06:30 · Dunlop Street · Singapore
Five steps · one ladder
Sourcing ladder — five steps before anything publishes
Every story on News Drift Spark climbs the same ladder. The steps are not bureaucracy for its own sake; they are how an independent desk in Little India keeps faith with readers who cannot walk the five-foot way themselves. A tip arrives, a document lands in the inbox, a reporter notices a change on the ground. None of that is yet news. News begins when the ladder is climbed and logged.
The ladder applies to every desk on the daily slate and to every file on the reading rails. Breaking speed does not skip a step — it changes how quickly we move between them, and whether a piece publishes in the morning file or waits for the evening round with a hold line attached.
First note
The first note is the spark — overheard on the five-foot way, typed into a message, scanned from a PDF, or marked in the margin of a proof sheet. It is logged with a time stamp in SGT, the desk that owns it, and the name of whoever recorded it. Anonymous tips are accepted for review but they are not yet a first note until a reporter verifies that something exists to follow — an address, a document reference, a public meeting on a calendar. We do not publish from a first note alone. We publish when the note becomes a trail.
Second source
The second source must be independent of the first. Two press releases from the same ministry do not count. Two people who heard the same rumour in the same chat group do not count. We look for a separate origin — a second document, an on-the-record interview, a public database entry, an observation made at a different hour. For straightforward advisories the primary document plus a confirming line from the institution may suffice. For stories that affect a person's reputation we expect named on-the-record speech or documentary evidence that does not depend on a single voice.
Document check
When a story rests on a document, the document is read in full — not the summary slide, not the pull quote in someone else's article. Dates, clause numbers, definitions and annexes matter. If a policy changes a form residents use, we open the form. If a court mention is cited, we read the mention. Scanned PDFs are checked for alteration artefacts before we treat them as primary. Translations are marked as translations. The document check step is where many tips stop: the paper does not say what the tipster believed it said, and the ladder ends without publication.
Right of reply offered
When a story names or clearly identifies an individual, a company or a public body in a way that could reasonably be contested, we offer a right of reply before publication where time allows. The offer is logged — who was contacted, when, through which channel. Silence is not proof of guilt; it is noted and the story may still run if the evidence stack stands without the reply. When a reply arrives late but materially changes the record, we hold or revise rather than rush. Detailed rules for corrections and replies sit on the Put It Right page.
Desk sign-off
Desk sign-off is the last read before a piece enters a reading rail slot. The desk editor checks the ladder log, reads the lede aloud once, confirms the desk label and photograph credits with the picture desk, and marks the piece for morning, midday, context, evening or weekend. Sign-off is not a ceremonial rubber stamp. It is the moment we answer the question: would we defend this file if challenged tonight? If the answer is no, the piece holds.
When a step cannot be completed
Sometimes the ladder cannot be climbed before the publishing time. A ministry office does not return a call before the morning file. A document exists but cannot be verified until tomorrow. A right-of-reply window is still open and the subject is not yet on the record. In those cases we hold — we say so in the slate and, when readers expect a file, we say so in the evening round.
Holding is preferable to publishing thin. It is also preferable to publishing wrong. A held story keeps its desk label and its place in the log; it does not disappear quietly. When a hold lifts, the piece runs with the time it earned, not with yesterday's urgency pasted on.
Embargoes are honoured when we agree to them in writing. Anonymous sources are used sparingly and never as the sole leg of a ladder on a reputational story. Reader tips sent to [email protected] enter the ladder at step one like any other note — reviewed, logged, and answered when we can, without promising publication.
That is the whole method: five steps, one ladder, visible holds, and corrections when we miss. The Back Room describes who climbs it on a typical day; Reader Questions answers the fine points readers ask most often. Nothing here promises a particular outcome for any story — only the order we follow before the shutter comes down on Dunlop Street.
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