What this desk is
The Content Wire now carries a media-source and partner-rights layer. Every outside publication, wire service,
tourism office or freelancer is a record in the Sources & Partners registry. A source starts as a TARGET with
UNKNOWN rights — it earns its way up. Nothing is republished and no feed runs until a human records the rights and switches the source active.
The three article modes
- partner_full_copy — running a partner's article as-is. Only with recorded reuse rights. Byline, partner credit and a link to the original are kept automatically. If rights are UNKNOWN, the item routes to CONTACT and cannot publish.
- urock_original — our own reporting from a source packet: one primary source plus corroboration, original wording, exact quotes only. 600–1,000 words.
- brief — when the facts are solid but thin: 150–350 words, no padding. A thin packet becomes a brief, never an inflated article.
Rights — the gates that cannot be argued with
- Text rights and image rights are tracked separately. Unknown image rights = text-only story.
EXPIREDorREVOKEDrights block publishing and network lift automatically.- A quotation that is not declared verbatim in the packet holds the story until an editor verifies it.
- Facts can be extracted and attributed. A publisher's expression and photographs cannot be taken because a page can be scraped.
Reliability scoring
Every packet gets a 0–100 score: primary source +35, corroboration +20, recorded rights +10, freshness +5. 80+ can sit in READY; 60–79 goes to VERIFY; below 60 goes to CONTACT or holds. No score ever overrides a rights gate.
Working the desk
- Publishing → Daily Content Wire → Sources & Partners: the registry, the Source Inbox (fetched feed material) and Story Packets.
- Move a source along the relationship ladder: TARGET → CONTACTED → DISCUSSION → ACTIVE. Record contacts honestly — never guess an email.
- Use Test feed before activating any RSS source. Active sources fetch every 30 minutes into the Source Inbox.
- Partner offer is reciprocal and nonexclusive: attribution, canonical links, affiliate placement, radio mentions — and no claim over their work.
- Corrections and retractions stay linked to the original story forever. When in doubt, hold it.