Editorial standards

The Wells Post has a progressive point of view and is open about it. Our values — a democracy that works for everyone, an economy that rewards work, urgent climate action, equal rights and equal justice, health care as a right, and accountability for concentrated power — shape the stories we choose, the questions we ask, the context we provide and whose experiences we put at the center.

They do not change the facts. Every article, opinion included, must meet the standards of accuracy set out below. You can read more about our values on our About page.

• Grounded in reporting. Our articles are based on reporting by established news organizations and wire services and, where available, on primary sources such as official statements, government data, court records and published research.
• Every claim traceable. Each factual claim must trace to that source material. We do not publish facts, figures, events or dates we cannot source.
• Attribution. When information comes from a single outlet’s reporting, or is disputed, we say who reported it.
• Corroboration. We give more weight to facts reported by several independent outlets. When credible sources disagree, we say so rather than choosing the version we prefer.
• Anonymous sources. We have no confidential sources of our own. When a report we cite relies on anonymous sources, we make that clear.
• Numbers. We report figures exactly as our sources give them, with the context needed to understand them, and we never invent or estimate statistics of our own.
• Show our work. Every article ends with links to the sources it draws on, so you can check them yourself.

Readers should always know what kind of article they are reading. Every article is labeled with one of four formats:

News

A report of what happened, drawn from the source reporting. Our perspective shows in which stories we choose and the context we add — not in the facts, and not in loaded language.

Analysis

Interpretation of the news: what it means, why it happened and what could come next, grounded in the reported facts. Analysis can reach conclusions, but every conclusion must rest on sourced facts.

Explainer

Background that helps you understand an issue — how a policy works, how we got here and what the key terms mean.

Opinion

Argument. Opinion pieces make the progressive case openly and forcefully. They run under named columns and are held to exactly the same factual standards as everything else we publish.

News, analysis and explainers carry desk bylines, such as the Politics Desk. Opinion pieces appear under named columns; pieces from The Editorial Board represent the considered view of the publication as a whole. No byline on The Wells Post is the name of an invented person.

• We represent the views of people we disagree with accurately and in context, in their own words when we quote them.
• We report what people say and do. We don’t present guesses about their motives as fact; interpretation belongs in clearly labeled analysis or opinion.
• We criticize public figures and institutions on the basis of their public record. We do not target private individuals, publish their personal information, or mock anyone for who they are.
• People charged with crimes are described as accused until a court finds otherwise.
• When a person or organization faces serious allegations, we include their response when our sources report one.
• We never use dehumanizing language about anyone, including the people we criticize most sharply.

Quotation marks mean exact words.

• We quote people only when their exact words appear in a source, and we attribute every quotation to the speaker and to the outlet that reported it.
• We don’t alter quotations, stitch separate remarks together, or trim them in ways that change their meaning.
• Paraphrase is never placed inside quotation marks.
• Before publication, software compares every quotation of five words or more with the source texts, and the fact-checking review checks every quotation, including shorter ones, against the sources. A quotation that can’t be matched word for word blocks the article.

• A headline must be supported by the article beneath it. It may frame a story; it may not overstate it.
• We don’t write headlines that withhold the key fact to bait a click, promise something the article doesn’t deliver, or use sensational language the facts don’t justify.
• A question headline is used only when the article substantively answers the question.
• Opinion headlines may argue a position. They may not misstate facts.
• We test alternative headlines on some articles, so readers may see different versions while a test runs. Every version is checked for accuracy against the article first, and the one readers engage with most is kept. Our AI policy explains how.

• We use licensed photographs from stock libraries, credited to the photographer and the library. Stock photos illustrate a subject; we never present them as photographs of the specific events in a story.
• When no suitable photo exists, we use a generated typographic cover built from the headline and the section’s colors.
• We never publish AI-generated photorealistic images of real people or events, and we never alter photographs in ways that change their meaning.
• Images carry descriptive alternative text for readers who use screen readers.

• Health. We report on health policy and public health, but we don’t give medical advice. Please talk to a qualified professional about your own health.
• Voting. We cover elections and voting rights, but we don’t publish practical voting instructions such as registration deadlines, polling places or eligibility rules, where a single error could stop someone from voting. Your state or local election office and vote.gov are the authoritative sources.
• Children. We don’t publish content about identifiable minors.
• Violence. We report on violence without graphic detail and without sensationalizing it, and we never publish anything that incites violence or harassment.

• We correct factual errors promptly and in public. A dated correction note explaining what was wrong is added to the article, and every correction is listed on our corrections page.
• We fix spelling, grammar and formatting without a note when the change doesn’t affect meaning.
• When we add significant new information to an article, we show when it was last updated.
• Headline changes that result from a headline test are not corrections, because every tested headline must already be accurate.
• If an article is fundamentally flawed and cannot be fixed with a correction, we withdraw it.

To report an error, email [email protected].

Advertising pays for The Wells Post. It has no influence over what we cover or what we say.

• Advertisers cannot buy coverage, review articles before publication or ask for changes. The systems that choose and write our stories have no information about advertisers.
• Ads are placed by automated systems, mostly Google’s, and are always clearly labeled as advertising.
• An ad appearing on our site is not an endorsement of the advertiser, its products or its views.
• We don’t accept ads designed to look like our journalism. Our advertising standards list what else we won’t accept.

The Wells Post does not publish sponsored articles, advertorials or paid native content.

If that ever changes, sponsored content will be labeled “Sponsored” at the top, will name the sponsor, will look clearly different from our journalism, and will never appear under a newsroom desk byline or an opinion column. Sponsorships in our newsletter are labeled as sponsored and kept separate from our editorial summaries.

• The Wells Post is not affiliated with any political party, campaign or candidate, and does not accept payment from them, or from anyone else, in exchange for coverage.
• We don’t accept gifts, payments or favors in exchange for coverage.
• We will disclose in the article any financial interest the publisher has in a subject we cover.
• The AI models our newsroom uses are supplied by Anthropic. That relationship gives Anthropic no say over what we publish, and we cover it, and the rest of the technology industry, by the same standards as everyone else.

Because our articles are produced by an automated newsroom, these standards are more than aspirations. They are written into the instructions our AI models receive, and the most important of them — verbatim quotations, original writing, claims grounded in sources and headlines supported by the article — are checked by software before anything is published. Drafts that fail are revised or discarded.

Automated checks are not infallible, which is why corrections and reader reports matter. Our AI policy describes the process, its safeguards and its limitations in full.

Questions about these standards, or concerns about an article: [email protected].

Factual errors: [email protected]. Messages go to The Wells Post Media, which is responsible for everything we publish.