# Publishing principles

## Primary sources only

Articles are written from public documents: agendas, minutes, staff reports, filings, datasets and official releases. We do not rewrite other outlets' reporting and we do not source from social media.

## Every claim carries a citation

An article with an uncited factual claim is not published. Source links are checked before publication, and copies of source documents are retained so citations remain verifiable if a municipal website is reorganised.

## Figures must appear in the source

Numbers, dates, vote counts and dollar figures are verified against the source document by a separate model from the one that drafted the article. A discrepancy blocks publication.

## Names come from the record

In civic coverage, people are named as the public record names them: councillors and their votes, staff and their reports, residents who put themselves on the record at a public meeting. In crime, court and enforcement items, private individuals are not named — an accusation is not a conviction, and our page outlives the outcome. Either way, a name can only reach the page if it appears in the cited source document; the system is built so it cannot add one.

## Silence over speculation

Where the system is not confident, it publishes nothing rather than publishing a hedge. We do not infer motive, characterise people, or predict outcomes.

## Corrections are permanent and public

Errors are corrected in place and recorded in the[corrections log](https://localwire.ca/corrections/) with the change and the reason. Nothing is removed from that log.

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Source: https://localwire.ca/about/principles/