The purpose
Determine what each source actually is and what it can establish. Work from opened material, not an outlet's reputation alone. Reuse source IDs across the research run so later checks can trace the same evidence.
How to apply this skill
- Record canonical URL, publisher, author where available, title, source type, and inspected passage, page, table, or timecode. Separate event date, publication date, later update, and retrieval time; preserve uncertainty in any of them.
- Identify the origin of the relevant information. Follow references through aggregators, syndication, translated accounts, press releases, and quoted interviews. Assign an
originFamilyto reports that depend on the same underlying evidence. Twelve copies of one release provide one origin, not twelve confirmations. - Classify the evidentiary relationship: firsthand record, firsthand account, original reporting, attributed assertion, analysis, or derivative summary. A document can be authentic while a statement inside it is false. Describe both authenticity and claim support separately.
- Note relevant expertise, institutional role, funding or interests, anonymity, proximity to events, and incentives when evidenced and material. Do not infer motives or assign credibility from political identity. Treat interested parties as useful sources whose claims require suitable corroboration.
- Verify that the exact cited version was inspected. Record partial access, missing attachments, unavailable pages, machine translation, deleted media, or later source changes. Keep permitted excerpts or precise locators sufficient to reproduce verification without republishing the source.
- Explain what the source adds and what it cannot establish. Distinguish a source's assertion from Follow.fyi's conclusion. For important single-source findings, state why this source is adequate or what corroboration is missing.
What this produces
Return source records with id, canonicalUrl, publisher, author, dates, kind, originFamily, inspectedLocation, accessStatus, contribution, limitations, interests, and claimsLinked. Include a dependency map when many publications reuse a common origin. Unknown fields stay unknown.
When publication must pause
Exclude fabricated or uninspected citations from publishable evidence. An unavailable original may be described through an inspected secondary account only with clear attribution and limits; it cannot masquerade as direct verification. Hold a central conclusion when its sole source cannot bear its weight. Missing provenance should reduce the claim's scope rather than inspire invented metadata.
Sources behind this skill
Use Reuters standards and AFP verification methodology for sourcing discipline. The ledger fields and origin-family model are Follow.fyi's implementation.