| name | editorial-standards |
| description | Journalism quality standards, fact-checking protocols, OSINT/INTOP political intelligence editorial standards, editorial ethics |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
✍️ 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
- Accuracy First - Every fact must be verifiable and verified
- Clarity Always - Complex ideas explained simply and precisely
- Balance Required - Multiple perspectives fairly represented
- Attribution Clear - Sources properly cited and credited
- 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
Level 2: Copy Editor Review
Level 3: Fact-Checker Verification
Level 4: Editorial Review
Source Hierarchy
Primary Sources (Most Authoritative):
- Official government documents
- Legislative records
- Court filings and judgments
- Academic peer-reviewed research
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Coverage completeness — Every document with DIW-weighted score ≥ 7.0 receives a dedicated H3 section in article body. No silent omissions.
- 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
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.
📏 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
