Editorial Standards

✍️ Editorial Standards Skill

🔴 AI FIRST Quality Principle

This skill MUST be applied with the AI FIRST principle: never accept first-pass quality. ALL analysis and content MUST go through minimum 2 complete iterations. After first pass, read ALL output back completely and systematically improve every section — strengthen evidence, deepen analysis, add specific citations, broaden perspectives. Spend ALL allocated time on real work. Single-pass output is NEVER acceptable. NO SHORTCUTS.

Purpose

Provides expertise in maintaining the highest editorial quality standards for political journalism. Covers fact-checking protocols, OSINT/INTOP political intelligence editorial standards, editorial ethics, and quality assurance processes for professional news production.

Core Principles

1. Accuracy First - Every fact must be verifiable and verified
2. Clarity Always - Complex ideas explained simply and precisely
3. Balance Required - Multiple perspectives fairly represented
4. Attribution Clear - Sources properly cited and credited
5. Style Consistent - Follow established guidelines rigorously

This Skill Enforces

• Fact-checking protocols - Two-source rule, primary source verification
• OSINT/INTOP intelligence style - Analytical, data-driven, concise, contextual
• AP/Reuters standards - Accuracy, fairness, transparency
• Copy editing - Grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax
• Editorial review - Multi-stage quality checks before publication
• Error correction - Transparent, prompt, prominent corrections
• Legal compliance - Defamation avoidance, privacy protection

Political Intelligence Editorial Standards

Writing Principles

• Clarity - Short sentences, simple words, active voice
• Precision - Exact meaning, no ambiguity
• Brevity - No unnecessary words, tight prose
• Elegance - Sophisticated vocabulary without pretension
• Engagement - Compelling narratives, reader focus

Prohibited Practices

• ❌ Jargon and buzzwords (unless explained)
• ❌ Clichés and overused phrases
• ❌ Hyperbole and sensationalism
• ❌ Passive voice (except when appropriate)
• ❌ Acronyms without definition

Preferred Style

• ✅ Use "said" not "stated" or "claimed"
• ✅ Prefer "but" to "however" at sentence start
• ✅ Use "will" not "shall" for future tense
• ✅ Spell out numbers one to nine, use numerals for 10+
• ✅ Use Oxford comma in lists

Fact-Checking Protocol

Pre-Publication Checks

Level 1: Writer Self-Check

• All facts from authoritative sources
• Two independent sources for major claims
• Direct quotes verbatim and in context
• Statistics from original source documents
• Names, titles, dates verified
• Links/citations functional

Level 2: Copy Editor Review

• Grammar, spelling, punctuation correct
• Style guide compliance verified
• Logical flow and structure sound
• Technical accuracy confirmed
• Headlines/subheads accurate
• Photo captions correct

Level 3: Fact-Checker Verification

• All statistics traced to original sources
• Expert claims verified with credentials check
• Historical facts cross-referenced
• Legal claims reviewed by legal expert
• Scientific/technical claims expert-verified
• Potentially controversial claims extra-verified

Level 4: Editorial Review

• Balanced presentation confirmed
• Ethical standards met
• Legal risk assessed
• Public interest justified
• Headline doesn't overstate
• Final approval for publication

Source Hierarchy

Primary Sources (Most Authoritative):

1. Official government documents
2. Legislative records
3. Court filings and judgments
4. Academic peer-reviewed research
5. Statistical agencies (SCB, Eurostat)

Secondary Sources (Require Verification): 6. News reports from reputable outlets 7. Think tank reports 8. Expert interviews 9. NGO reports 10. Press releases (treated skeptically)

Tertiary Sources (Generally Avoid): 11. Blog posts 12. Social media posts 13. Wikipedia (useful for leads, not citations) 14. Unverified online sources

Style Guide Quick Reference

Editorial Conventions

Dates: February 6th 2026 (not Feb 6, 2026) Numbers: Spell one to nine, use numerals 10+ Currency: SEK, euros, dollars (spell out, no symbols in body text) Percentages: 10% (use symbol, no space) Titles: Lowercase unless part of name (prime minister, but Prime Minister Andersson) Quotes: Double quotes "standard", single quotes 'for quotes within quotes'

Commonly Misused Terms:

• Use "which" for non-essential clauses, "that" for essential
• "Different from" not "different to" or "different than"
• "Between" for two things, "among" for more
• "Fewer" for countable, "less" for uncountable
• "More than" for numbers, "over" for physical position

Swedish Political Terminology

Correct Usage:

• Riksdag (not Parliament, except in explanatory context)
• Regeringen (Government, not Cabinet)
• Myndigheter (Agencies, plural)
• Folkpartiet liberalerna (Liberals) → L
• Socialdemokraterna (Social Democrats) → S
• Moderaterna (Moderates) → M

Editorial Review Process

Daily News Cycle

Morning (08:00-12:00):

• News gathering and source development
• Initial research and fact-checking
• Story assignments and planning

Afternoon (12:00-17:00):

• Writing and initial editing
• Fact-checking and verification
• Copy editing and style review

Evening (17:00-20:00):

• Editorial review and final approval
• Legal review if needed
• Multi-language adaptation
• Publication scheduling

Quality Gates

Gate 1: Story Pitch - Concept approved by editor Gate 2: Draft Review - Structure and facts sound Gate 3: Copy Edit - Grammar and style correct Gate 4: Fact Check - All facts verified Gate 5: Legal Review - No defamation/privacy issues Gate 6: Editorial Approval - Final green light Gate 7: Publication - Multi-language simultaneous release

Gate 0: Lead-Story & Coverage-Completeness (added 2026-04-18)

Before any draft is shared for Gate 2 review, verify:

1. Lead story — The article <title>, <meta description>, Schema.org headline and H1 reference the #1 finding in analysis/daily/$DATE/$SUBFOLDER/significance-scoring.md under the Democratic-Impact Weighting (DIW) methodology. DIW assigns 30% weight to democratic-infrastructure impact (grundlag, electoral rules, press-freedom law) — this is the highest-priority signal for lead selection.
2. Lede discipline — The first two sentences of the lede name the principal human actor (minister, committee chair, party leader) and cite the primary dok_id.
3. Coverage completeness — Every document with DIW-weighted score ≥ 7.0 receives a dedicated H3 section in article body. No silent omissions.
4. Rhetorical tension — When top-ranked findings carry opposing political valences (e.g., norm entrepreneurship abroad + norm compression at home), an explicit "Rhetorical Cross-Cluster Tension" or equivalent subsection addresses the contradiction.

Failure protocol: if any of 1–4 is not satisfied, the draft is returned to the writing agent with the specific missing element identified. Doctrine: analysis/methodologies/ai-driven-analysis-guide.md §"Rule 5: Democratic-Impact Weighting (DIW) — Lead-Story & Coverage Discipline". Enforcement: this is an editorial / human-review gate, not a fully automated analysis-gate check. The analysis gate (.github/prompts/05-analysis-gate.md) provides partial automation — check 1 (artifact presence of significance-scoring.md which drives lead selection) and check 2 (per-document coverage ensuring every manifest dok_id has an analysis file a DIW-weighted finding can reference) — but lead-story choice, lede discipline, and article coverage completeness are not machine-enforced here and must be verified by a reviewer before publication.

Error Correction Protocol

When Errors Occur

Minor Errors (spelling, grammar, formatting):

• Correct immediately in article
• Note in revision history: "Updated: [timestamp] - Minor correction"

Factual Errors (incorrect data, misattributions):

• Correct prominently in article
• Add editor's note at top: "Correction: [explanation]"
• Update social media posts if shared

Significant Errors (major facts wrong, unfair representation):

• Publish separate correction article
• Link from original article prominently
• Notify affected parties
• Review editorial process to prevent recurrence

Remember

• Accuracy is non-negotiable - No compromise for speed
• Style serves clarity - Rules aid understanding, not hinder
• Political intelligence standard - Analytical, data-driven, precise
• Multiple checks - Four-level review process mandatory
• Transparent corrections - Acknowledge errors promptly, prominently
• Legal awareness - Defamation, privacy, GDPR compliance
• Source hierarchy - Primary sources preferred, secondary verified
• Attribution clear - Readers must know source of every claim
• Balance required - Multiple perspectives fairly represented
• Copy editing matters - Grammar errors undermine credibility

References

• OSINT Framework - Open Source Intelligence Tools
• AP Stylebook Online
• Reuters Handbook of Journalism
• Poynter Institute - Fact-Checking Standards
• International Fact-Checking Network Code of Principles
• Swedish Press Ombudsman Editorial Guidelines
• European Journalism Centre

Use this skill when: Writing political news articles, editing submissions for quality and style, fact-checking claims before publication, training journalists on editorial standards, or establishing quality assurance processes for news operations.

🔗 Integration with agentic workflows & analysis artifacts

This skill is consumed by the 11 agentic news workflows in .github/workflows/news-*.md. The authoritative contract lives in .github/prompts/README.md; this skill supplies domain expertise on top of that contract.

• Analysis product → ai-driven-analysis-guide.md + every template in analysis/templates/.
• Required before any article: 9 core artifacts (14 for Tier-C) in analysis/daily/$ARTICLE_DATE/$SUBFOLDER/; 05-analysis-gate.md is the single blocking gate.
• gh-aw v0.69.3 docs: abridged · complete · blog series.

📏 Measurable Editorial Quality Bar (CI-enforced)

The following metrics are enforced by scripts/validate-article.ts (Checks 7–9) as blocking CI checks:

Pass-2 improvement metrics (tracked in methodology-reflection.md)

• Net word-count change: ≥ 5% between Pass-1 and Pass-2 artifacts
• Citation count delta: must increase
• Banned-phrase count: must reach 0 by Pass-2 end