Editorial Standards

How JW Files sources, verifies, labels, and corrects what it publishes.

Sourcing and credibility tiers

Every factual claim in a news article is tied to a source. We prefer primary documents — court filings and judgments, regulatory records, and the Watchtower organization's own publications — and use established mainstream outlets for reporting we cannot verify from a primary record. Each article carries a credibility tier so readers know how firmly its central claims are established:

• Confirmed — established by primary documents or multiple independent mainstream outlets.
• Reported — carried by credible reporting or a single strong source, but not yet fully corroborated; attributed as such throughout.
• Community — surfaced through former-member or advocacy sources and not independently confirmed; clearly flagged and attributed.

Primary sources on the page

Where an article rests on a Watchtower publication, we show the scanned page itself, with the relevant passage highlighted, so readers can read the source in its original context rather than take our word for it.

Naming people

Because this is a news service, we name the people in the public record — parties to a case, convicted or accused perpetrators, public officials, and named plaintiffs — exactly as a mainstream newsroom would. The one category we do not name is victims of sexual abuse who have not identified themselves publicly; where source documents anonymize them, so do we.

Neutrality

News articles avoid loaded language, present the organization's stated position alongside its critics', and separate what is documented from what is alleged. Any conclusion or argument appears only in clearly-labeled Opinion pieces.

AI-assisted drafting, human judgment

JW Files uses AI research and drafting tools to work through a large documentary record. Nothing is published on that basis alone: each piece is checked against its sources by independent automated critics for grounding and neutrality, and reviewed before it goes live. Responsibility for what appears here rests with JW Files, not with any tool.

Corrections

We correct errors of fact promptly and in the open. A correction is noted on the article itself and recorded in our public Corrections log. If you believe something here is inaccurate, please tell us.