diff --git a/autoload.php b/autoload.php
index 6cb68e6..ac1dc4b 100644
--- a/autoload.php
+++ b/autoload.php
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ if ($obj['type'] == 'text') {
 
     if ($settings['author-byline'] && $settings['author-byline'] == 'on') {
       $author_name = $obj['byline'];
-      if (!empty(trim($settings['byline-words']))) {
+      if (!empty($settings['byline-words'])) {
         $replaceWords = explode(',', $settings['byline-words']);
         foreach ($replaceWords as $value) {
           $author_name = str_replace(trim($value) . " ", "", $author_name);
diff --git a/superdeskPublisher.php b/superdeskPublisher.php
index 6dfbf28..60d5df1 100644
--- a/superdeskPublisher.php
+++ b/superdeskPublisher.php
@@ -174,11 +174,11 @@ function custom_wpkses_post_tags($tags, $context) {
 function generate_caption_image($media) {
   $caption = '';
   $settings = get_option('superdesk_settings');
-  if (!empty(trim($media['description_text']))) {
+  if (!empty($media['description_text'])) {
     $caption .= wp_strip_all_tags($media['description_text']);
   }
 
-  if (!empty(trim($media['byline']))) {
+  if (!empty($media['byline'])) {
     if (!empty($caption)) {
       $caption .= ' ';
     }
@@ -186,11 +186,11 @@ function generate_caption_image($media) {
     $caption .= (empty($settings['separator-caption-image']) ? ':' : $settings['separator-caption-image']) . ' ' . wp_strip_all_tags($media['byline']);
   }
 
-  if (!empty(trim($media['copyrightholder'])) && $settings['copyrightholder-image'] == 'on') {
+  if (!empty($media['copyrightholder']) && $settings['copyrightholder-image'] == 'on') {
     $caption .= ' / ' . wp_strip_all_tags($media['copyrightholder']);
   }
 
-  if (!empty(trim($media['copyrightnotice'])) && $settings['copyrightnotice-image'] == 'on') {
+  if (!empty($media['copyrightnotice']) && $settings['copyrightnotice-image'] == 'on') {
     $caption .= ' ' . wp_strip_all_tags($media['copyrightnotice']);
   }