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Editorial standards

These are the rules every story and video on Follow The Money follows.

Sourcing

  • We name our sources. When another outlet broke a story, we say so ("CNBC reported") and link to it.
  • Primary sources come first: company filings, regulator and central bank releases, official statistics.
  • Every figure in a story must appear in a source or in market data we retrieved. Our own calculations are shown in the "Sources and math" section of each story so you can check them.
  • We do not invent quotes, numbers, people or events.

Allegations and unproven claims

Reports that have not been confirmed are described as reported or alleged, attributed to whoever made them, and accompanied by any denial or response we can find. We say plainly when no charges have been filed.

Market data

Prices on this site come from free, delayed data feeds and are labelled with the time and source. If a feed fails we show nothing rather than a guess. Prices may be delayed and are not suitable for trading.

Images

We only publish images we have the right to use: public-domain and Creative Commons (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA) photographs, official press-kit images, and graphics we make ourselves. Every photo carries a credit and license line. We never take photos from news agencies or other publications' pages.

Commentary

Opinion pieces are published under Views, are labelled as commentary, and always include "the case against our view": the strongest argument that we are wrong.

How our stories are produced

Follow The Money uses automated tools to draft its news stories. We think readers are entitled to know that plainly rather than find it out.

  • Sources first. A story is written only when the same event is reported by at least two independent news organizations, or comes from an official source such as a regulator, a central bank or a company filing.
  • Drafting. An AI system writes an original story from that source material. It is instructed to use only facts present in the sources, to attribute reporting to the outlet that published it, to label unproven claims as allegations, and never to invent numbers, quotes or outcomes.
  • Number check. Before publication an automated check compares every number, percentage and date in the story with the source texts and the market data we fetched. Anything it cannot match is flagged to an editor for review.
  • Commentary under Views is reviewed and published by an editor.

This process checks a story against the material it was written from. It is not independent reporting, and when our sources are wrong we can be wrong too. That is why every story lists its sources, and why we correct mistakes in public.

Corrections

When we get something wrong we fix it and say so at the bottom of the story. Significant corrections are listed on our corrections page. To report an error, use the contact form or email desk@ftmfinance.com.

Not investment advice

Nothing on this site is investment, tax or legal advice. Calculators are illustrations based on stated assumptions. Talk to a licensed professional before making financial decisions.