We look for six things in every story published on My Local Press, after it's live.
The six
- Shows where things came from. Reporting names its sources and links what can be linked. A review or a firsthand piece names what it saw, where, and when. On the page that looks like named people, quoted documents, and a Sources & Notes footer at the end.
- Every picture explains itself. A line under each image says what it shows and where it came from: who took it, or who lent it. The check reads the credit and the caption, not the picture.
- Rooted somewhere real. Named people, named places, real dates. A reader could go and check. It means checkable, not nearby. A story set two states away is rooted if it says who, where, and when.
- The writer was there. Firsthand beats secondhand, and original beats reprinted. A piece earns this by saying what its writer saw or heard while they stood there.
- Says what kind of piece it is. Reporting reads as reporting, opinion as opinion, a review as a review. The writer picks the kind on the story form, and what they pick is the word a reader sees above the byline.
- Says what AI did, if anything. One line on the story form asks what AI did on this piece, and "nothing" is a full answer. A picture made with AI is marked on the picture itself.
How the check works
An automated check reads the published page once, after publish. Code gathers what the piece contains: the words, the caption and credit under every picture, the Sources & Notes footer, and the writer's own answers from the form, what kind of piece it is, where it's rooted, what AI did. Then an AI model reads that material against the six sentences and, for each one, says whether the piece has it, points at the thing that earned it, and says how sure it is. Code checks the answer, and a score with no evidence is dropped. The record is kept with the story. The six sentences and this method are public; the weights behind them stay ours.
A review, a photo essay, or a firsthand column isn't expected to cite sources the way reporting is. Reporting is read hardest on its sources and picture credits.
Who sees it
Readers don't currently see it. A published story looks the same to everyone who opens it, its writer included.
Before publishing, the writer sees a short list of what the piece could still add. The list is optional and never blocks anything. A story publishes the moment its writer presses Publish.
It will change
We're still working out which habits are worth promoting and how much of them a check like this can see. This is version 3. Criteria as of September 8, 2026. When the six change, the version changes with them.
A question, or a habit you think belongs on the list, goes through Feedback.