This policy explains how Today on Politics chooses topics, how our stories are written and checked, where our facts come from, and how we correct mistakes. It applies to every story in our US Politics, Reality Check and Politicians sections.
How we choose topics
We write about the questions readers actually ask about American politics: what an election rule really does, whether a well-known story about a president is true, what former officeholders are and are not allowed to do. We favor subjects that the public record can answer, and we revisit stories when laws, records or the facts around them change.
Non-partisanship
We do not endorse candidates or parties and we do not take payment from campaigns, parties, political action committees or advocacy groups. When a story deals with a contested issue, we describe the main positions fairly, attribute opinions and characterizations to the people who hold them, and separate what is documented from what is disputed. A story that ranks or lists people, such as the most famous members of a party, reflects public prominence and the historical record, not our endorsement.
AI assistance and editorial review
Our stories are written with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team before they are published. AI tools help us research, outline and draft. An editor then checks every name, date, number and quotation, removes claims that cannot be supported, and rewrites passages that are unclear. No story is published without that review.
Sources we rely on
We prefer primary and official sources, and we link to them wherever we can:
- Official records: the Library of Congress (Congress.gov), the National Archives, the Federal Election Commission, state election offices and court records.
- Historical archives: presidential libraries, the White House Historical Association and university collections.
- Established reporting and reference works, used to confirm facts rather than as the only source for them.
Quotations are checked against a transcript, recording or reliable published source. If we cannot verify a widely repeated quote, we say so or leave it out.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we fix it. Factual corrections are made as soon as we confirm them, and significant corrections are noted at the end of the story with the date of the change. To report an error, contact us and include the link to the story and the source that shows the correct information.
Images
Photos come from licensed stock libraries, public-domain archives and agencies, or are created for illustration. Captions credit the source where one is required. Illustrative images are never presented as photographs of real events.
Advertising and independence
Advertising pays for the site, and advertisers have no say in what we write. Our Advertiser Disclosure explains how the site is funded.