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.
Desk
Policy Desk
Regulation, licensing and the obligations that apply to daily news explainers.
Rules
Election reporting problems: counts, audits and claims
Election reporting problems explained: why counts change after election night, what "100 percent precincts" means, and how audits, recounts and claims differ.
Rules
International conflict reporting problems and fixes
Conflict reporting fixes for unattributed claims, recycled media, casualty totals, legal overreach, false balance, map certainty, document confusion, and risk.
Rules
Science reporting problems: How to check announcements
Science reporting problems often start when a proposal is presented as a result. Learn how to check status, comparisons, milestones, funding and updates.
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.
Rules
Special Counsel vs Attorney General: How US Federal Investigations Differ
Special counsel vs attorney general: how US federal investigations differ in appointment, scope, removal and reporting, plus a criteria table and shared limits.
Rules
What Is a Continuing Resolution? A US Government Shutdown Explainer
What is a continuing resolution? Learn how temporary federal funding works, how it prevents a shutdown, and what happens when it expires.
Guides
What Is a Rate Case? How US Utility Regulators Set Your Electric Rates
What is a rate case? It is a state commission review of a utility's request, and the test is whether the utility's return on equity lands in an allowed range.
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.
Rules
Public records and open meetings rules in California, Texas and New York
This latest guide compares the California Public Records Act, the Texas Public Information Act and New York FOIL, covering response clocks and main exemptions.
Rules
Health news alert problems: how to read notice limits
Health news alert problems explained: read a notice’s category, evidence, scope, recall status and current instructions without overstating its claims.
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.
Rules
Government reporting problems: how readers can check claims
Spot government reporting problems by checking proposals, votes, and spending stages against public records and dates to see what changed.
Rules
Live update problems and how to fix them
Live update problems explained: why a breaking news stream gets confusing, and the concrete fixes for chronology, timestamps, corrections, and closure.
Rules
Daily news explainer problems, and the fixes that hold
Daily news explainer problems diagnosed with practical fixes for weak scope, buried answers, stale facts, missing context, overload, false balance, and poor updates.