Standards before shortcuts.

Accuracy

Facts should be verified before publication to the standard appropriate for the story. Crazy News does not treat an assumption as established simply because it sounds plausible, has circulated widely online or has already been published elsewhere.

Reporters are expected to test important claims rather than merely repeat them. The greater the potential harm of a claim, the greater the care required before presenting it as fact.

When information remains uncertain, incomplete, disputed or impossible to verify independently, that limitation should be made clear to the reader.

Sources and evidence

Crazy News prioritises sources that are as close as reasonably possible to the underlying evidence.

Depending on the story, useful source material may include:

• firsthand witnesses and participants
• original documents
• public records
• official datasets
• direct observation
• original photographs, recordings or video
• technical evidence
• multiple independent confirmations where appropriate

A source should not be judged only by job title, status or institutional authority. Reporters should also consider what the source could realistically know, how directly they know it and whether they have interests that may influence how they describe events.

Secondary reporting can be valuable, but where an important claim can reasonably be checked against original material, we should make that effort.

Attribution

Information and quotations should be attributed clearly enough that readers understand where a claim originates.

A statement made by a government, company, campaign, institution, lawyer, spokesperson, activist or individual is evidence of what that person or organisation says. It is not automatically proof that the underlying claim is true.

Reporting should therefore distinguish clearly between a source's statement and what independent evidence establishes.

Quotations should preserve the speaker's substantive meaning. Editing for length should not transform what was actually said.

Headlines

Headlines should accurately represent what the article itself establishes.

They should not materially exaggerate evidence, turn an unresolved question into a proven conclusion or imply wrongdoing that the reporting does not support.

A headline can be direct, interesting and forceful without becoming deceptive.

Developing stories and updates

Developing stories change. Articles may be updated as new information becomes available, new evidence emerges or an earlier uncertainty is resolved.

Routine additions do not necessarily require a correction note. However, an update should not be used to quietly erase a material factual error from an earlier version.

Where an article has materially changed because the known facts changed, we should make the chronology understandable when that context matters to the reader.

Corrections

Significant factual errors should be corrected promptly and transparently.

We distinguish between different kinds of changes:

Where necessary for readers to understand the mistake, a correction should explain what was wrong and what changed.

Reporting, analysis and opinion

News reporting, analysis and opinion should be distinguishable.

Straight reporting may include necessary context and explanation, but factual claims should not depend on the reader sharing the reporter's personal view.

Analysis may interpret evidence, compare scenarios, identify patterns or provide historical context. It should still make clear which parts are established fact and which parts are interpretation.

Opinion and advocacy should not be disguised as neutral factual reporting.

Conflicts of interest

Reporters should disclose financial, professional or personal conflicts that are materially relevant to their work.

A reporter having views, experiences or personal history does not automatically prevent them from covering a subject. Journalism is produced by human beings, not blank machines.

The relevant question is whether a relationship or interest could reasonably undermine confidence in the independence or fairness of the reporting.

Assignments may be reassigned, independently reviewed or accompanied by appropriate disclosure where a material conflict exists.

Photos, video and visual material

Photographs, video, graphics and other visual material should not knowingly be presented in a materially misleading context.

Cropping, colour adjustment and routine editing should not change the substantive meaning of documentary material.

Captions should accurately identify what an image shows when that information is known.

Reconstructed, illustrative or generated imagery must not be presented as though it were documentary evidence of an event that actually occurred.

When an image has been materially altered in a way relevant to its meaning, that should be disclosed where necessary to prevent readers being misled.

AI and digital tools

Digital and artificial-intelligence tools may assist newsroom work, including transcription, translation, research organisation, document processing, summarisation, drafting support and production.

Using a tool does not transfer editorial responsibility away from Crazy News or from the reporter responsible for the published work.

Material produced by an AI system is not evidence merely because software produced it. Factual claims must still meet ordinary sourcing and verification standards.

Editorial independence

Commercial interests should not determine the factual conclusions of Crazy News reporting.

Advertisers, sponsors, commercial partners or outside organisations should not receive the right to rewrite independent journalism in exchange for money, access or favour.

Advertising, sponsored material or other commercial content should be distinguishable from newsroom journalism where applicable.

Access to a source, company or institution does not entitle that organisation to favourable coverage.

Confidential sources

Some information can only be reported when a source cannot safely or realistically be identified publicly.

Anonymous sourcing should therefore be used deliberately rather than casually. Reporters should understand why the source requires anonymity, what the source can genuinely know and whether the information can be corroborated elsewhere.

Where a source has been promised confidentiality, the newsroom should take that commitment seriously.

Readers should be given as much information about an unnamed source's position or basis of knowledge as can responsibly be provided without defeating the purpose of protecting their identity.