Harbourline Dispatch

Our standards

This is how Harbourline Dispatch decides what to publish, how we check it, and what we do when we get it wrong.

Sources

Every story is based on sources we can name inside the newsroom: documents, official records, data, interviews, or a reporter on the scene.
We prefer original sources over reports about them, and we link to them when we can.
We use confidential sources only when the information matters to the public and there is no other way to get it. An editor must know who the source is.
We say clearly when something comes from one side of a story, and we give the people we write about a chance to respond.

A verifier who did not write the story lists its factual claims and checks each one against the sources.
Claims we cannot confirm are removed, or the story says plainly that they are not confirmed and who made them.
When the checks are done, the verifier signs off and the story shows a "How we verified this" box with the sources readers can follow.
Checked stories carry a trust score out of 100: up to 60 points for how many of its claims were confirmed (a partly confirmed claim counts half), up to 25 for the number of sources (three or more gets all 25), and up to 15 for how many of those sources you can look up yourself. A confidential source still counts as a source, but not as one you can check.
An editor approves every story before it is published. Nothing goes live without that approval.

We use AI tools to help with drafts, translations, and finding claims that need checking.
AI suggestions are advice only. People check the facts, and an editor decides what is published.
We do not publish AI-generated images as if they were real photos.

Supporters and advertisers do not decide what we cover or what we say.
Reporters do not cover people or organizations they have a personal or financial stake in.
We keep news and opinion apart, and we label opinion clearly.

We fix errors quickly and say so in public, with a dated note on the story.