The purpose
Watch for evidence that can change the account. A new polling timestamp, copied article, or renewed social attention does not itself justify a new edition. Start from the last published revision, its evidence ledger, unresolved questions, and verdict change conditions.
How to apply this skill
- Define why the story warrants monitoring: an expected record, proceeding, dataset, investigation, decision, unresolved contradiction, or consequential evolving situation. Name primary feeds and likely publication dates. Choose a cadence proportionate to expected change and cost; set backoff and expiry or a review date.
- Check targeted sources first, then broaden when a genuine lead requires it. Record successful retrieval time separately from the source's publication/update time. Detect corrections, retractions, revised data, and deletions as well as new documents.
- Deduplicate by underlying origin and content. Compare the new evidence with the exact published claim set. Classify the delta: strengthens, weakens, overturns, resolves an unknown, corrects an error, or adds context without changing the assessment.
- Verify material new claims using the underlying records. Recompute affected numbers and revisit dependent conclusions. Keep old observations and revised values distinguishable. An official announcement can establish that a decision was announced while its claimed effects remain unverified.
- If the delta matters, prepare the smallest coherent revision. Update affected headline, deck, verdict, narrative, charts, and summaries together. Preserve the earlier edition and explain the substantive change; identify a correction plainly when earlier reporting was wrong.
- Re-run publication review on the changed revision. After release, check the rendered article and propagated summaries. Notify only on meaningful change, completion, failure, or required user action within the authorized notification workflow. Stay quiet on routine no-change checks.
- Retire or slow watches whose uncertainty is resolved or whose expected evidence is no longer forthcoming. Preserve the rationale and last successful review rather than implying continuous freshness.
What this produces
Return a watchResult with story/revision, checked sources, last successful review, evidence delta, affected claims, decision (no change/update/correction/hold/retire), next check and reason, and publication receipt when applicable. Distinguish a failed check from a completed check finding no change.
When publication must pause
Publish only a material verified update or justified correction. Hold unresolved serious allegations and changes whose evidence cannot yet support them. Do not refresh publication dates, emit fresh editions, or send routine notifications merely to meet a schedule. Preserve honest insufficient-evidence outcomes.
Sources behind this skill
Correction and transparency principles draw on IFCN, Reuters, and SPJ. Delta rules and watch states are Follow.fyi procedures.