EDITORIAL STANDARDS
These are the rules this site works to. They are written down so you can hold us to them, and so that nothing depends on anyone remembering.
Sourcing
Every factual claim has a source, and the sources are listed at the foot of the story with numbered markers showing which claim came from which. Primary sources first: the Dáil record, the judgment, the statutory instrument, the figures from the CSO. Where we rely on another outlet's reporting, we say which outlet.
A copy of each source is kept, so that a page taken down later does not take the evidence with it.
Checking, before anything is published
Seven things are confirmed on every story, and the system will not publish until they are:
- Every claim has a source.
- Names and titles are spelled correctly.
- Numbers are checked against the original source, not against another article.
- A right of reply has been offered, where the story criticises a person or an organisation.
- The headline matches the story.
- Any photograph has a caption, a credit, alt text and clear usage rights.
- A legal read has been done, where the story involves allegations, court proceedings or named individuals.
Three of those can be marked not applicable — a story with no photograph does not need a photo credit — but they cannot be skipped silently.
Right of reply
If a story criticises you or your organisation, you are asked for a response before it is published, and given a reasonable time to give one. If you decline, or do not answer, the story says so. A response given after publication is added to the story, not buried.
Plain English
Jargon is a way of sounding authoritative without being understood. Every draft is checked for terms a general reader would not know, and either the term is explained in the piece or a plainer one is used. Sentences that run too long get flagged. None of this is about writing down to anyone; it is about not making people work to understand something that is not difficult.
Where we use a machine, and where we do not
An AI reads the morning's official feeds — bills before the Oireachtas, debates, council notices, the press — and suggests what might be worth explaining. That is a list of suggestions, not a list of facts, and every one of them links to the original document so it can be read directly.
An AI also reads drafts and leaves comments: this sentence has no source, this term is jargon, this headline promises more than the piece delivers. It comments. It cannot write, edit or replace a single word that reaches you, and the system is built so that it has nowhere to put such a word even if it tried.
No story on this site is written by a machine. If that ever changes, it will say so here first, and on the story.
Anonymity and sources
People who send us information are not asked for their name. Documents sent in confidence are stored where no link can reach them and only a signed-in editor can open one, with every opening recorded. If we decide not to use something, the material is deleted along with it.
Where a story relies on a source we cannot name, we say why they cannot be named, and what we did to satisfy ourselves that they were telling the truth.
When we get it wrong
We fix it, say so on the story, and list it publicly. See the corrections page for how that works and how to tell us.
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