Glossary
What the terms on Atlas records and in the downloads mean.
For every column and code in the downloads, see the codebook; for how records are classified, the classification standards.
- Atlas record
One newsroom's page in the Policy Atlas: what it has published or told us about changing old stories, with the sources.
Every record has a stable identifier (its institution ID, such as aep-…) that is never reused, so citations keep working.
- Automated reading
NSMPA's reading of a newsroom's own website, made by software and not yet checked by a person. It is a lead, not our classification, and it never counts toward our totals.
NSMPA is an open-source research tool, built by the project's founder, that searched each organization's website for a policy on old stories and quoted what it found.
In the downloads, its values are in the columns starting nsmpa_.
- Classification
Our coded reading of a newsroom's policy, made by a person from the sources on the record: policy transparency, a position on each remedy, and how decisions are made.
A newsroom without a classification simply hasn't been worked on yet.
- Evidence tier
How direct a source is: 1 the newsroom's own policy document; 2 a statement from the newsroom; 3 reporting by others or archived material; 4 a technical observation or automated lead.
- First seen
The date a policy page was first read, by us or by NSMPA. It is not the date the policy was adopted.
- Last updated
The most recent change to anything shown on a record: its listing, classification, sources, automated reading, policy pages, statements or corrections.
- Newsroom statement
The newsroom's own words about its policy, published through its verified account and signed. It sits beside our findings and doesn't change them.
- Outreach
Whether we have asked the newsroom about its policy, and whether it has answered.
A newsroom that hasn't answered is never treated as opposed to any remedy, and its silence isn't taken to mean it has no policy.
- Policy page found
Whether the automated search found a published policy on old stories on the newsroom's website: found, not located, or the site couldn't be read.
"Not located" means the search didn't find one. It doesn't mean the newsroom has no policy.
- Policy transparency (PT1–PT6)
What kind of policy evidence exists for a newsroom, from a published written policy (PT1) to too little evidence to say (PT6).
- PT1: Public written policy verified.
- PT2: Internal written policy confirmed.
- PT3: Informal editorial practice confirmed.
- PT4: No policy confirmed.
- PT5: No public policy located. A documented search found no public policy. This is not a finding that no policy exists.
- PT6: Unverified or insufficient evidence. Too little evidence to classify. This is not a finding about the institution.
- Position on a remedy
What the evidence shows a newsroom does about one remedy: expressly permitted, reviewed case by case, expressly prohibited, or not established.
- Expressly permitted.
- Case-by-case review.
- Expressly prohibited.
- Not established by available evidence.
- "Not established" means the available evidence doesn't show a position. It isn't "no".
- Remedies
The six things a newsroom might do about an old story. Each is recorded separately: a newsroom can allow corrections and rule out de-indexing without contradiction.
- Correction: fixing a factual error.
- Update for later developments: adding what happened afterwards, such as charges being dropped.
- Editor's note or context: an explanation added to the story.
- Anonymization or redaction: removing or reducing a name or other identifying details.
- Search-engine de-indexing: asking search engines not to list the page. The story stays on the newsroom's site.
- Removal or unpublishing: taking the story off public view.
- Review status
How many people have checked a classification, from a single coder to an independent reviewer.
- Preliminary (single coder).
- Double-coded.
- Independently reviewed.
- Disputed: under review.
- Suspended pending review.
- Unchecked / checked by hand
Unchecked material was found automatically and nobody has compared it with its source yet. Checked material has been read against the source by a person.
- Under review
A classification exists but is held back until a second reviewer has checked it. The record's sources are still shown.