DFW Daily Brief uses automated systems to help find, evaluate, write, and publish local stories. Those tools do not remove our responsibility for what appears here.
Sources and evidence
Discovery signals can come from official records, source-of-record pages, established reporting, and attributable public posts. A mention is a lead, not proof. Before a story can publish, its material claims must be supported by approved, accessible sources. We prefer official or source-of-record material when it should exist, link to underlying sources whenever practical, and distinguish what a source confirms from what it merely alleges.
Automated workflow and publishing gates
Software may search and read sources, group related signals, check recent and live coverage for duplicates, draft and edit copy, and decide whether a story is eligible for a final publishing check. An eligible story may publish automatically without a line-by-line human edit, but only after separate evidence, duplicate, editorial-risk, and technical gates pass. Higher-risk topics require stronger support or are withheld. Missing or conflicting evidence, an unresolved duplicate, an unsupported claim, a failed link or metadata check, or the publication kill switch stops the handoff. The older meeting-oriented draft workflow is not permitted to publish automatically.
Developing and unconfirmed reports
An attributable public claim may be covered as a separate Developing / Unconfirmed story when it has a clear DFW audience case. In that lane, the source establishes that the claim was publicly made; it does not establish that the underlying claim is true. The headline, opening, and body must make that uncertainty prominent.
Authorship and accountability
Articles carry the organizational byline “DFW Daily Brief Staff.” That byline does not claim that a named reporter witnessed an event or personally line-edited the story. DFW Daily Brief is accountable for every published article, including articles published automatically. People set the rules, maintain the source and risk controls, monitor the system, can disable publication, and handle corrections and complaints. Automation is a tool, not an accountable editor.
Attribution, images, and uncertainty
We do not invent quotes, eyewitness details, public records, people, places, or local color. Images require a recorded source and usage basis. We do not use generated imagery to depict a real crime, crash, emergency, official, person, or claimed news event. When a fact is not settled, the language must make that uncertainty visible.
Corrections and updates
We review credible correction reports and revisit stories when source information changes. A substantive factual correction is fixed promptly and noted on the article; a later development is labeled as an update. Readers can report a possible error through our corrections process.
Independence and conflicts
Advertising and sponsorship decisions are separate from editorial judgment. Paid material is clearly labeled. Writers and editors should disclose a material conflict and step away from decisions when the conflict could compromise trust.
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