Editorial Standards

Independence

Editorial decisions are made by the publication. Commercial relationships do not determine what we cover or how we cover it. Any content produced in a commercial arrangement is labelled as sponsored and is visually distinct from independent editorial.

Verification

Factual claims must trace back to identifiable sources. We distinguish between a source that helped us discover a story and a source that independently verifies a claim. A report in another publication may alert us to a development; it is not by itself treated as verification.

Every story carries an internal record of its facts, the status of each fact, and the sources behind them. Facts that remain unverified are marked as such internally and are either excluded from publication or clearly attributed.

Risk

Stories are classified by editorial risk. Routine announcements follow standard review. Stories involving disputes, negative financial or corporate developments, or contested claims receive additional editorial review. Stories involving allegations of wrongdoing, litigation, serious personal matters or potentially defamatory material require explicit senior editorial approval before publication and are never distributed automatically.

Right of reply

Where a story makes a material negative claim about an identifiable person or organisation, we seek comment before publication wherever practical and record the outcome.

Accuracy

We correct errors. See our Corrections Policy.