How we work

The standards this desk holds itself to, and the things it does not do.

What we aim for

• Sources you can check. Stories link the material they draw on, and official data such as league results, schedules and on-record club statements carries more weight here than anyone's account of it.
• A second look before publication. Stories are checked against the sources they cite, by a pass separate from the one that assembled them. Work that does not hold up is held back or dropped rather than smoothed over.
• Reports stay reports. An unconfirmed signing, trade or injury is labeled as a report and attributed to whoever reported it.
• One event, one story. The same news carried by many outlets is treated as one story, so a loud story does not look like ten of them.
• Human oversight. A human editor-in-chief oversees the desk, can hold or remove anything, and owns the opinion and analysis published here.

What we do not do

• Work that does not hold up is held back rather than published.
• We do not advise bets. We report events and explain what they may mean, never what to wager on.
• We do not report an injury from anything but an official report or an on-record statement. Speculation about an athlete's body is not news.
• We do not run paid coverage as news. Sponsored items are the thing we are built to strip out.
• We do not put an opinion in a voice that did not hold it. Takes, analysis, and corrections are human work, always.

No betting advice.