These are the standards our reporting is held to. They are published so readers can judge our work against them, and so anyone who thinks we have fallen short has something concrete to point at.

Accuracy comes before speed

We do not publish a claim we cannot support. Where a story is still developing and important details are unresolved, we say so in the article rather than filling the gap with inference. A story that is late and right is worth more to readers than one that is early and wrong, and this is especially true of accident and incident coverage, where initial accounts are very often revised.

Sourcing

We work from primary material wherever it exists: official accident dockets and safety recommendations, regulatory notices and airworthiness directives, company filings and results statements, court and tribunal records, published schedules, tender and planning documents, and on-the-record statements from the organisations involved.

  • Every factual claim in an article is attributable to a source a reader could go and check.
  • Where we rely on reporting by another outlet, we name and link to it.
  • Where a claim rests on a single source, we say that plainly in the text.
  • Photographs and video are checked for provenance before use, and we do not present old imagery as new.
  • Most articles carry a sources list at the foot of the page.

Anonymous sources

We prefer named sources. Anonymity is granted only where the information is of clear public interest, cannot reasonably be obtained on the record, and the source faces a genuine risk of retaliation. When we do grant it, we tell readers what kind of position the source holds and why they are not named. We do not use anonymity to shield speculation or to let someone attack a competitor without accountability.

Right of reply

Any organisation or individual facing significant criticism in a story is given a fair opportunity to respond before publication, and their response is reflected in the article. If they decline or do not reply in time, we say so.

Safety and investigation reporting

Accident investigation exists to prevent recurrence, not to assign blame, and we report it that way. We do not speculate about cause while an investigation is open, we distinguish carefully between a preliminary factual report and a final report with findings, and we avoid the language of fault where an investigating authority has drawn no such conclusion. We also avoid gratuitous detail about victims and take particular care with material involving the bereaved.

Analysis, opinion and labels

Reporting and comment are kept apart. Articles that argue a position are labelled as analysis or opinion, and labels such as breaking, developing, updated and exclusive are used according to what they actually mean rather than for emphasis. Headlines must be supportable by the body of the article.

Conflicts of interest

Nobody writes about an organisation in which they hold a financial interest or a current professional stake without that interest being disclosed in the article. Where travel, accommodation, flights, simulator time or event access has been provided by a company, that fact is stated in the piece. Accepting such support never carries an obligation to produce favourable coverage, and we retain full editorial control over the result.

Commercial separation

Advertisers and commercial partners have no influence over editorial decisions and receive no advance notice of coverage. Advertising, affiliate links and sponsored content are labelled and visually distinct from journalism. No story is created, altered, withheld or removed at the request of an advertiser.

Use of artificial intelligence

Journalism on this site is researched, written and edited by people. We may use software tools for routine tasks such as transcription, translation drafts, data cleaning or headline suggestions, but no article is published without a human editor verifying the facts and taking responsibility for the text. We do not publish machine-generated text or imagery presented as reporting or as a real photograph.

Privacy and taking care

We publish personal information only where there is a clear public interest in doing so. We do not identify crew members, passengers or employees in incident coverage without a strong reason, and we are careful with material involving minors, victims of crime and people who are not public figures.

Unpublishing

Published articles form a record, so we do not delete them on request. Where there is a compelling reason — a legal requirement, a genuine safety risk to an individual, or a serious error that cannot be fixed by correction — we will amend or, exceptionally, withdraw an article and note that we have done so.

Holding us to this

If you believe we have breached any of the above, write to us and say which part and how. Factual errors are handled through our Corrections and Clarifications process; complaints about conduct or fairness go to the editorial address listed on our Contact page and are answered by a person, not a template.