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Voice of the CitizenFrom the Citizen... to the World

Editorial Charter

This charter is the standard against which everything we publish can be judged. It is written to be read by the reader before the editor, and it is revised whenever our practice changes — never the other way round.

Last updated August 19, 2026

Accuracy before speed

A story that is not fully verified is not published, however far ahead of us someone else gets. An hour late is cheaper than a correction a day later, and very much cheaper than trust lost once.

Every figure, date and legal text is attributed to its primary source: the official gazette, the issuing body’s statement, or the published document. Where verification is impossible we say so plainly in the text rather than hiding behind the passive voice.

News and opinion stay separate

A news piece reports; it does not judge. An analysis piece judges and declares that it is doing so. We do not smuggle opinion into the shape of news, nor use headlines to push readers toward a conclusion the text does not carry.

A headline is a contract with the reader: what it promises must be delivered in full by the article. Sensation the text cannot support breaks that contract even when it is literally true.

The editorial workflow

Every piece moves through a documented path from draft to review to ready to published, and each transition leaves a record of who made it and when. Whoever wrote a piece cannot clear it alone.

Fact-checks, "That's Wrong", legal pieces and citizen reports carry an additional legal review before publication. A piece edited after approval automatically loses that approval and returns for review.

Sources

  • We name the source wherever possible; anonymity is an exception with a reason explained to the reader, never a habit.
  • We do not build a story on a single anonymous source.
  • We do not treat screenshots or forwarded messages as sources — we go back to the original or we abstain.
  • Material taken from another outlet is credited explicitly, with a link where one exists.

Images and media

Every image carries its credit and licence. Archive photographs are labelled as archive; editorial artwork is labelled as artwork.

We never use an image from another context to imply an event we did not witness, and we never crop a photograph in a way that changes its meaning.

Independence

We do not accept funded material published in the guise of editorial content. Any paid content, should it exist, is labelled unmistakably.

Our interest in a subject is not for sale, and neither is our silence on one.

When we get it wrong

We correct publicly and quickly, and we leave the record of the correction visible on the piece. The detail is in our corrections policy.