.
Cordelia Witty, EdS., NCSPTVI Kids methodology reviewer. Nationally Certified School Psychologist. Shapes and reviews the TVI Kids methodology and personally reviews only pages and TVI Kids Essential designations attributed to her. Her contribution is async and methodology-anchored.

Jordan Robinson is the accountable editor for catalog records. Cordelia's name appears as a page-level reviewer only where she personally reviewed the work. TVI is not a credentialed panel or a board of contributors, and does not describe itself as one.

Credentials explain the expertise brought to the methodology or a piece. They do not turn editorial content into individualized professional services. TVI does not assess, diagnose, or advise about an individual child, and Jordan Robinson's medical training informs criticism and methodology work rather than individualized medical care.

Corrections and updates

TVI corrects factual errors, quote errors, credits, broken source attribution, score calculations, and substantive misapplications of the published rubric. A change in opinion is not presented as a factual correction.

Material corrections are noted on the affected page and added to the public corrections log. Minor spelling, punctuation, formatting, and link repairs may be corrected without a note when they do not change meaning.

The clearest evidence of how this works is a score revision rather than a correction. TVI scored Avatar: The Last Airbender at 156 and published it as Stimulating. On re-examination the series scored 181, a Masterclass, and TVI published the new number, kept the old one on the record, and said why the rubric had moved. That is the largest score revision in the catalog, and it is in the public log. A publication that will move a score 25 points in daylight is the same publication that will tell you when it got a credit wrong.

Report an error or conflict

Send the URL, the disputed statement, and the strongest available source to jordan@tvintelligentsia.com. We review correction requests on their evidence, not their source.