The bureau publishes its editorial standards in full. The rules are short, they are public, and they are the conditions under which the bureau will record an interview, edit a transcript, and publish a conversation. The standards have not changed since the bureau was founded.
In the room
The bureau records with the subject's knowledge and on a signed release. There is no off-the-record material in the published transcript. If the subject asks for a segment to be excluded after the recording, the bureau will exclude it, with the exclusion noted in the final transcript so the reader knows the conversation went somewhere we are not publishing.
The transcript and the edit
The bureau edits down from the full transcript. We cut for length, redundancy, and pace. We do not rearrange the order of the conversation. We do not invent quotes. We do not move a sentence from one part of the recording to another to tighten an argument. The edit is the conversation in the order it happened.
Subjects get a factual review pass on the transcript. They do not get editorial control. If a subject withdraws consent before publication, the bureau does not publish. If a subject withdraws consent after publication, the bureau will consider the request and respond in writing.
Conflicts and payments
The bureau does not accept payment from interview subjects in exchange for coverage. The bureau pays a small honorarium to scholarly and academic subjects in line with industry practice. Commercial subjects are not paid. Sponsored content is not published. If a subject becomes a commercial sponsor of the bureau at a later date, that sponsorship is disclosed on the relevant page and the subject's previous interview is annotated with a disclosure note.