Editorial standards

Sourcing

• Every explainer relies on at least three independent sources. We prefer original reporting, official statements, court documents, company filings and data from public agencies.
• We link every source we relied on at the end of the explainer, and we attribute claims in the text (“according to,” “the company said”).
• Claims that only one outlet reports are labeled as such, or left out.

Originality

• We never copy and paste. Explainers are written from scratch in our own words and structure.
• Direct quotes are rare and short, used only when the exact wording matters, and always attributed.
• Before publishing, each draft is compared against the source material gathered during research. Any run of copied wording has to be rewritten or turned into a short, attributed quote.
• We don’t republish other outlets’ photos. Our images are original illustrations.

Accuracy and fairness

• We separate what’s confirmed from what’s alleged or still unknown, and we say which is which.
• On contested political topics, we lay out the main positions fairly and don’t take sides.
• On health, legal and money topics, we point readers to official guidance and qualified professionals.
• We don’t speculate about the causes of breaking tragedies, and we don’t name private individuals or minors caught up in the news unless they’re central to the story and already widely reported.

How we use AI

Uptick explainers are researched and drafted with the help of AI tools, under the editorial rules on this page. AI helps us track trends, gather and compare sources, and write clearly and quickly. Every explainer still has to pass the sourcing, originality and accuracy checks above before it’s published. We disclose this on every article.

Corrections and updates

• If we get something wrong, we fix it and add a dated correction note to the bottom of the explainer.
• When a story develops, we update the explainer and its “Updated” timestamp instead of publishing a near-duplicate.

Independence

No company, campaign or advertiser pays to be covered, and none gets to review our explainers before they’re published. If the site carries ads, they’re clearly separate from editorial content.