Four-Tier Verification
Not all evidence is equal, and we do not treat it as if it were. Every claim in an Allen Analysis piece is sourced, and every source sits in one of four tiers. This is how we decide what gets stated as fact, what gets stated as inference, and what gets flagged as thin.
Primary Record
The strongest tier. Original documents and direct evidence: court filings, government records, official transcripts, regulatory disclosures, on-camera statements, and primary data. When a claim can be tied to a primary-record source, it is established rather than asserted. Our reporting is built on this tier first.
Major Reporting
On-record reporting from established outlets with their own editorial standards and accountability, and named, on-record statements from people with direct knowledge. This tier corroborates and contextualizes the primary record. A named source on the record is weighted above an anonymous one.
Corroborating Signal
Secondary reporting, expert analysis, and pattern evidence that supports a conclusion without independently establishing it. Useful for context and for showing that a documented event fits a broader pattern, but never load-bearing on its own.
Flagged & Contested
Single-sourced claims, developing reports not yet confirmed, and material drawn from sources whose reliability is uncertain. We do not pretend this tier is stronger than it is. When a piece leans on Tier IV, the prose says so plainly and asks you to weigh it accordingly.
The sourcing floor
Tiers describe individual sources. The floor describes the piece as a whole. Before anything publishes, it must clear a minimum: a required number of Tier I primary sources, a required number of Tier II major sources, and a required total. The threshold scales to the weight of the claim. The more serious the accusation, the higher the bar.
This is not aspirational. It is enforced at the point of writing. A draft that falls below the floor does not get rounded up with confident language. It gets one of two outcomes: the additional sourcing it needs, or a flag, stated in the opening of the piece, that the reporting is thinner than our standard and should be weighed as such.
Why we show the seams
Most outlets hide their uncertainty. We surface it. If a claim rests on a single sourcing chain, you will read that in the text. If a key document has not been independently confirmed, you will read that too. We treat you as a juror capable of weighing evidence, which means we owe you an honest account of how strong that evidence actually is.
When we fall short of this standard, the failure is logged in the open on our Corrections page.