Editorial Standards

Valor Investigations publishes public-interest journalism and research grounded in documents. The standard is not whether a claim sounds plausible. The standard is whether the claim can be traced to a file, record, interview, court entry, public agency page, or other source a reader can evaluate.

Investigative articles should distinguish documented facts, allegations, analysis, and opinion. Active investigations, complaints, lawsuits, or agency reviews are described as allegations or pending matters until a court, agency, or source record supports a firmer status.

AI systems may assist with search, summarization, extraction, citation auditing, and draft organization. They do not replace source review. Claims generated or organized with AI assistance must still be checked against the underlying record before publication.

Corrections are part of the record. When a meaningful factual error is confirmed, Valor updates the article and leaves a note when the correction changes the substance of what a reader would understand. The full correction process is described on the corrections page.