Newsroom Standards
How TWOSU News earns your trust.
Trust begins with a newsroom willing to show its work. These standards explain how we verify information, evaluate evidence, treat sources, make editorial decisions and correct the record when necessary.
Why These Standards Matter
A public standard for the journalism we publish.
TWOSU News believes readers should be able to understand how we established the facts behind a report, what evidence informed our conclusions and what remains uncertain.
Our reporting covers transportation, trucking, public safety, government, enforcement, business, crashes and developing events. Some stories can be confirmed quickly. Others require records, interviews, visual evidence or additional reporting before the facts are clear enough to publish responsibly.
These standards explain the expectations we apply across that work and give readers a clear way to evaluate our accuracy, fairness, independence and accountability.
TWOSU Newsroom Policy
Editorial standards
Select a standard to read the full policy. Each section is independent, so readers can review only the issue they need.
Accuracy & VerificationHow we confirm facts before publishing
Accuracy comes before speed.
Before TWOSU News states something as fact, we seek sufficient reliable evidence to support that statement. Depending on the report, that evidence may include public records, court filings, official statements, original photographs or video, direct observation, interviews, data and credible firsthand accounts.
Developing information requires careful language.
Breaking news can move faster than verification. When important details remain unresolved, we identify what is confirmed, what is preliminary and what remains unknown. An allegation, estimate or early investigative theory should not be written as though it were a settled fact.
Presentation is part of accuracy.
Headlines, captions, excerpts, thumbnails and social posts should reflect what the reporting actually establishes. We do not consider traffic, virality or dramatic wording a reason to overstate the evidence.
Sources & AttributionHow readers can evaluate where information came from
Attribution helps readers judge credibility.
Whenever practical, TWOSU News identifies the person, agency, document or other source behind a material claim. Readers should be able to understand not only what was said, but why the source was in a position to know it.
Primary evidence is preferred.
When an original public record, court filing, agency document, recording or firsthand account is available, we prefer to work from that evidence rather than relying only on summaries or reposts from elsewhere.
Attribution should be meaningful.
Vague sourcing can hide more than it explains. When circumstances permit, we describe a source or record with enough specificity for readers to understand why the information carries weight.
Anonymous & Confidential SourcesWhen source protection is justified
On-the-record sourcing is preferred.
Anonymous sourcing is an exception. It may be appropriate when the information is important, the source has direct knowledge and there is a legitimate reason the information cannot reasonably be obtained on the record.
Anonymity does not lower the standard.
A confidential source should be reliable and positioned to know the information provided. Significant claims should be corroborated through another source, documentation or other evidence whenever reasonably possible.
Confidentiality is not a shield for rumor.
Anonymous sourcing should not be used merely to publish speculation, personal attacks or unsupported accusations. Readers should receive as much information as possible about why a confidential source is credible without revealing the sourceâs identity.
Fairness & Right of ResponseContext without false equivalence
Fairness follows the evidence.
Fair reporting does not require giving competing claims equal weight when the evidence supporting them is unequal. It does require us to include relevant facts that could materially change a readerâs understanding of the story.
Serious allegations deserve a chance to respond.
When our reporting makes a significant allegation about an identifiable person, company, agency or organization, we generally seek a meaningful response before publication when circumstances allow.
A response is not editorial control.
A refusal to comment or failure to respond does not prevent publication when the reporting is otherwise sufficiently supported. Providing a response does not give a subject authority to approve, rewrite or suppress the finished report.
Corrections, Clarifications & UpdatesHow we protect the accuracy of the public record
Material errors should be corrected.
When reliable evidence shows that TWOSU News published a material factual error, we review the underlying reporting and correct the record as promptly as reasonably possible.
Corrections should explain what changed.
A correction should give readers enough information to understand the substance of the original error and the accurate information that replaces it. Material mistakes should not simply disappear through a silent rewrite designed to conceal what was previously published.
Updates are different from corrections.
Developing stories naturally change as new records, agency statements, arrests, court filings or investigative findings become available. New information may materially advance a story without making the earlier reporting inaccurate.
Editorial Independence & ConflictsHow newsroom judgment remains independent
Editorial conclusions are not for sale.
Advertisers, sponsors, political officials, companies, sources and outside organizations do not receive authority over TWOSU News factual conclusions. Payment, access, pressure or a business relationship should not determine whether legitimate reporting is pursued or abandoned.
Significant conflicts should be addressed.
A personal or financial relationship does not automatically make reporting impossible, but a conflict that could reasonably affect the credibility or independence of the work should be disclosed, reassigned or otherwise addressed by the newsroom.
Independence applies to allies and critics alike.
We should not reward someone merely because they support our work, nor use the newsroom to punish someone simply because they criticize us. Editorial judgment should follow evidence and legitimate news value.
News, Analysis, Opinion & SatireKeeping editorial formats understandable
Different formats serve different purposes.
TWOSU News may publish straight reporting, analysis, commentary, opinion, criticism, humor and satire. Those formats can coexist, but readers should not be intentionally misled about which one they are consuming.
Straight news begins with evidence.
News reporting should establish material factual claims through verification and attribution rather than the personal political, financial or commercial preference of the writer.
Commentary and satire should be recognizable.
Commentary may be forceful and satire may exaggerate for humor or criticism. Those formats should still be labeled or presented with enough context that a reasonable reader is not deliberately led to believe fabricated claims are straight reporting.
Advertising & Commercial RelationshipsSeparating revenue from editorial judgment
Advertising should look like advertising.
Readers should not have to guess whether payment influenced what they are seeing. Sponsored material, paid placement and other commercial content should be identified in a way that reasonably distinguishes it from independent editorial reporting.
Affiliate relationships do not purchase conclusions.
TWOSU News may receive compensation through affiliate relationships. That financial relationship should not determine the factual conclusion of a story or guarantee favorable treatment of a company, service or product.
Commercial pressure does not override news judgment.
An advertiser or commercial partner does not receive authority to suppress accurate reporting. Editorial decisions remain separate from commercial relationships.
Photos, Video & Dashcam EvidenceHow visual evidence is verified and presented
A recording can document an event without explaining all of it.
Dashcam footage, photographs and eyewitness recordings can provide important evidence, particularly in transportation and public-safety reporting. They can also omit what happened before or after the recorded moment.
Editing must preserve factual meaning.
Routine editorial changes such as cropping, trimming, stabilization, captioning or redaction should not create a materially false impression of what occurred. Reenactments, composites and illustrative visuals should be identified when readers could mistake them for documentary evidence.
Submitted media and submitted claims are evaluated separately.
Receiving a video from a witness does not automatically verify every claim attached to that recording. TWOSU News evaluates what the visual evidence establishes independently from the explanation supplied with it.
Artificial IntelligenceHow automated tools may and may not be used
AI assistance does not replace verification.
Automated tools may assist transcription, organization, formatting, research workflow and other production tasks. They do not establish that a factual claim is true. Material information still must be checked against reliable evidence before publication.
Synthetic evidence should not be passed off as authentic.
TWOSU News does not knowingly represent AI-generated photographs, video, audio, documents or quotations as authentic evidence of real events. Illustrative synthetic material should be identified when a reader could reasonably mistake it for documentary material.
Responsibility remains with the newsroom.
A software system cannot accept responsibility for a published error. The newsroom and the people responsible for publication remain accountable for the accuracy of the finished work.
Privacy, Trauma & Graphic ContentBalancing public interest with unnecessary harm
Publicly available does not always mean editorially necessary.
Information may be publicly accessible while adding little to a readerâs understanding of a story. We consider whether sensitive personal information, graphic material or identifying details contribute meaningfully to the public interest before publishing them.
Trauma requires additional care.
Additional caution is appropriate when reporting on children, victims, grieving families and people experiencing acute trauma.
Graphic material should serve an editorial purpose.
Graphic photographs and video should contribute materially to public understanding. Depending on the circumstances, warnings, cropping, blurring or other measures may be used to reduce unnecessary exposure without concealing essential facts.
Crime, Crashes, Arrests & AllegationsUsing precise language in high-stakes reporting
Procedural status matters.
An arrest is not a conviction, a criminal charge is not proof of guilt and an investigative theory is not necessarily the final conclusion.
Allegations should be attributed.
When police, prosecutors, witnesses, attorneys or court filings make an allegation, we identify the source of that claim rather than silently adopting it as an independently established fact.
Crash video does not automatically establish every cause.
A short dashcam clip may strongly suggest what happened without proving every contributing factor. When vehicle data, road conditions, official investigation or events outside the frame remain relevant, our reporting should recognize those limitations.
Copyright & Outside MaterialCrediting work and respecting legitimate rights
Original work should be identified honestly.
TWOSU News does not knowingly present another publisherâs original reporting, photographs or footage as work created by our newsroom.
Reliance on another outlet should be transparent.
When another publication is the source of information that TWOSU News has not independently confirmed, the attribution should make that reliance clear.
Copyright questions are evaluated on the facts.
Copyright protects original creative work while also recognizing circumstances in which portions of copyrighted material may lawfully be used for journalism, criticism, commentary and other purposes.
Social Media & Off-Platform PublishingApplying the same factual standard across platforms
Our standards travel with our reporting.
A Facebook post, short-form video, caption or breaking-news update may contain fewer words than a full article, but the factual standard does not disappear because the format is shorter.
Virality is not verification.
A claim being widely shared does not establish that the claim is true.
Short formats still require context.
A headline or caption should not remove context so essential that the remaining statement becomes materially misleading.
Transparency & AccountabilityHow readers can challenge our reporting
Readers can challenge our reporting.
Credibility requires more than publishing a standards page. Readers, sources and subjects should have a reasonable way to raise substantive questions concerning accuracy, context, sourcing or fairness.
Pressure is not evidence.
A complaint does not automatically establish that a story is wrong. The status, popularity or financial power of the person making the complaint should not determine the outcome.
When reliable evidence changes, we change the record.
Journalism should be capable of changing when new evidence materially changes what is known. Accountability is part of the reporting process.
Our standards apply to us, too.
If you believe a TWOSU News report contains a factual error or lacks material context, send us the evidence. Documents, links, timestamps and firsthand information help the newsroom review concerns fairly.