Editorial standards

The British Banner aims to help readers understand Britain and the wider world through accurate reporting, clear explanation and informed debate. These standards apply to everything we publish. Accuracy comes before speed or search rankings.

Reporting, explanation and opinion

News reports set out verified facts and distinguish what is known from what remains uncertain. Explainers describe how a subject works and provide context. Analysis interprets evidence and makes its reasoning clear. Opinion expresses a writer’s judgement and is labelled as opinion.

A label is not an exemption from accuracy. Factual claims in analysis and opinion must still be supported. Headlines and captions must not exaggerate the article. We distinguish allegations, predictions and estimates from established facts, and do not present a developing account as a settled conclusion.

Sources and official data

We start with primary sources: original documents, legislation, court records, research, interviews and the institutions responsible for the information. We link to the sources readers need to assess a factual claim. For consequential claims, we seek independent corroboration; repeated reports are not independent sources.

Official figures should be traced to the relevant institution, such as the Office for National Statistics, GOV.UK, Parliament or the Environment Agency. Each figure needs its source, date or reporting period, units and geographic scope. We distinguish forecasts from observations and check limitations and revisions. Hypothetical examples are labelled as examples, not reported data.

Quotations must be accurate and attributed. Paraphrases must preserve the meaning of the source. We do not invent interviews, eyewitness accounts or evidence. Social media can provide leads, but an account name, badge or repost alone does not establish authenticity or prove a claim.

Accuracy, fairness and legal care

We check names, dates, calculations and the context of quotations. We represent relevant competing accounts fairly without treating unsupported claims as equal to established evidence. Where serious criticism or an allegation concerns an identifiable person or organisation, we seek a response where appropriate and record the position accurately.

We take care with defamation, court reporting, contempt restrictions and protected identities. Allegations are not findings of guilt. Material carrying a significant legal risk requires review before publication. If the evidence does not support a claim, we qualify it, leave it out or hold the article.

Privacy and sensitive reporting

Public interest is not the same as public curiosity. We consider whether personal information is necessary to a story and the harm its publication could cause. Material already available online can still raise privacy concerns.

We take particular care with children, vulnerable people, bereavement, sexual-offence victims and anyone whose identity is legally protected. We consider whether details, images or links could identify someone indirectly. Distressing material needs a clear editorial reason, proportionate treatment and a warning where appropriate.

Photographs, graphics and credits

Featured photographs must be real, relevant and properly licensed for their use. We do not copy images from search results, social posts or another publisher without permission. Each image has a factual caption and a visible credit identifying the creator and source, with required licence links and changes.

Archive and stock photographs are identified as such. They must not imply that they show a current event, a particular incident or an endorsement when they do not. We check image provenance, quality and cropping, and do not alter photographs in ways that change their evidential meaning.

Original diagrams and illustrations may help explain a subject. They are labelled clearly, use verified information and have an accessible text equivalent where needed. We do not use synthetic news photographs as evidence of real people, places or events.

Video, social posts and privacy

Third-party material is embedded through the platform’s own tools, not copied or re-uploaded. We check the source, subject and context, and identify historical material. An embed does not endorse its source.

Optional external players should load only after the reader chooses to load them. Readers can use a direct source link instead. Our Privacy notice explains the third-party processing associated with these features; the notice and the implementation must agree before an embed goes live.

Names, expertise and independence

When we refer to Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert or another expert or publisher, we attribute what they actually said or published and link to the original material. We make the date and scope clear. We do not imply that they wrote, reviewed or endorse our articles, or use their names in headlines or search metadata merely to attract attention.

The British Banner is operated by Football News UK Ltd. Editorial claims are judged against evidence. Any sponsorship, paid placement, affiliate relationship or relevant conflict must be disclosed where it affects the material. This publication began in 2026 and claims no continuity with the historical newspaper that inspired its design.

Corrections and complaints

Readers can raise an error or editorial concern by emailing info@thebritishbanner.co.uk. Include the article link, the passage concerned and any supporting evidence. Our Corrections and complaints page explains the review process and how to raise an unresolved concern.

Significant factual corrections carry a dated note explaining what was wrong and what changed. New information is labelled as an update, not used to disguise a correction. Minor spelling or layout fixes that do not change meaning need not carry a separate note. We do not promise a fixed response time for every editorial complaint.