Editorial Standards

Sourcing

• Every story is signed and dated, and links to the sources it relies on.
• We verify facts with primary sources whenever they exist: laws and regulations, court filings, official data, government publications and on-the-record statements.
• When a fact cannot be confirmed, we say so plainly or leave it out.
• We do not publish invented quotes, composite characters or sample stories.

Elections

Information about how to register and vote points to official sources, starting with vote.gov and each state's election authority. On election night we link to official state results pages and do not publish our own vote counts. Any race call we report cites its source and the time it was made. Results are unofficial until certified.

Use of AI tools

Some reporting and drafting at Citizen Observer is assisted by AI tools. Every such story is reviewed, fact-checked against its sources and edited by our editorial team before publication, and it says so in the byline. AI tools are not cited as sources.

Fact-checks

A fact-check states the claim, checks it against primary sources and gives a finding:

• Accurate: the claim is supported by the evidence.
• Missing context: the claim is partly supported but leaves out information that changes its meaning.
• Inaccurate: the evidence contradicts the claim.
• Unverified: we could not confirm or disprove the claim with available evidence, and we explain why.

News and opinion

Opinion pieces are labeled and published in the Opinion section. Editorials represent the view of the Citizen Observer editorial team.

Images

Section images are illustrative and are not photographs of the events described in a story. News photographs are captioned and credited.

Corrections

We correct errors promptly and visibly. See our corrections policy.