Editorial Standards

Independence

No advertiser, government, or funder tells us what to publish. Advertising on the Bureau is clearly labeled and kept strictly separate from editorial decisions — a sponsor cannot buy a headline, soften a paragraph, or kill a story. Our correspondents answer to the facts and to the reader, in that order.

The three lenses

Power looks different depending on where you stand. Every major story the Bureau publishes is examined through three perspectives — how it reads in the West, how it reads in the East, and how it reads across the Global South. Our correspondents are chosen from many countries precisely so no single vantage point goes unchallenged — including, when the facts demand it, the vantage point of their own side.

Sourcing

• Contested claims require at least two independent sources before publication.
• Primary documents — contracts, filings, treaties, datasets — are preferred over secondhand accounts, and linked wherever possible.
• Anonymous sources are used sparingly, only when the information cannot be obtained on the record and the source’s motives have been weighed. What an anonymous source asserts is always corroborated.

News and opinion, never confused

The daily feed is straight news: verified facts, plain language, no editorializing. Voices is the opposite by design — signed opinion columns where each writer argues a position with the gloves off. Opinion pieces are labeled as such and never presented as news.

Respect

We report on faith, culture, and belief factually and without mockery. We do not publish what demeans people for what they hold sacred.

Corrections

When we err, we say so — publicly and promptly. See our Corrections Policy.

How we apply these standards

These are the rules. See how a Bureau story gets made, from a correspondent's capital to your screen →