Editorial Standards & Ethics

Verification before publication

Every incident we publish carries a verification label: Unconfirmed, Scanner Traffic, PN Verifying, PN Confirmed or Official. Those labels are not decoration — they tell you exactly how much confidence to place in what you're reading.

Scanner traffic is raw, frequently wrong, and never treated as confirmation on its own. We escalate a report only when a crew is on scene, an agency confirms it, or an official release is issued.

Breaking news and developing stories

Breaking coverage is published in stages. Early stories say what we know, what we don't know, and where the information came from. As facts firm up, the story is updated and time-stamped.

Casualty counts, suspect descriptions and causes are the details most often wrong in the first hour. We attribute them explicitly or hold them.

Sources and anonymity

We name sources whenever we can. Anonymity is granted only when a source faces a real risk of retaliation and the information is materially in the public interest.

News tips sent to Phoenix News are treated as confidential. We do not publish a tipster's identity, and we contact tipsters only when they give permission.

Privacy and sensitive scenes

We withhold exact addresses for incidents involving domestic violence, sexual assault, minors, suicide, and active police operations where publishing a location could endanger someone.

We do not publish graphic imagery of victims. We do not name juveniles or people who have not been charged, and we do not identify anyone killed before their family has been notified.

Independence and sponsorships

Sponsors, advertisers and Phoenix News+ members have no influence over coverage. Sponsored placements are visually labelled as sponsored everywhere they appear.

Reporters disclose any personal, financial or political relationship that could reasonably affect coverage, and recuse themselves where needed.

Artificial intelligence

AI tools may assist with transcription, summarizing public documents and drafting internal notes. A human journalist verifies and edits everything before publication, and no story is published on AI output alone.