The ten desks
Editorial Director, Source Desk, Planning Desk, Writers Desk, Fact Desk, QA Desk, Editor-in-Chief, Standards Desk, Art Desk and Production Desk - the ten editorial desks every article passes through, in order.
Mastheads writes every article through ten editorial desks, in a fixed order. Each desk has one job, hands its work to the next, and leaves a record on the article of what it did. That record is why every article can show its work.
The order is the same whichever way you asked for the article. An Assignment row, a Blueprint combination and a Dossier each become one run of the same desks. They differ only in how the request is put together before the first desk starts.
Each desk below links to its own page, with what it takes in, what it hands on, what it promises, and its questions answered.
On this page
Editorial Director
It turns your request into a clear assignment before research or writing begins.
It decides who the article is for, what it should give them, the angle, the headline, and the question each section must answer. Every later desk works to that assignment, so the article reads as one considered piece from headline to close.
Example you ask for an article about a new rule for savings accounts. The Director defines the reader as someone deciding this month whether to move their savings, and sets the questions: what changes, when, who it affects, and what it means for a typical saver.
Works on every article.
Source Desk
It finds the strongest evidence and reads every chosen page in full.
It searches in your words, opens the results and picks the real sources for the article. Sites carrying the same report word for word count as one source, not several. A site you have blocked is never cited.
Example a local story begins with one outlet's page. The Source Desk keeps it, then finds independent reports and the documents behind the event, so the article draws on genuinely different accounts.
Works on every researched article.
Planning Desk
It turns published evidence into a precise, source-led plan.
It records what each source says, settles disagreements between sources, and gives each section only the facts that support it. A section the evidence cannot fill is left out and named, not padded.
Example two pages give different dates for the same fee change. The desk records both, chooses the date from the body that sets the fee, and notes why. The writer receives a settled fact with a clear source.
Works on every researched article.
Writers Desk
It writes from the evidence, in your publication's own voice.
It turns the plan into a complete article, links each claim to the page it came from, and credits the person or organisation behind each claim.
Example a section must explain what a new rule costs, but the research holds only the rule and its start date. The writer explains those facts and moves on. It does not invent a price.
Works on every researched article.
Fact Desk
Every number, date, name and quotation traces to a page, or it is cut or marked for review.
It tests the draft's specific claims against the research record.
Example an article says a new appliance uses 40 percent less energy. The sources support the product, price and launch date, but not that figure. The Fact Desk removes the figure and the claim built on it, keeps the supported sentence around it, and records the cut on the article.
Works on every researched article.
QA Desk
It makes sure the article keeps the promise that brought the reader to it.
It removes filler and prepares an honest search title, description, keywords and web address.
Example a proposed search title leads with a side issue. The QA Desk restores the article's headline as the search title and marks the description for review, so searchers see a promise the article keeps.
Works on every article.
Editor-in-Chief
It reads the article afresh and makes it worth finishing.
It rewrites weak or crowded paragraphs while keeping every established fact, source and link. If it does not approve the article, the article waits for a person, with the reason beside it.
Example a paragraph holds three long sentences with several ideas each. The desk turns them into shorter sentences, one idea at a time, keeping every name, figure and link.
Works on every article.
Standards Desk
It applies the same clear house standards to every article.
It repairs what it can, records the measures shown on the article, and on a researched article checks every name against the sources. Something risky it cannot repair is held as Needs a look.
Example an article names a person who appears on none of its sources. The desk shows the name on the article's panel and holds it. Once a person reviews the name and accepts it, the article can go.
Works on every article.
Art Desk
It creates the article's picture while the words receive their final checks.
It reads the headline and standfirst and draws an original picture in your chosen style, with a description for screen readers that matches the final headline.
Example a headline names a new phone that readers may not recognise. The standfirst says it is the maker's first folding phone, so the desk draws a folding phone, not a generic handset.
Works on every article with pictures turned on.
Production Desk
It brings every desk's finished work into the article you receive.
It assembles the checked text, picture, search details and every desk's record, and sends the finished article to your dashboard.
Example the Fact Desk removes a quotation that appears in no source. So the unsupported words do not reappear in the desk's note, the Production Desk shows them as "[quotation withheld]" on your panel.
Works on every article.
Which desks work on which articles
| Article | Desks that work on it |
|---|---|
| Research on (the default) | All ten |
| Research off | Editorial Director, QA Desk, Editor-in-Chief, Standards Desk, Art Desk, Production Desk |
| Pictures off | Every desk except the Art Desk |
With Research off there are no fetched pages, so the Source, Planning, Writers and Fact desks have nothing to work from and stand down. The article is written from the model's own knowledge and labelled Not source-backed.
What a desk finding does
A desk that finds a problem fixes what it can and records what it could not. A finding never disappears: it is written on the article in the desk's own words, with what it would take to fix it.
Each desk also records its own verdict - pass or fail. A desk that stood down, or failed at its own job, appears on the article without a tick. It is never shown as having done work it did not do.
Nothing reaches your site until you press Publish, unless you have switched on publishing by the autonomous newsroom for that domain. Even then, an article held as Needs a look, or one the Editor-in-Chief did not approve, is never published on its own.
Related: How an article happens · Quality gates and fact-checking · All ten editorial desks