Editorial standards

What we publish

Hindsight publishes one edition a week, covering the stories that mattered from Sunday to Saturday, with the history that explains them. We publish more slowly than news organisations on purpose, so that stories can be explained once they have developed. We are not a primary reporting organisation: our stories are built from the reporting, documents and research of others, which we cite.

Reporting, analysis and speculation

Most of what we publish is reporting: what happened, drawn from the sources we list. When we interpret events, that text is marked Analysis. When we discuss what might happen next, it is marked What might happen next, because it is informed speculation rather than fact. Both are set apart visually from the reporting around them.

Sources

Every story and history lists its sources. Numbered notes in the text link to the source behind a specific claim. We prefer primary sources (official documents, data and direct statements) and established news organisations, and we say what type each source is.

How we use AI

Hindsight is produced by a single editor with the help of AI tools. We think you should know exactly how.

• Research and drafting. Each edition is researched and drafted by an AI agent, working to these standards and to the editor’s own guidelines, which grow with every edition the editor corrects.
• Review and approval. The editor reviews every edition, asks for changes, and approves the exact version that is published. Nothing is published without that approval, and any change made after it cancels the approval until the editor approves again.
• Checking. Claims must be traceable to a cited source. Anything unverified is flagged, and an edition cannot be approved or published until every flag has been resolved.
• Narration. Audio versions are read by an AI-generated voice (narrated by an ai voice), created from the published text. Every player says so.
• Images. We say what every image shows: a photograph of the actual event, an archive image, a document, an illustrative image, or an AI illustration. AI illustrations are always labelled and are never used to depict real events as if they were photographs.

Each piece carries this line: “Researched and drafted by AI to our editorial standards, then reviewed and approved by a human editor. Sources are listed below.”

Images and maps

Every image is credited with its source and licence. We use images only when we have the right to. Maps are made from real geographic data, never generated by AI, because borders and place names can be disputed and must be shown accurately.

Corrections

When we get something wrong, we correct it and say so. Corrections are listed at the end of the piece with the date they were made, and we never remove them. When a story is updated with new information, an update note explains what changed.

If you think we have made a mistake, please tell us. We read every message and will correct errors of fact promptly.

Independence

Hindsight is independent and not affiliated with any political party, government or campaign. If we take sponsorship in future, it will be clearly labelled and will have no say over what we publish.