Primary records first
We build stories on primary records: court filings, regulatory filings, contracts, statutes, official data and agencies’ own documents.
- Every factual claim in a story is tied to a source before publication. If a claim can’t be sourced, it’s cut.
- Quotes and numbers are copied from the primary source, not from someone else’s summary of it.
- When we rely on another outlet’s reporting, we cite it as their reporting and credit them. We don’t pass it off as our own finding.
The source list on every story
Every story ends with a list of its sources. Each entry gives:
- the title, the publisher and the date;
- a link to the source itself;
- a link to an archived copy, where one exists, in case the original changes or disappears;
- a note on what it supports in the story.
Numbered markers in the text link to the source each passage relies on. The point is that you can check our work without having to take our word for it.
Occasionally a story may rely on a person who would be put at risk if they were named. We protect those sources and don’t list them. We rely on one only when the information can’t be had on the record, when the editor knows who they are, and, wherever we can, when documents or another source confirm what they told us. The story says where a source isn’t named, and why.
Fairness
- Where the people we write about have explained themselves on the record, we report what they said.
- Anyone we write about can respond by writing to us. We’ll add their response to the story, dated.
- We say what the record shows, and also what it doesn’t.
- We never imply wrongdoing or illegality that the record doesn’t establish.
AI assistance and a human editor
Every story is researched and drafted with an AI assistant. A human editor of record then reports, fact-checks and edits it, reads every source, and approves every claim before it’s published.
- Every story names the editor who reviewed its sources. This page is where we explain how our stories are made.
- An AI assistant is never a source. Anything it helps find is checked against the record it came from.
- The editor named on a story is responsible for it. AI tools never get a byline and never appear on a masthead.
Private individuals
We report on people and institutions with power. We don’t name or identify private individuals unless they are central to the story and there is a clear public interest in doing so.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we correct it openly.
- A correction is added at the foot of the story, dated, saying what was wrong and what is right. It stays there.
- Every correction is also listed on our corrections page.
- We don’t quietly change published stories. When a story is updated, it shows the date of the update.
If you think we’ve made a mistake, write to corrections@thecountersign.org. Tell us which story, which claim, and what you think the record shows.
What we will never do
- Invent a quote, or change the words of a real one.
- Publish a claim we couldn’t source.
- Put an AI tool’s name on a byline or a masthead.
- Publish sponsored or paid-for content without saying so plainly on the page.
- Quietly change a story without telling readers.