Editorial standards

Every story answers four questions

What happened? Why it matters. Who is affected? And what are the sources? Reporting, briefs and analysis must cite at least one source, and the publishing system refuses to publish them without one.

Labels on every article

• Reporting — original or sourced reporting by the newsroom.
• Sourced brief — a short summary of the linked sources, with no added claims.
• Analysis — interpretation by the newsroom, grounded in the cited sources.
• Opinion — the named author’s view, not that of Labels News.
• Sponsored — paid content supplied by or for a named sponsor. Not editorial.

Human sign-off

Reporting, analysis and opinion are published only after approval by a named editor. This rule is enforced by the database itself, not only by policy. AI-assisted drafts must be approved by an editor other than the person who created them.

One exception: short automated briefs. The AI desk may publish a brief summarising a single trade-press item when its automated fact-check finds no problems. Every such brief is labelled “AI-generated, not yet reviewed by an editor”, links to the original source, and keeps that label until an editor has checked it.

How we use AI

We use AI tools to help discover developments, extract the organizations involved, suggest summaries and categories, and check drafts against their sources. Apart from the labelled automated briefs described above, AI does not publish anything.

Articles drafted with AI assistance say so. Summaries are grounded in the cited sources, but may still contain errors; tell us if you find one. Organization links are added only where a source names the organization — never because a model guessed a relationship.

Sources and reuse

We link to and briefly quote original sources rather than republishing them, respect publishers’ terms and robots policies, and attribute every source. Press releases are treated as claims by their issuer, not as verified fact.

Independence

Advertisers and sponsors have no say over editorial coverage. Commercial staff cannot create or edit editorial articles; the system enforces this. Mention of a company, publisher, event or association does not imply a partnership or endorsement.

Corrections

If we get something wrong, we correct it promptly and add a dated note to the article explaining the correction. Request a correction through the contact page or at info@labelsnews.com.

Short, simple, credited

Our briefs are built to be read in about a minute: what happened, why it matters, who is affected. We rephrase rather than copy, and we always credit and link the original publisher.

We publish on a cadence, not instantly: news we accept is released at our next publishing slot, within 24 hours of the original release, and embargoes are respected.

Member stories are not reporting

Companies and professionals publish their own stories on Labels News under their own names. These are labelled “Member story” and are the author’s own account; the newsroom has not verified them. Labels News announcements, such as welcome posts for new members, are labelled as ours.

The Labels News Desk

Journalists, writers and PR teams can send pitches, press releases and articles to the Desk. An editor reads each one; accepted material goes through the same editorial workflow as our own reporting, credited to its author and linked to its source.

Authors and editors

Every article names its author and approving editor. Profiles on the people directory are created by the professionals themselves and do not make them Labels News staff or representatives.