Rules
Correction problems and fixes: seven newsroom failures
Correction problems and fixes: seven ways a newsroom correction goes wrong, the repair for each, and how a reader can flag an error and check the fix.
Contributor
Lucas A. Parker
Subject: Daily News Explainers: latest, news. What needs to be clarified before choosing an approach? Practical guides, comparisons and the questions behind a choice form this editorial remit. Lucas A. Parker is the editorial byline assigned to this area. Readers should be able to see where a conclusion depends on an assumption. This is an editorial pen name used by the publication, not a claim of an independently verified personal identity.
Features
How headlines track a close local election: a fictional case
How a news desk words each update of a close local election count, shown with a fictional Lake County case from election night to recount.
Reviews
Election audits, recounts, canvass, and certification compared
Election processes compared across unofficial results, canvass, audits, certification, recounts, projections, finance filings, and court cases.
Maintenance
Conflict reporting checklist: what to check in a war story
Conflict reporting checklist for readers: test a war story's sources, place and time, casualty counts, legal labels, displacement figures and UN documents.
Guides
How to verify a conflict claim before publication
Freeze the original post, date the media, audit the casualty count, and label every claim said, verified, or disputed before publication reaches readers.
Guides
An international conflict reporting guide for readers
An international conflict reporting guide for readers: how to assess claims, casualty figures, UN documents, legal labels, and safety details.
Guides
EPA PFAS Enforcement: Drinking Water Process
EPA PFAS enforcement under the 2024 drinking water rule: monitoring, state primacy, public notice, compliance orders and possible DOJ referrals.
Guides
Why a Bank of Canada Decision Rarely Moves US Bills Directly
The Bank of Canada rate decision impact on US borrowers is indirect: it runs through the exchange rate and import prices, while US loans follow the Fed and utility bills follow state rate cases.
Reviews
Science and technology announcement types compared
Science announcement types compared across preprints, peer-reviewed papers, datasets, grants, patents, prototypes, standards drafts, final standards, and releases.
Guides
How to read a science press release
A science press release can blend a new result with background and untested uses. Here is how to read a science press release and check it against the record.
Guides
Bank of Canada Rate Moves: Variable Mortgage Math
Bank of Canada rate variable mortgage math after the September hold: what a quarter-point move does to a CAD 400,000 payment, and the spread you can cut.
Guides
PFAS Drinking Water Limits: US EPA Compared With Michigan, New Jersey and New York
This comparison covers the federal PFAS drinking water limits and selected state MCLs in Michigan, New Jersey and New York, plus compliance dates.
Guides
Property Tax Bill Higher? A US Guide to Assessment Appeals
A property tax bill higher than last year usually traces back to a reassessment notice. Here is the order of work for a US assessment appeal, stage by stage.
Features
Why Atlanta, Seattle and Denver frame the same national story differently
Daily news explainers in Atlanta, Seattle and Denver diverge on the same national story because ownership, wire dependence and audience habits differ.
Guides
Daily news explainers: How storm alerts reach you
Daily news explainers trace warnings from the National Weather Service and FEMA's IPAWS to phones, TV, weather radio and local alert systems.
Features
How Houston and Miami explain flood risk before, during and after a storm
Daily news explainers on Houston and Miami flood risk use Harris County gauges, storm risk maps, Miami-Dade advisories and NWS rainfall outlooks.
Reviews
Correction and update policies at major US news outlets compared
Daily news explainers compare how the AP, the New York Times, NPR and Reuters write corrections, clarifications, updates and retractions for readers.
Guides
How to read a weather alert
How to read a weather alert: check its official hazard, mapped area, timing, evidence, impacts and updates—not just a phone notification.
Features
How to explain a jobs report on release day: a worked example
How to explain a jobs report on release day, using an invented example: the 8:30 a.m. Eastern release, payroll versus household surveys, revisions, seasonal adjustment and follow-up.
Rules
Economic reporting problems: how to read releases
Economic reporting problems start small: a percentage point read as a percent, an annualized rate mixed with a monthly one, an advance estimate read as final.
Maintenance
Breaking news verification checklist for a live desk
Breaking news verification checklist for source identity, original media, time, location, corroboration, rumor handling, safety, corrections, and handoff.
Reviews
Breaking update types compared: what each format is for
Breaking update types compared by evidence, wording, timestamp, and use, including confirmed facts, attributed claims, schedules, context, analysis, and corrections.
Guides
How to build a useful morning news brief
Morning news brief workflow for choosing stories, ranking reader needs, writing concise summaries, labeling uncertainty, adding context, and planning updates.
Guides
Daily news explainers: a reporting guide
Daily news explainer guide covering story selection, verified facts, reader questions, context, consequences, uncertainty, structure, updates, and corrections.
Reviews
Economic indicators compared: CPI, PCE prices, GDP, GDI, retail sales, and real earnings
Economic indicators compared by question, scope, period, revisions, and limits, including CPI, PCE prices, GDP, GDI, retail sales, and real earnings.
Maintenance
Economic release checklist for the morning it lands
Economic release checklist for agency, series, timing, revisions, adjustments, forecast sources, household context, and the next scheduled update.
Maintenance
Health alert reporting checklist for the second editor
What a second editor checks before a health alert story runs: the notice and version, the headline verb, who is affected, identifiers and the blocking rule.
Guides
How a live update desk keeps a breaking story straight
A step-by-step explainer of how a live update desk works: roles, claim checks, timestamps, summaries, accessibility, corrections, closure, handoff.
Guides
How to translate inflation data into household context
An inflation rate measures price change, not the price level, and a national index averages consumer baskets no single household actually buys.