Editorial Standards

Sports news moves fast. Transfer windows move faster. These standards explain how SCN decides what to publish, how we label it, and what we do when we get something wrong.

The Report Status system

Every story on SCN carries a Report Status label. Readers deserve to know how solid a piece of information is before they share it or act on it.

• Official: Announced directly by the club, federation, governing body, competition, or the individual through their own verified official channels. This is the gold standard, confirmed by the source itself.
• Confirmed: Verified independently by the SCN newsroom through at least two sources with direct, first-hand knowledge of the matter. Not yet officially announced, but solid.
• Reported: Credibly reported by a named outlet or credentialed journalist we have reason to trust, but not yet independently verified by SCN. We always name the originating outlet and do not dress up aggregated reporting as our own.
• Rumour: A circulating claim we have not verified and cannot attribute to a credible named source. We publish rumours in transfer coverage because the football public expects to see what is being discussed, but every Rumour story carries a visible badge, a standing disclaimer, and is never presented as established fact. When a rumour resolves, in either direction, we update the story immediately.

Sourcing

We name our sources wherever possible. Anonymous sourcing is permitted only when the source has a legitimate reason to remain off the record and when an editor has been told who they are. We do not use anonymous sources to attack individuals, and we do not grant anonymity to people who merely want to avoid accountability for what they say.

When we aggregate reporting from another outlet, we link to the original, name the outlet in the body, and do not claim the scoop as ours.

Independence

SCN accepts no payments for editorial coverage. Clubs, agents, players, and their representatives cannot purchase positive coverage, commission favourable stories, or place content that appears editorial without a clear Sponsored label. Advertising relationships have no influence on our newsroom decisions.

Bylines and accountability

Every article carries the byline of the journalist responsible for it. Stories without a named byline are published under the SCN editorial desk and reflect collective newsroom work. Reporter pages list everything a journalist has published on this platform: the full record, not a curated selection.

Social media

SCN journalists represent the brand on social media. We apply the same standards to what we post on social platforms as we do to what we publish on this site. Breaking news posted on social is always followed by a full story as quickly as possible.

Corrections

When we make a substantive error, we correct it publicly on the original article, log the change with the date and a plain-language description of what changed, and never quietly delete or rewrite stories without noting what happened. See our Corrections & Retractions policy for the full process.