Our reporting standards

• Two sources, minimum. Every fact we state is confirmed by at least two independent sources, and we credit official records on screen and on the page.
• Charged is not convicted. People accused of crimes are presumed innocent. We say “charged” or “alleged” until a court decides, and we don’t name people who are charged but not convicted.
• Settled is not guilty. In civil settlements and consent orders with agencies like the SEC, FTC or CFPB, we name the company, attribute the allegations to the agency, and don’t name individual employees unless they were criminally convicted.
• Discuss, don’t depict. We don’t show violence, crime scenes or anyone’s final moments, and we never make a child victim the focus of a story.
• Victims first. We center the people who were harmed, not the people accused of harming them. If a family asks us not to repeat a detail, we don’t.
• Real means real. Photos, documents and audio of real people and events come from official or credited sources. We don’t fabricate the likeness of a real person, and recreated audio is labeled as a reenactment.

How we verify

Before anything is published, each fact is checked against at least two independent sources, preferring primary records (court filings, agency releases, official statements) plus reputable outlets. Every case page lists those sources, and each line of the timeline shows which ones support it.

If a detail is disputed, we say so and attribute each side. If outlets report different numbers, we don’t pick one. We report what’s been confirmed, and we’re explicit about what we don’t know.

When cases change

Charges get filed, dropped or decided. When the record changes, we update the case page at the top with a dated update and its sources, and the page shows when it was last updated.

Names and images

We don’t name people who are charged but not convicted, and we don’t describe a suspect’s race. We use victims’ photos only when their families have released them publicly, we credit them, and we remove them if a family objects.

Questions about our standards? hello@undercurrentdaily.com.