Home / Articles / Becoming an official publication: the SGit Newsroom now has a publisher, an editor, standards, a corrections log, a withdrawal process and a complaints route, and is applying to a regulator

Becoming an official publication: the SGit Newsroom now has a publisher, an editor, standards, a corrections log, a withdrawal process and a complaints route, and is applying to a regulator

By Dinis Cruz · 2026-10-30 · article v1.2.0, 3 versions · newsroom v0.14.11 · newsroompublishingjournalismstandardsregulationcorrectionsai-disclosurearticle

Abstract: The SGit Newsroom has been publishing for weeks, and it names companies, reports incidents and argues positions, written by agents from my voice memos. Today a story showed me that this needs more than good habits. We wrote about a contractor's agent on a Pentagon network from secondary reports of an article we could not read, copied a quote that one outlet had given to the wrong party, corrected it, and then I withdrew the article, because it repeated allegations about named organisations made by unnamed sources, which this newsroom should not publish at all. So the newsroom is becoming an official publication. In the UK there is no licence to be a journalist; what makes a publication accountable is that it says who publishes it and who answers for it, publishes its standards, corrects in the open, withdraws with a notice, takes complaints, and submits to an independent regulator. As of this release the newsroom has an imprint, naming The Cyber Boardroom Limited as publisher and me as editor, and saying plainly that agents write the articles; editorial standards that rule out making or repeating allegations, so what we publish is analysis and opinion; a corrections log; a formal withdrawal process with its first notice; and a complaints route with a 21-day answer. Next we apply to IMPRESS, the independent press regulator, and register for an ISSN with the British Library, and later we look at the Journalism Trust Initiative and a press card for the editor. This article says what each step is, what it costs, what we have done and what is still to do.

In short

• The newsroom is becoming an official publication. It names companies and reports incidents, so it should be accountable like any publication that does.
• There is no licence to be a journalist in the UK. What makes a publication accountable is what it publishes about itself and who it answers to.
• Today we added the pages: an imprint, editorial standards, a corrections log, a withdrawal process and a complaints route.
• The publisher is The Cyber Boardroom Limited, and I am the editor. The imprint also says plainly that agents write the articles.
• We do not make allegations, or repeat them. We publish analysis and my opinion, with the facts it rests on.
• The first withdrawal has its notice, and the article it concerns explains why this happened today.
• Next: IMPRESS and an ISSN, then the Journalism Trust Initiative and a press card for the editor.

Why now

This newsroom has been publishing for weeks, written by agents from my voice memos and briefs, under rules that are published and checked by the build. It names companies, reports incidents and takes positions. Today a story showed me that good habits are not the same as being accountable.

We wrote about WIRED's report of a contractor's AI agent on a Pentagon network. WIRED's page refused our tools, so we read it through what six other outlets said about it, and said so. When I later shared the article itself, it showed that one outlet had joined the end of the Department of Defense's statement to the start of Accenture's, and we had copied it. We corrected it within the hour. Then I withdrew the article, because it repeated allegations about named organisations made by unnamed sources, and that is not something this newsroom should publish at all. That process is what an official publication has, and what we did not have written down.

What makes a publication official

In the UK there is no licence to practise journalism, and no register of journalists. What makes a publication accountable is a set of things it does in public:

• It says who it is. A publisher, an editor who answers for what is published, how to reach them, and who owns and funds it.
• It publishes its standards, and keeps them: accuracy, sourcing, quotes, privacy, how it handles claims about others.
• It corrects in the open, and logs what it corrected.
• It withdraws only through a process, and leaves a notice.
• It takes complaints, answers them in a set time, and lets a complainant go further.
• It submits to an independent regulator. IMPRESS is the regulator recognised under the Royal Charter on press self-regulation; IPSO regulates most national newspapers. Membership of a recognised regulator also brings protection from legal costs in libel and privacy claims under section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.

On top of these sit identifiers and credentials: an ISSN from the British Library for a serial publication, certification such as the Journalism Trust Initiative, and press cards, which are issued to people, not publications.

What we did today

The newsroom now has five pages that it did not have this morning, linked from every page's footer under "The publication":

• The imprint: the publisher, The Cyber Boardroom Limited, registered in England and Wales; me as editor; how the articles are made; ownership, funding and interests; contact.
• Editorial standards: accuracy and sources, quotes copied word for word, what we read and what we only read about, opinion and not allegations, people and privacy, interests, how agents write here, versions, corrections, withdrawals and complaints.
• Corrections: how we correct, and the log, starting with today's.
• Withdrawals: when an article is withdrawn, the six steps, and the notices.
• Complaints: how to complain, an acknowledgement in two working days, a full answer in 21 days, and where to go next.

Most of these write down what the newsroom already did: every source dated, quotes verbatim, every version public, reviews on the record. Two things are new rules. First, opinion and not allegations: we do not accuse any person or organisation of wrongdoing, and we do not repeat other people's allegations either, because in UK law repeating an allegation is publishing it. What we publish is analysis and my opinion, said in the first person, with the facts it rests on, so a reader can see the basis and disagree; and when we criticise a named person or organisation, we let them know and publish their response. Second, withdrawal: only the editor withdraws an article, and every withdrawal gets a notice.

Agents write here, and the imprint says so

The question every reader will ask of this newsroom is who writes it. The imprint answers it in one paragraph: the articles are written by AI agents working as the newsroom's writers, from my memos, briefs and the material I share, under the published standards and each agent's published behaviour policy, and I direct and answer for every article. Nothing is published that I would not say.

I think that is the right way round. An agent can research, check and write faster than I can, and it does not tire of looking up a source. But it cannot answer for what it publishes. A person has to, and the imprint names who.

The first withdrawal

The withdrawal process is new, so its first notice is about today. The notice gives the article's title, when it was published, corrected and withdrawn, with the versions, and the reason. The article's number stays in the newsroom's register, marked withdrawn, so a reading list that named it says so. The source stays in the public repository's history: a withdrawal removes an article from the site, not from the record. If we return to the story, it will be a new article, after the parties have been asked.

What comes next

• IMPRESS. We are preparing the application. Membership is open to UK publishers, starts at about £50 a year for a turnover under £100,000, and commits a publisher to the IMPRESS Standards Code and its complaints scheme. Once we are members, a complaint we cannot resolve can go to IMPRESS.
• An ISSN. The British Library's ISSN UK Centre assigns ISSNs to serials published in the UK, at no charge, and has assigned them to online publications. It gives the newsroom an identifier libraries and indexes recognise.
• The Journalism Trust Initiative. Reporters Without Borders' standard for trustworthy journalism begins with a public self-assessment of about 130 questions, followed by an independent audit for certification. Much of what it asks for, ownership, standards, corrections, is now on our pages.
• A press card for the editor. Press cards are issued through gatekeeper organisations to people who gather news. Agents cannot hold one; the editor can apply, through a gatekeeper whose rules fit a writer for an online publication.

Is SGit Newsroom the right name?

I think so. It says where the newsroom comes from: it was built on sgit, the tools and the vaults it writes about, and it is open about that. The risk is that a reader takes it for a product blog. The imprint and the standards are the answer to that: the publisher, the editor, the interests and the rules are on the page, and any article about something we build says so.

What this does not claim

• We are not yet regulated. The IMPRESS application and the ISSN are in preparation; the pages say so, and will change when each is in place.
• The fees and rules quoted for IMPRESS, the ISSN, the Journalism Trust Initiative and press cards are from their pages and from coverage read on 30 October 2026, some of it older; each will be checked when we apply.
• Standards are only as good as their keeping. The corrections log and the withdrawal notices are where a reader can check whether we keep them.
• My interest: I am the editor, and the publisher is my company.

Where this comes from

• My messages of 30 October 2026, word for word in admin/notes/2026-10-30__official-publication/memo-01.md and admin/notes/2026-10-30__dod-agent-incident/memo-02.md in this site's repository.
• Companies House, The Cyber Boardroom Limited, company 15623827, read on 30 October 2026.
• IMPRESS: about membership, the regulatory scheme and FAQs.
• The ISSN UK Centre: issn.org.
• The Journalism Trust Initiative: Reporters Without Borders.
• Press cards: journalism.co.uk, six press cards for journalists.
• This newsroom's new pages: imprint, standards, corrections, withdrawals, complaints.

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