Bay EvidenceInvestigative research · Bay Area public systemsINVESTIGATION
Original reporting or document-driven accountability work produced by Bay Evidence.
Trust & accountability
Editorial Standards & Independence
Bay Evidence distinguishes reporting from interpretation, original work from outside material, and evidence from assertion. These rules apply to the publication even when they are inconvenient to the publisher.
Publication status
A sole-edited independent publication, disclosed as such
Bay Evidence is currently published and edited by Eric-Michael Wilson II. Source selection, verification thresholds, framing, corrections, and final publication decisions presently rest with one editor. The site does not imply a multi-person newsroom, peer-review board, or legal institution that does not exist.
Citizens Transparency Institute is an incubating civic-accountability project associated with Bay Evidence. Its legal and governance structure remains under development and is not represented as a government agency, tax-exempt charity, university institute, or incorporated nonprofit.
Content taxonomy
Every item should tell the reader what kind of thing it is
ANALYSIS
Bay Evidence interpretation of established records, data, law, policy, or research; inference is distinguished from fact.
RESEARCH
Original research synthesis, literature review, methodology work, or structured evidence brief.
DATA
Structured quantitative material, comparisons, or indicators with methodology and provenance notes.
DOCUMENT
A primary record or preserved source object. Publication does not imply endorsement of its contents.
FROM ANOTHER NEWSROOM
Journalism produced by an outside outlet and included for research value. It is not Bay Evidence reporting.
COMMENTARY
Argument or opinion. If published, it must be labeled and cannot be presented as straight reporting.
SPONSORED CONTENT
Paid material, if Bay Evidence ever accepts it. Sponsorship must be explicit and separate from editorial work.
Editorial independence
Money does not buy conclusions
Funders, advertisers, sponsors, subjects of coverage, government agencies, contractors, partner organizations, and donors do not receive approval rights over findings, headlines, conclusions, corrections, or publication timing. Material financial relationships relevant to a published subject are disclosed.
Conflicts
Relevant interests must be visible
A financial, professional, familial, advocacy, contractual, or other interest that could reasonably affect a reader's assessment of a piece should be disclosed with that work or on the publication's funding and governance pages. Disclosure does not replace verification.
Evidence rules
Primary records first
Where a claim can be checked against a statute, budget, audit, court opinion, dataset, contract, count report, or agency record, Bay Evidence prefers the underlying record over a secondary summary.
Limits travel with findings
PIT counts, administrative data, service records, expenditure ledgers, and observational indicators answer different questions. Method breaks and missing coverage must be stated where they affect interpretation.
No silent repair
Material factual errors receive a visible correction. Methodological advisories are kept separately so recurring interpretive cautions are not misrepresented as individual errors.
Automation and AI
Automation can assist retrieval; it cannot become the source
Automated discovery, extraction, summarization, transcription, classification, or drafting may support research operations. Material claims still require human review against the underlying source. AI-generated citations, quotations, names, statistics, or documents are not accepted as evidence merely because a system produced them.
Related policies