How we verify

What can be published

• Public record: court filings, campaign spending reports, ethics filings, bills and votes, council minutes, budgets, permits, property records. We show or link the document.
• A named source: someone willing to be on the record. Their account needs a document or a second independent source before we publish it.
• A tip: anonymous messages, screenshots, "everybody knows." These never get published. They are where we start digging.

When we name someone

1. Right of reply. We contact the person or office before we publish, with a real deadline, and include their response or the date they did not respond.
2. Opinion is labeled. Commentary is marked as opinion. Facts stand on their own.
3. Corrections are public. We fix mistakes openly, on the story and on ourcorrections page. We never quietly delete.
4. We keep the proof. We save a copy of every document, because records disappear.
5. Big stories get a legal read before they publish.

Public records are yours

Hawaiʻi's public records law, the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA), lets anyone request government records. It is how a grassroots outlet gets the documents, legally.

Every story shows its work

At the bottom of every story is a Sources box: each claim, where it came from, and what kind of source it is. If something is wrong, tell us and we will fix it in public.