Cape Town News relies on attributable evidence, credible reporting, official records and direct verification when covering Cape Town and the Western Cape.
Cape Town News evaluates information according to credibility, relevance, evidence, attribution and public-interest value.
No source is treated as automatically correct merely because it is official, widely quoted or well known. Statements, reports and claims may still require comparison with documents, independent reporting, direct responses or additional evidence.
This page explains the types of sources CTNews regularly consults and the standards used to assess information before publication.
CTNews regularly consults official Western Cape Government statements, departmental reports, budget documents, legislative records, ministerial briefings and public datasets.
Municipal sources include council documents, mayoral committee statements, public notices, service alerts, tender information, budget reports and direct responses from City officials.
National institutions may be used when their decisions or data directly affect Cape Town or the Western Cape.
During emergencies, CTNews may rely on verified information from disaster-management teams, emergency services, fire and rescue authorities, weather services and recognised transport agencies.
Whenever available, CTNews prefers original records over summaries or second-hand descriptions.
Statistical claims should be traced to the original dataset, report or research institution wherever reasonably possible.
CTNews may consult established news organisations when they provide relevant original reporting, interviews, documents, photographs or specialist coverage.
Commonly consulted South African news organisations may include News24, Daily Maverick, GroundUp, SABC News, EWN, IOL, TimesLIVE, Business Day, Daily Investor, MyBroadband and credible local community publications.
Inclusion on this page does not mean CTNews automatically endorses every report published by an organisation. Each article, claim and source is assessed individually.
Where another publication materially underpins a CTNews report, the original platform and credited journalist or author should be identified in the article and final source credits.
CTNews may interview officials, witnesses, affected people, business owners, community leaders, experts, organisers and representatives directly connected to a story.
Qualified experts may be consulted for technical interpretation, legal context, economic analysis, scientific explanation, health information or other specialist subjects.
Community organisations, civic groups and local leaders can provide valuable information, but claims should still be verified and assessed for possible bias or incomplete context.
People and organisations facing material criticism should be given a reasonable opportunity to respond where fairness requires it.
CTNews prefers named sources because visible attribution improves accountability and reader trust.
An anonymous or confidential source may be considered when the information is important, the source has credible direct knowledge and identification could create a genuine risk to safety, employment, legal rights or access to information.
The identity and credibility of the source should be known to the editor even where the name is withheld from readers. Anonymous claims should be independently supported wherever reasonably possible.
CTNews will not grant anonymity merely to allow unsupported personal attacks, political messaging or commercial allegations without accountability.
Social-media posts may alert the newsroom to a developing event, but they are not automatically treated as verified evidence.
Photographs and recordings should be checked for date, location, ownership, alteration and whether they genuinely relate to the reported event.
People sending tips should provide names, dates, locations, documents and contact information that allow the newsroom to verify the claim.
People submitting material should confirm that they have permission to share it and disclose whether it was altered, staged or previously published.
Businesses, political parties, lobby groups, public-relations agencies, event organisers and advocacy organisations may provide useful information, but they often have a direct interest in how a matter is reported.
Press releases and promotional claims must be assessed critically. Statements about financial performance, product benefits, public support, attendance, economic impact or competitor conduct should be independently checked where material.
Commercial access, advertising or sponsorship does not make a source more credible and does not determine CTNews editorial conclusions.
Artificial intelligence may assist with research organisation, transcription, comparison, language refinement and production workflows, but AI-generated output is not treated as evidence or an original source.
Names, quotations, dates, statistics, legal claims, documents and factual statements suggested by AI must be checked against credible attributable sources before publication.
CTNews will not knowingly cite an AI system as proof of a factual claim or use it to fabricate evidence, sources, quotations or reporting activity.
CTNews articles should identify the people, organisations, documents and publications materially supporting the report.
Selective inline links may be used where they improve verification, context, legal safety or reader transparency. Links should use natural descriptive wording rather than exposed raw URLs.
Final source credits should name both the platform or official body and the credited journalist, author, spokesperson or official. When no individual byline can be confirmed, CTNews may use Staff Reporter.
Direct quotations must be attributed accurately and should not be altered in a way that changes their meaning.
Credible sources may disagree about events, interpretation, policy, responsibility or the meaning of data.
CTNews should represent significant competing claims fairly, identify what is independently established and explain where facts remain disputed or unavailable.
The existence of disagreement does not require CTNews to treat all claims as equally credible. Evidence, expertise, direct knowledge and transparency should determine the weight given to each source.
If a source later corrects or withdraws important information, CTNews will assess whether the published article requires an update, clarification or correction.
A source changing its statement does not automatically prove that the original CTNews report was inaccurate. The newsroom will consider what was known, attributed and verified at the time of publication.
Material correction requests are handled under the Cape Town News Corrections & Complaints Policy.
CTNews does not rely on reputation alone. Every source must be assessed according to the claim being made, the available evidence and the level of public consequence.
Our wider newsroom standards are set out in the Cape Town News Editorial Code.
Send a verified news tip, official statement, supporting document, photograph or request for correction to the CTNews newsroom.
