Editorial Standards

These are the rules our newsroom holds itself to. They are public on purpose. If we fall short of them, tell us — that is what the corrections and removals policies are for.

Where our information comes from

Our coverage is built from the public record: arrest and booking records, court filings and dockets, official statements from law-enforcement and government agencies, and reporting we can verify. When we rely on a document, we describe what it is. When something is alleged rather than proven, we say “alleged.”

Presumption of innocence

An arrest is an accusation, not a conviction. Everyone we write about is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. We do not describe an arrested person as guilty of a crime before a court has said so.

We update as cases move

A booking is the beginning of a story, not the end. Charges get reduced, dropped, dismissed, or resolved. When we learn a case has changed, we update the story to reflect it. If you can show us that a case resolved in your favor, we will update or remove the coverage at no charge. Always.

Accuracy and fairness

• We aim to get names, dates, charges, and locations right, and to fix them fast when we don’t.
• We do not accept payment to publish, to slant, or to bury a story.
• We do not target private individuals for harassment, and we do not run content whose only purpose is to humiliate.
• We treat minors, victims of sexual offenses, and cases involving mental-health crises with added care, and often decline to name them.

Automation and human judgment

We use tools to help us keep up with the volume of public-safety news in a growing city. But editorial judgment — what runs, how it is framed, what gets held back — is made by people. No story is published solely because a machine generated it.

Advertising is separate from coverage

Local businesses advertise with us. Advertisers have no say over what we cover or how. A story is never for sale, and neither is silence.