Editorial standard
Our sourcing
standard.
The Arkive does not write original content. Every headline, every summary, every claim on this platform is derived from a real source — a document, an article, a record that exists independently of us. Our job is to organize and connect. The source's job is to be true.
Not every source is equal. A wire service dispatch and a cable news segment are both "news" in common usage — but they are not the same thing. We tier our sources by the rigor of their editorial process, their institutional accountability, and their track record of accuracy. The tier system is not a ranking of prestige. It is a ranking of verifiability.
Two categories of sources
● Live Sources
News & Analysis
Wire services, international and national press, specialist publications. Used for current and recent events. AI synthesizes the article into a node summary — the source URL is always preserved and linked.
◆ Historical Sources
Primary Documents
Government records, court rulings, legislation, academic papers, archival documents. Used for the historical record layer. AI identifies the document type and synthesizes accordingly — a congressional record is treated differently than a news article.
Government records, national archives, intergovernmental organizations, and peer-reviewed academic repositories. These are original documents produced by authoritative institutions — legislation, court rulings, treaty texts, census data, official statistics, and archival records. T1 sources are the closest thing to ground truth in the historical record. They are not interpretations — they are the record itself.
Qualification criteria
Produced directly by a government, legislature, court, or intergovernmental body
Peer-reviewed academic publications or institutional repositories
Primary documents: legislation, treaties, court rulings, official statistics
Cannot be edited by the public (unlike Wikipedia)
Has an institutional accountability structure
The four major global wire services: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, and AFP. Wire services are the backbone of international journalism — they supply reporting to thousands of outlets worldwide and operate under strict factual accuracy standards. A wire story goes through multiple editors before publication and is corrected publicly when wrong. Wire services report facts, not opinion.
Qualification criteria
Operates as a subscription news agency supplying other outlets
Maintains a global network of correspondents
Has an explicit and enforced correction policy
Reports facts — not opinion or analysis as primary output
Recognized internationally as a primary news source
Established international news organizations with a global editorial infrastructure, strong correction cultures, and editorial independence from government. These outlets have been operating for decades, maintain foreign bureaus, and are recognized internationally as credible sources of record. They may include analysis and opinion alongside reporting, but their news reporting meets a high factual standard.
Qualification criteria
Operating for at least 20 years with a continuous editorial record
Maintains foreign correspondents or international bureaus
Editorially independent from government control
Has a public corrections and standards policy
Recognized by journalism institutions as a source of record
Major American news organizations with strong editorial standards, national reach, and institutional accountability. These outlets have Pulitzer Prize histories, public editors or standards teams, and correction policies. They include both general news organizations and specialist publications covering policy, foreign affairs, and politics.
Qualification criteria
Nationally recognized U.S. news organization
Has won or been recognized for major journalism awards
Employs professional editorial and fact-checking staff
Has a public corrections policy
Covers news as a primary function, not a secondary one
Specialist publications, academic journals, and policy research institutions. These sources are approved for subject-matter expertise in specific domains — technology, science, defense, foreign policy, economics. Think tanks and research institutions in this tier are nonpartisan or disclose their funding and methodology. Specialist outlets at T5 are approved for their domain, not as general news sources.
Qualification criteria
Recognized as authoritative within a specific domain or discipline
Peer-reviewed (for academic journals) or methodology-disclosed (for think tanks)
Nonpartisan or with disclosed funding and institutional affiliation
Does not operate primarily as a political advocacy organization
Cited by T1–T4 sources as a reference
What we do not accept
CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and equivalents are optimized for speed and engagement, not accuracy. Higher correction rates, looser sourcing standards, and an incentive structure that rewards conflict over clarity.
Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and equivalents have no editorial process, no correction policy, and no institutional accountability. A post is not a source.
Individual authors without institutional editorial oversight, regardless of their credentials or reputation. Opinion is not evidence.
Wikipedia is an excellent starting point for research but is not a primary source. It can be edited by anyone and cites other sources — use those sources directly.
Institutional PR is not independent reporting. Press releases may be referenced by approved sources, which can then be cited.
All sources must be publicly verifiable. Paywalled articles are accepted only when an archived version exists via the Wayback Machine.