Ethics and sourcing
Who gets named
Private people are not named on this site. Officials, board members, agency staff and contractors appear only in their public roles, and only for what they did in those roles. Where a record contains a private person’s name or personal information, it is redacted before the file is published, and the record page says that a redaction was made.
Right of reply
Before a page makes an adverse claim about a named official or institution, the subject is contacted, told what the page will say, and given at least 72 hours to answer. The answer, or the fact that none came, appears on the page.
Anonymous sources
Records carry the weight of the reporting here, so anonymous sources are rare. When one is used, the editor knows the source’s identity, the page explains why the source could not be named, and no claim rests on an anonymous source alone without a record to back it.
What is never published
Clinical material, unpublished investigations, and work still in progress do not appear on this site. A record goes up when the reporting it supports is finished.
Conflicts of interest
The editor discloses any financial or personal tie to an agency or official covered on this site, on the page where the coverage appears. No such tie exists for any record published so far.
Political perspective
The editor writes from the left and says so here. A record published on this site verifies the same way for any reader, whatever their politics.