POLICY / PUBLIC RECORD
Editorial Standards
Effective September 1, 2026
How files are selected, verified, contextualized, and corrected.
Primary record first
We prefer the originating memo, transcript, order, docket entry, release package, or archive catalog record over a summary. Secondary reporting can guide discovery and context but does not replace the file.
Provenance
A publishable file should have a traceable custodian, release path, date, and identifier when available. We link to the official source and describe uncertainty when provenance is incomplete.
Claim discipline
We separate what officials said, what the record states, what later evidence changed, and what remains unknown. Headlines and graphics must not outrun the underlying document.
Context and fairness
A page can be genuine and still misleading when isolated. We look for surrounding pages, authorship, intended audience, contemporaneous events, later corrections, and credible counterevidence. The file may incriminate, complicate, or clear.
Quotations and OCR
Quotes are checked against the scan when practical. Optical character recognition is a discovery aid, not final authority. Illegible, handwritten, or damaged passages are labeled rather than guessed.
Corrections standard
Substantive errors are corrected promptly and disclosed near the affected work with the nature and date of the change. Broken links may be replaced with archived or successor official links without a formal correction note.