Standards & Masthead
The News Rupt is an independent journal of investigative reporting and bench-tested product criticism. It began in Kerala in 2011, reporting on state finance and federalism, and was relaunched as a global title in 2025 with desks in Bangkok, Kerala, London and San Francisco. This page sets out who is responsible for what we publish and the rules we hold ourselves to.
Documents before claims
We publish an allegation only when it is anchored to a document we hold, a record we can cite, or two independent people who witnessed it. Where a claim rests on a single source, the story says so in the text rather than in a footnote.
Right of reply
Every named subject receives our questions in writing, with no fewer than seventy-two hours to respond, before publication. Their answers are carried in the story. If they decline, we say how many questions were put and how many were answered.
Anonymity is a last resort
Sources are named unless naming them would expose them to legal, professional or physical harm. When we grant anonymity we describe the source's position precisely enough for a reader to weigh it.
No payment for information
We do not pay sources. We reimburse documented costs — travel, copying, records fees — and disclose it where it is material.
AI disclosure
Wire summaries on the front page are drafted by an automated filing system from published headlines and marked as wire copy. Investigations, reviews and archive entries are written and verified by named journalists. No AI system writes a verdict, a score, or an allegation.
Commercial separation
Advertising and any commercial links have no access to editorial planning and no influence on a review score. Review hardware is bought at retail wherever possible; loan units are returned within thirty days and disclosed in the review.
We correct in public
Errors of fact are corrected on the story itself, with a dated note at the foot explaining what was wrong and what it now says. We do not silently edit a published claim.
Archive entries are preserved as filed
Where later events change the record of an older investigation, we append a note to the archive entry rather than rewrite it. The original text stands.
How to ask for a correction
Write to the desk that published the story with the URL, the sentence at issue, and what you say the correct position is. We acknowledge within two working days and publish or decline within ten, with reasons.