Core rule
Serious claims require serious support. The verdict follows the evidence, not the incentive.
Source hierarchy
The strongest available sources are preferred. Depending on the question, that normally means original documents, contemporaneous records, regulatory filings, official reports, court or legislative records, archived company materials, academic research, and reputable specialist reporting.
Issuer-authored material can establish what an institution reported, claimed, planned, or disclosed. It is not automatically independent corroboration of its own account.
Evidence labels
- Verified fact: directly supported by an inspected source and an exact locator where practical.
- Estimate: a calculated or reported approximation whose method and uncertainty are identified.
- Inference: a reasoned conclusion drawn from evidence but not stated directly by the source.
- Interpretation: an explanatory reading that may compete with other defensible readings.
- Judgment: the publication’s qualified assessment after evidence and counterarguments are considered.
- Unresolved: a material question the available evidence does not safely answer.
Flagship requirements
Every flagship must contain a clear question, context, evidence, the decision conflict, competing interpretations, the strongest counterargument, uncertainty, the decision pattern, a qualified verdict, significance, a source route, and a bridge to the newsletter or related work.
Claim and legal-safety control
High-risk claims receive additional scrutiny. Wording remains neutral, attributed, and proportional to the record. Allegations are not presented as proven facts. Active litigation, crime or fraud claims, serious allegations involving living people, and major rights disputes require heightened review and may require professional legal advice.
Quotations and visual rights
Quotation is limited to what is necessary for analysis, verification, or criticism. Publication does not depend on unlicensed copyrighted footage, images, music, or large copied passages. Original, public-domain, or properly licensed assets are preferred.
Editorial independence
Commercial relationships do not determine topics, evidence selection, or verdicts. Material relationships are disclosed. Sponsorship is not accepted before the publication’s readiness gates are met, and sponsored influence over conclusions is not accepted at any stage.
Publication gate
A draft is not publication-ready until its source notes, claim review, legal-safety review, copyright and visual-rights review, packaging accuracy, SEO package, and final human review are complete.