How we report and check stories
News stories
- Collect. Every hour we check the public feeds and listing pages of the Utah newsrooms, agencies and teams on our Sources page.
- Draft. An AI model writes a short story in our own words from that report and any additional reports we find on the same event, using only the facts the sources contain. We name and link each outlet, and every paragraph is numbered back to the source it came from.
- Check. A second AI check compares the draft with its sources, and a draft that fails is held back. Before a story publishes it is also checked against our existing coverage so the same event isn't published twice.
- Headline. Each headline gets its own review: it should lead with what happened, stay under 90 characters, and claim nothing the sources don't support.
- Review. Paul Ivinskas sets the rules for each step, reviews the coverage and handles every correction.
Where we have several reports of one event, we cite each. Sports game stories cite the official team, school or league result where one exists, plus other Utah outlets.
Audits of government records
Our audit stories read the documents governments publish themselves: agendas, minutes, meeting packets, budgets, audited financial reports and filings.
- Every finding links to the document it came from, so you can check the number yourself.
- Key figures on a city's audit page are shown only while the story text still states them, so a figure can't drift away from its source.
- When the records leave a question open, the story says so. An audit reports what a record shows, not why an official did something.
- We ask officials for comment and file records requests in The Utah Ledger's name, and add the answers when they arrive.
- Audits cover documents that exist online. A missing document is a limit of the audit, and the story says when one wasn't found.
People and privacy
Profiles of elected officials draw on public records: votes, campaign finance filings, official biographies and business registrations. We don't publish home addresses or details that point to one. We don't name private people unless the records do and it matters to the story.
Photos and graphics
- We prefer a real photo of the subject, used under a free license or in the public domain, with the credit and license named on the story.
- Score graphics, road signs and topic graphics are made by us and show facts from the story, such as a final score.
- Some stories use an AI-generated illustration, always labeled “AI illustration.” We don't use generated images on crime, crash or death stories.
- Team names and logos appear only to identify the team.
Live data
Weather, air quality, snowpack, lake levels, gas prices and road conditions come from public sources named on each tile or page. They can be delayed; use the official source for safety decisions.
Neutrality
We don't endorse candidates, parties or ballot measures and we don't run opinion pieces. See our neutrality policy.
When we get it wrong
We fix errors and say what changed. Every correction and update is on the Corrections page. To report one, use the contact form.