The standards every note leaves under.

Written down so a reporter can hold us to them, and so a publisher knows exactly what they’re buying.

The note

One story in one line. The two or three numbers that carry it, where each one came from so you can pull it yourself, and who we represent. The publisher’s name is in every note. If a number can’t be verified in two clicks from the note, it doesn’t leave the building.

The reporter

A story about one place goes to the people who cover that place. We don’t write after four in the afternoon Eastern, because that’s when the paper is being put out, and we don’t call. One follow-up, a week later, then quiet. Silence is an answer and we take it. Reply with the word stop and you never hear from us again.

The signature

A person signs every note and the same person answers the reply, the same day where we can. Background, an interview with whoever built the number, the underlying rows and photographs are there for any reporter who asks.

What is never paid

We don’t buy coverage and we don’t offer it. The publishers we work with don’t sell placement on their own sites, and a place that has paid one of them to be visited doesn’t go on that publisher’s lists. If a claim in a note turns out to be wrong, we say so to everyone who got it, in writing, the day we learn it.