Editorial Standards
Editorial Standards
Oahu Underground reporting follows an evidence-first process.
Core Practices
- Primary-source documentation comes before narrative claims whenever possible.
- Claims are labeled by evidence class (public records, direct testimony, analysis, or inference).
- Article updates carry a visible update date; original publication dates are retained.
- Conflicts of interest are disclosed when relevant to the reporting scope.
- Anonymous sources are used only when disclosure could cause retaliation or legal risk.
Evidence Discipline
- Public records are linked directly where available.
- Quotations are checked against source material before publication.
- For technical claims, reproducible references are preferred over secondary summaries.
- Firsthand events are stated directly. Independent corroboration and legal findings are identified separately.
- Sealed-record-dependent claims are identified as dependent on authorized review of sealed audio, exhibits, filings, or transcripts.
- Legal conclusions and claims about intent, causation, or coordination are identified as analysis or inference unless an adjudicative body has made the finding.
- Article pages may be revised when records, source responses, or official dispositions clarify the facts.
Firsthand Evidence
State the author’s categorical firsthand assertions directly and classify them as firsthand evidence. Identify independent corroboration or contradiction paths separately. Preserve genuine uncertainty the author expresses; distinguish inference, other participants’ knowledge, unseen actions, and legal classification from firsthand observation.
Source notes in the investigations refer to this rule and identify the facts and unknowns specific to each article. An event the author saw or heard should not acquire “I believe,” “I say,” or similar prefaces during revision. Source language remains necessary for secondhand statements; uncertainty remains attached to knowledge, intent, unseen actions, causation, coordination, and legal elements.
Primary Event Articles
| Event | Primary account |
|---|---|
| Pre-prosecution chronology | Before the Tax Office |
| Hartmann threat, Stanley’s response, and the departure concept she relayed | The Threat Report |
| Kwak’s testimony, the booth diagram, and Kanemoto’s mock-pistol closing | The Hypothetical Gun |
| Retained counsel, chambers, and plea pressure | The Defense Table Went Quiet |
| December 2, 2022 signal, denial, and interrupted record statement | The Nod |
| Wider December 2022 hearing and later reporting | Wilson Loo overview |
The Nod is the sole narrative account of the December 2, 2022 signal, denial, and interrupted record statement. Companion articles use a brief linked callout and retain only individual facts necessary to their own analysis, interview questions, or record requests. They do not reconstruct the scene in introductions, later sections, metadata, tables, diagrams, or source notes. The public letter may retain one plain sentence stating the observation so it can stand alone. A repeated account is not additional corroboration. The Information Trail holds the open theories connecting events; Mechanisms of Review Failure is a general reference, not evidence that a mechanism operated in a particular case. Other research portfolios remain separate without a direct evidentiary link.
Direct phrasing identifies the source as firsthand evidence; it does not convert firsthand testimony into independent corroboration or an adjudicated finding.
Updated: October 8, 2026.
Source Archive Policy
- Public source links are preserved where possible through direct links, citations, and archived copies.
- Local archival copies are used to preserve public records, not to imply that every archived source proves every claim on a page.
- Sealed, confidential, private, or unlawfully obtained material is not published merely because it would be useful to a narrative.
- When a page describes sealed or non-public records, it should state what authorized review would be needed to confirm or falsify the claim.
Right of Reply
Named people, institutions, and organizations may send corrections, clarifications, or responses. Responses are reviewed for factual relevance and may be incorporated, summarized, linked, or noted in-page when they materially clarify the record.
Contact
Questions about standards can be sent to [email protected].
© 2026 Ekewaka Lono. All rights reserved. Linking is permitted. Republication requires prior written permission. Content-use policy.