Source Classification Transparency

This document explains how Essence classifies the news sources it processes, how operators of publications can challenge a classification they believe is incorrect, and where the methodology stands today. The full classification methodology is maintained as an internal reference document and summarised here.

How operators of publications challenge a classification

If you operate a publication and believe its classification within Essence is incorrect, you can submit a correction request. The process is structured and time-bound.

1. Submit your request by email to the address below. Include the domain of the publication, the classification currently displayed (a screenshot is helpful), the specific aspect you wish to challenge, and supporting documentation — ownership records, editorial charter, classifications by recognised media observers, sanctions documents.
2. Review within 14 days. We assess your submission against the methodology. Where the documentation supports your position, we update the classification and log the change in our internal audit trail. Where it does not, you receive a written response explaining the structural basis for the existing classification.
3. Aggregate disclosure. All correction requests received and their outcomes are reported in anonymised form in the quarterly statistics on this page. Individual correspondence remains private.

How sources are classified

Every classification in Essence is structural. It describes ownership, funding, editorial governance, and documented institutional characteristics — not political assessments and not judgements about the truth of individual reports.

Tier classification

Sources are assigned to one of seven tiers, each with documented structural criteria. Tier A through Tier C describe outlets with established editorial structures; Tier D covers tabloid-format and partisan-positioned outlets; Tier E and Tier F apply to unverified and unknown sources; Tier X identifies state-controlled media, with four sub-categories distinguishing direct state control, single-party control, military-junta control, and armed-non-state-actor control.

Ownership and network classification

Each source is assigned an ownership category — state, state-adjacent, corporate, private, non-profit, wire, independent, or unknown — based on documented holdings and funding structure. Where multiple outlets share common ownership or funding, they are grouped into a network with explicit ownership disclosure.

Political alignment tags

Where applicable, sources receive symmetrical alignment tags. For each geopolitical axis we cover — Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Kurdish populations — both poles exist as tags and are applied where the documented structural basis supports it. A tag is only assigned when ownership, funding, or self-declared editorial position warrants it. In ambiguous cases, no tag is assigned.

Independence score

An independence score from 0.0 to 1.0 represents the degree of institutionally documented editorial autonomy of a publication relative to its owner, funder, or controlling state. The score does not measure the quality, truthfulness, or objectivity of individual articles. It measures structural autonomy. Five tiers are defined, each with documented criteria, ranging from full institutional independence (multi-stakeholder governance, Editorial Charter, independent oversight) to no documented autonomy (direct state, party, or armed-group control).

What the methodology is not

The classification methodology is not a press freedom index. It is not a fact-checking system applied to individual articles. It is not a moral judgement about the operators of publications. It is a structural framework for assessing how a source is constituted institutionally — and that assessment then informs how Essence weights its inputs when triangulating events and verifying claims.

Recognised classifications Essence draws on

The methodology references work by established media observers wherever applicable. We do not invent classifications when externally documented assessments exist.

Current state of the classification system

The figures below are updated quarterly. Beta phase opened in April 2026; the first complete quarterly cycle covers Q2 2026.

Correction requests

The first quarterly statistical report will be published at the close of Q2 2026 (early July 2026).

What Essence does not do

Three boundaries that follow from the structural nature of the methodology:

• Essence does not certify truth. A classification is a structural statement about a source — its ownership, funding, editorial governance. It is not a statement about the truth or falsehood of any individual report published by that source.
• Essence does not classify journalists. Source classifications apply to publications and their institutional structure, not to individual contributors. A reporter writing for an outlet does not inherit that outlet's classification.
• Essence is not a press freedom organisation. We rely on the work of Reporters Without Borders, NewsGuard, Reuters Institute, and others. Essence applies their classifications, alongside our own structural analysis, in a unified framework — but we do not produce primary press-freedom research.

Where to write

Postal correspondence may be addressed to GET ESSENCE LTD, 71–75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.