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Editorial Standards
What we commit to before any story ships
The full investigation method is on our Methodology page. This page is shorter and load-bearing — the public commitments we keep, the lines we won't cross, and what to do when we get something wrong.
Verification
- Every factual claim is rated on a four-tier ladder — ASSERTED, LIKELY, SOURCED, VERIFIED. Only facts confirmed against authoritative data earn VERIFIED.
- We don't tag a claim with VERIFIED because it "sounds right" or "is well-known." Training-data plausibility is not verification.
- Anomaly claims ("only," "first," "unprecedented," "rare") require the base rate. We surface the comparison number, not just the outlier.
- Stories are stress-tested against three named kill-shot findings before publication. If any kill-shot lands, the thesis is rewritten or pulled.
Sourcing
- Statistics link to a specific URL or named API endpoint, not "per ESPN" without the underlying page.
- Quotes are checked against the original transcript, recording, or press release. Paraphrases are tagged as paraphrases.
- Anonymous sourcing is used sparingly and only when the public interest in the claim is high enough to justify shielding the person. We tell the reader why a source is anonymous.
- Where a source has a stake in the outcome, we say so in the piece.
Naming people
- Public figures (general managers, coaches, owners, agents, broadcasters) are named when the evidence supports it.
- Private citizens are named only when every predicate fact about them is VERIFIED. If a predicate is SOURCED or weaker, we don't name them.
- "The media," "the establishment," "the front office" are not actors. If a claim requires a hidden actor, we name an individual or we publish UNRESOLVED.
Corrections
- When we get something wrong, we correct it transparently. The correction sits on the original piece with a dated note explaining what changed and why. We do not silently edit and republish.
- Material corrections are also surfaced on a dedicated Corrections page so the record is browsable.
- Subjects of a story have a clear path to request a correction — email, response form, or contact link.
Conflicts of interest
- Sponsorship, affiliate, or paid relationships are disclosed in any piece they could plausibly influence.
- Contributors disclose any personal relationship with a story subject before publication; the editor decides whether to recuse, disclose, or proceed.
- We don't publish under embargoes that prevent fact-checking.
AI use
- AI tooling assists research and drafting. AI output is treated as ASSERTED by default and must be re-verified against primary sources before earning a higher tag.
- We do not publish AI-generated quotes, statistics, or named attributions without independent confirmation.
- AI is never the sole basis for a defamatory or reputationally material claim about a real person.