Independence
Decisions about what GovFacts covers and what its articles say are made by GovFacts alone, through the standards built into the GovFacts Engine. No advertiser, government agency, political party, campaign or outside organization reviews or approves our articles.
Conflicts of Interest
- GovFacts does not endorse candidates, parties or ballot measures.
- Something Better, Inc. does not donate to candidates, parties, political committees or ballot measure campaigns.
- We do not accept payment, gifts or favors in exchange for coverage.
- If GovFacts or its owner ever has a financial or personal interest in a subject an article covers, we will say so on that article.
Accuracy and Fairness
- Every article shows the sources it was built from. In articles built by the current version of the Engine, each factual statement links to the source it came from, so you can check any claim yourself.
- Factual claims are checked against their sources before an article is published. An article that does not pass its checks is not published.
- We present competing positions in their strongest form. See our nonpartisanship standards.
- When we learn of an error, we fix it. See our corrections policy.
Sources, Quotations and Private People
We do not use anonymous sources. Quotation marks go only around a source’s exact words. When readers offer their own experiences for an article, we quote them only with their permission and credit them the way they ask. We do not pay for quotations.
When an article describes a private person, it relies on a source that has already published that person’s story, and it follows that source’s choice about whether to name them.
Accountability
GovFacts articles carry no personal byline, because no single person writes or signs off on an individual article. The organization takes responsibility for everything published under the GovFacts name. To raise a concern, write to help@govfacts.org.