Earthly News uses sources to help readers understand where information comes from and how it has been verified.
Source hierarchy
Whenever practical, we prefer primary sources, including:
•Official documents and public records
•Government and regulatory publications
•Court records and filings
•Academic papers and research institutions
•Company documentation and original product materials
•Direct interviews and statements
•Data published by the organization responsible for collecting it
Secondary sources may be used for context, discovery, background, or independent confirmation. We assess their reliability, date, expertise, and proximity to the underlying information.
Linking and attribution
Important factual claims should be attributed to their source. When a source is publicly available online, we should link directly to the relevant page rather than only to a general homepage.
Attribution should make clear whether information comes from:
•A direct statement
•A published report
•An official announcement
•A public record
•An expert or academic source
•An unnamed source
•Earthly News’s own observation or reporting
We do not imply that Earthly News independently verified information when we only repeated another publication’s report.
Anonymous and confidential sources
Anonymous sources should be used sparingly and only when the information is important, the source has a reasonable basis for knowing it, and the information cannot be obtained on the record. Editors should know the source’s identity and assess potential conflicts or motives.
We should explain the source’s relevant position or relationship to the matter without revealing identifying details. Anonymous allegations require particular caution and should not be presented as established fact without strong corroboration.
We do not offer anonymity casually. Any promise of confidentiality should be made only with editorial approval and should be respected except where disclosure is legally required or ethically necessary.
Interviews and quotations
Quotes should accurately reflect what a person said and should not be taken out of context in a way that changes the meaning. We may correct obvious grammatical errors for readability only when doing so does not alter the speaker’s meaning.
We do not invent quotes, reconstruct quotes as verbatim language, or present summaries as direct quotations. Paraphrases should not be placed in quotation marks.
User-generated content and social media
Social-media posts, videos, photographs, comments, and other user-generated content should be authenticated and attributed before publication. A viral post is not, by itself, proof that an event occurred.
We should consider whether content has been edited, miscaptioned, taken from another event, or published by an account that is not the claimed person or organization. Permission and copyright requirements should also be considered.
Statistics, research, and studies
When citing statistics or research, we should identify the publisher, date, sample or scope where relevant, and any important limitations. A study’s findings should not be exaggerated beyond what the research supports.
Press releases, company claims, and sponsored research should be identified as such. Promotional claims should not be rewritten as independent facts.
Health, legal, financial, and safety information
High-impact information requires reliable sourcing and careful wording. Articles should link to relevant official, professional, or institutional resources when appropriate and should avoid giving individualized medical, legal, or financial instructions.
Where information is uncertain, disputed, outdated, or jurisdiction-specific, the article should say so.
Source corrections
If a source is later found to be inaccurate, misleading, fabricated, or materially incomplete, Earthly News will review articles that relied on it and make corrections or updates where necessary.