Editorial standards

These are the rules we hold ourselves to. They draw on the public principles of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Reuters standards of journalism; we have no connection to either organisation.

Sources

A serious factual claim has an identifiable source: a document, a record, a named statement or a described interview. The source appears next to the claim or in the Sources list at the end of the article. A link points to the specific document or statement, not to a publisher's home page. Where a source cannot be linked, we say so.

What we know and what we are told

We distinguish our own findings from reported information, a person's claim, our analysis and our opinion. Articles that make serious allegations carry a block that separates what is established, what sources claim, what the subject said in response, and what remains open. A commentary or analysis is labelled as such and is never presented as an investigation.

Naming people and companies

We name a person or company when the story is in the public interest and the evidence is sufficient, after editorial review — never simply because a complaint arrived. We keep the words precise: "a reader says he did not return the money", "police have named her a suspect", "a court found him guilty" are three different things. A debt is not a theft. We do not publish lists of people readers have accused.

The other side

Before publishing an allegation we put it to the person or company concerned and report the response, or the fact that we asked and when. We do not claim to have sought a response when we have not.

Headlines

A headline matches the article and its level of certainty. No invented quotes, no invented numbers, no "Exclusive" without a basis.

Corrections

Significant errors are corrected in the article with a dated note. A material new development — a suspicion dropped, a charge withdrawn, an acquittal — is added to the original article and to the case file, not only to a new one. A correction also marks every translation and every social-media post derived from the article as needing an update. See Corrections to report an error.

Languages and translations

A story is written in one language and translated into the others. The translation keeps the original's level of certainty, attribution, names, dates, sums and quotes, and explains local institutions where a reader abroad needs it. A page always says which language version you are reading, whether a translation is missing, and whether it is based on an older revision of the original. A translation drafted with AI assistance that has not yet been reviewed by an editor says so.

Reader accounts

A reader account is a personal experience, not a finding. We know the author's identity even when we do not publish it. Each account carries an editorial note listing what we verified independently and what remains the reader's account. We do not assign scores or badges for truthfulness. We remove details that could identify the author or third parties and say when we have done so. We do not publish private phone numbers, home addresses, document numbers or family details.

Images and satire

Photographs correspond to the event shown or are labelled as illustrative. We record where every image came from and on what terms. Our editorial illustrations are satirical caricatures made with AI assistance from the finished article and the editor's commentary. Their target is the conduct or decision the article documents; a generic figure stands in for an actor the article does not identify. They never target the victims of an event, never mock anyone for their nationality, never add an accusation the article does not make, and never imitate a photograph, a document, a quote or a screenshot. Every published caricature carries a visible "SATIRE · AI" mark, including the versions made for social media.

Other people's work

We link and credit; we do not republish other outlets' articles or photographs. A link is not a licence.

Conflicts of interest

If the publisher or an editor has a business or personal connection to the subject of a story, the article says so.

AI and automation

Automated tools may help us find topics, summarise public documents, draft, translate, or produce illustrations. They do not decide what is published, do not verify anything, and never invent a source, a quotation or a response. Every published article, every translation and every social-media post is approved by an editor for a specific revision before it goes out; a change after approval requires a new approval.