These are operating rules, not aspirations. Where we fall short of them, the corrections page records it.
1. Sourcing
Every factual claim about a named living person or an identifiable company must be traceable to at least one of:
- a court judgment, filing or transcript;
- a regulator’s published action, order, rule or press release;
- reporting by a named journalist at an established news organisation;
- a published, peer-reviewed study;
- a statement made on the record by the person or company themselves;
- a company’s own disclosure, filing, pricing page or public listing.
The source is linked at the foot of the article. If we cannot link it, we do not assert it.
2. The distinction we never blur
A settlement is not a finding of liability. A charge is not a conviction. An allegation in a complaint is not a fact.
Where a matter was resolved without an admission of wrongdoing, we say so in the same sentence as the number. Where a claim is contested, we give the other side’s position in the main text at a length that lets a reader actually weigh it — not as a one-line disclaimer at the bottom.
3. Individuals versus systems
Our subject is an industry. Where a practice is documented but no individual has been shown to engage in it, we describe the practice and name nobody. We do not use “reportedly”, “sources say”, “many believe” or a question mark to smuggle an unsourced allegation past this rule.
We do not write about private individuals. A person is a legitimate subject only where they have sought public attention for the specific conduct we are reporting on, and where the record about that conduct is public.
4. Opinion is labelled
Every article carries a status badge:
- Documented — assembled from records; the reporting is the argument.
- Analysis — interpretation built on sourced facts, where the interpretation is ours.
- Opinion — argument. Clearly signposted, and never presented as reporting.
- Satire — fiction. Carries a mandatory notice at the top of the article and on the section page.
5. Numbers carry dates
Prices change. A rate reported in 2020 is labelled as a 2020 rate. Where a widely-cited statistic has no defensible recent successor, we say that in the text rather than quietly reusing an old figure as though it were current, and we do not cite statistics from sites that publish no methodology and name no researcher.
6. Vendor data is labelled as vendor data
A company that sells fraud detection has a commercial interest in fraud being widespread. A platform’s average pricing figure is marketing. We use both where they are the best available evidence, and we say which is which.
7. We correct in public
We do not silently edit a factual error out of an article. Corrections are appended to the article, dated, and logged on the corrections page. See Corrections.
8. Right of reply
Anyone named in a piece may respond, and we will publish a substantive response. See Right of Reply.
9. AI use
Research assistance and drafting tools may be used. Every factual claim in a published article has been checked by a person against the linked primary source. No article is published on the strength of a model’s assertion that something is true. Images generated rather than photographed are captioned as such.
10. What we will not publish
- Claims about anyone’s medical status, sexuality, immigration status or finances that they have not made public themselves.
- Private material obtained without consent, including leaked personal images.
- Anything about a person’s minor children.
- Speculation about criminality where no charge exists.
- Content designed to direct harassment at any individual.