Editorial Standards & Corrections

Bad manners, good journalism. These are the standards every My Blog report, investigation, fact check and film is held to, however cheeky the headline.

Facts first, jokes second

We report what we can show, not what makes a better story. Humour is how we tell some stories; it is never a substitute for evidence. We cut films for length and clarity, never to change the meaning of what someone said or what happened.

Tone labels

Every story carries one of four labels so readers know what they are getting: Deadly serious (no jokes), Dark humour (a grim story told with an eye for its absurdity), Absurd but true (it sounds made up; it isn’t) and Mischief (we did something to see what would happen, and say so).

The Spin Cycle

We fact-check claims made by people and organisations with power, on things that matter to the public. We rate the claim, never the person, on a five-setting dial:

• Checks out: accurate, and the evidence holds up.
• Missing context: technically right, but leaves out something that changes the picture.
• Spun: starts from something real, then gets twisted until it misleads.
• Wrong: the evidence says otherwise.
• Utter nonsense: no basis at all.

Every rating shows our workings and links our sources. Before publishing, we put the claim to whoever made it. U-turns set what someone said against what they later did, with dates and sources for both. If new evidence changes a verdict, we change it and say so.

The official line

When the people in charge give an account of events, we quote it fairly and say who said it and where, and we set it beside what our reporting found. We never trim an official statement to make it look worse than it is.

How we grade evidence

Investigations carry a board of receipts: numbered exhibits, where each came from, and a grade for how far we have been able to check it.

• Verified: checked against the original source.
• Corroborated: backed up by at least two independent sources.
• Unverified: we could not confirm it independently. We only publish unverified material when it matters to the story, and we always say so.
• Disputed: someone named in the story challenges it. Their response is included.

We never publish anything that would identify a source who needs protecting, and we redact names and details where publishing them would cause harm without serving the public interest.

Right of reply

People and organisations we make allegations about are told what we intend to publish and given a fair amount of time to respond before publication. Their response is included and summarised fairly, and stories carry a log of who we asked and what they said.

No Comment

Every institution and official we put questions to has an entry in No Comment. Each right-of-reply request counts once: answered, answered after publication, declined to comment, did not respond, or still waiting. The no-comment rate is the share of settled requests that were declined or ignored; requests still within their deadline are not counted against anyone. Answers that arrive late are added to the story and the entry.

The Big Mouth

Readers’ questions are checked by an editor before they appear. We publish questions for people and organisations with power, not private individuals, and we won’t publish anything defamatory, hateful or that reveals personal details. We may tidy wording but never change meaning. We put the most-seconded questions to whoever they are for, give them a reasonable time to answer, and publish the answer, the dodge or the silence.

Freedom of Information

We use the Freedom of Information Act to get the documents behind the official line. Every request we make is logged in the Waiting Room: who we asked, what we asked for, the legal deadline (20 working days, not counting weekends and bank holidays) and what came back. When a public body runs past its deadline, the page counts the days until it answers.

Since we reported

When something happens after a story runs, we add a dated note to the story’s “Since we reported” record rather than rewriting the original. Corrections to the story itself are logged separately.

Consent, pranks and protection

We film people with their informed consent, take extra care with anyone vulnerable or under 18, and protect sources who need anonymity. Stunts and mischief are aimed at the powerful, never at members of the public, and are labelled. Undercover or hidden recording is used only when there is a clear public interest and no other way to get the evidence.

Independence

Advertisers, sponsors and funders have no say over what we cover or how. Any paid partnership is clearly labelled.

Corrections

If we get something wrong, we fix it and add a note at the end of the story saying what changed and when. Being rude is part of the job; being wrong isn’t. To report an error, use the Contact page and choose “Report an error or correction”, or email admin@ragmouth.com.