Editorial Policy
Primary sources only
We base our reporting on primary sources: the text of regulations and rulemakings, agency dockets and Federal Register notices, court records, company filings and announcements, and statements made on the record. We do not report claims we cannot trace to a primary source.
Every article ends with a Sources section linking each document we relied on, so readers can check our work. An article cannot be published without at least one cited source.
AI-assisted drafting, human review
We use AI tools to help draft articles, for example to summarize long regulatory documents or organize notes. A human editor reviews every article before publication, checks each factual claim against the cited primary sources, and is responsible for what we publish. AI tools are not used to invent quotes, sources, or facts.
News is kept separate from analysis and opinion
We publish four kinds of articles:
- News: what happened, reported from primary sources.
- Regulatory: news about rules, rulemakings, compliance dates and enforcement.
- Analysis: interpretation and context. Labeled Analysis above the headline.
- Opinion: argument and viewpoint. Labeled Opinion above the headline.
News and regulatory articles do not contain opinion. Analysis and opinion are always clearly labeled so readers can tell them apart from news.
Companies named
Each article records the companies it names. See our ownership disclosure for information about who owns The Phasedown.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so. See our corrections page.