Source Desk
It finds the strongest evidence and reads every chosen page in full.
- IEditorial Director
- IIIPlanning Desk
- IVWriters Desk
- VFact Desk
- VIQA Desk
- VIIEditor-in-Chief
- VIIIStandards Desk
- IXArt Desk
- XProduction Desk
The Source Desk works beside the Editorial Director. The Director shapes the assignment, the Source Desk finds the pages, and the Planning Desk turns both into a plan.
The Source Desk finds the pages that can support a researched article. It searches in your words, opens the results and reads every selected page in full.
This gives the desks that follow evidence with substance, authority and range. Without that source work, the article could rely on unusable pages, repeated copies of one report or evidence that does not fit the planned sections. The Source Desk does not write the story.
6 roles, one desk.
Searcher
IStarts with your words and reads the newest pages first.
Reader
IIOpens each page and brings back its full text.
Doorman
IIITurns away only pages that are clearly unusable.
Clerk
IVNotes the figures, quotes and useful writing on each page.
Matcher
VMeasures how closely each page fits your request.
Judge
VIPicks the strongest sources for this kind of article.
The Source Desk receives your exact words, the questions in the assignment and your settings. The Searcher starts with your words and reads the newest pages first. The Reader opens each page and brings back its full text. The Doorman removes only pages that are clearly unusable, including a blocked site, a page without meaningful writing or a page in a language the edition cannot use. The Clerk records the figures, quoted speech and useful writing on each page. The Matcher measures how closely each page fits the request. The Judge chooses the strongest sources for the kind of article being written, with the date and the needs of every planned section in view.
It hands the Planning Desk a focused source list. Every chosen page has been read in full, and the list records its publisher, date and whether it retells another page's reporting. Your preferences travel with each search. A blocked site is never read or cited. Links supplied through a Dossier or From a URL are always read, while preferred sources move up the list. For a head-to-head comparison, the desk searches each side separately so both arrive with sources. Copies of the same wire report are marked and counted as one source.
5 things it holds to, on every piece it touches.
Your words lead.
The first search uses exactly what you typed.
One story counts once.
Copies of the same wire report are marked and counted as one source, preserving genuine independence.
Every page goes forward whole.
Later desks read the page itself, without a summary or paraphrase taking its place.
News stays fresh and local.
Recent, independently supported reporting from the reader's place comes first. If the first days offer too little, the search goes further back in the same place, never further away.
Facts reach the right authority.
A company's announcement can establish its own deal, while independent reporting can provide context. Sources arrive ranked for the desks that assign each fact.
A local story begins with one outlet's page. The Source Desk keeps it, then finds independent reports and the documents behind the event. Sites carrying the same report word for word count as one source, not several. The finished article draws on genuinely different accounts.
The selected pages support the finished article, while a blocked site is never cited. The record gives the publisher and date for each page and marks when a page retells another report.
What people ask about the Source Desk.
How does the Source Desk find real sources?
What does source verification remove?
What appears in the source list?
How are primary sources and independent reporting used?
Does an article count copied wire reports as separate sources?
Ten editorial desks,
on your next article.
7 days, 10 articles, no card. Every article shows its work.