Reading the wire

Verification

Every substantive piece on the wire ends with a source trail — a short list of the central claims and the primary sources behind them. This page explains how to read it.

The source trail

At the foot of a report you'll find a Verification section: the load-bearing facts of the piece, each paired with the document or outlet that proves it — an agency record, a council file, a filing, a public dataset, or first-hand reporting. If a claim can't be traced to a source we can name, it doesn't run as fact. See the methodology for the full process.

Dates

Each piece carries a publish date and, when revised, a modified date. A dated file is a snapshot of what could be verified at that time; check both dates before relying on a fast-moving fact.

Rankings and service guides

Our ground-transportation guides rank operators on observable, checkable criteria — published rates, license status (verifiable through the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission), and dispatch behavior. Where a guide cites an operator's own claim — a credential, a client roster, a press mention — it is labeled as the operator's claim, not an independent finding. We do not present a company's self-reported review count as a fact.

When we're wrong

Errors are fixed in the open and logged on the corrections page. Pieces that fail verification on a premise are withdrawn rather than quietly edited — and the withdrawal is recorded there too. Flag an error any time: record@breakingnewyork.com.