The paper
About Fons Primus
The name is Latin for “first source.” The work is to read the record, state what it contains, and show the reader where that statement comes from.
Most public argument is built on secondary accounts: a paraphrase of a paraphrase, a clip of a clip, a claim that cannot be checked without leaving the page. Fons Primus is built the other way. A story begins with a document, a dataset, a docket, or an official release. The article exists to make that source readable, not to replace it.
Primary sources
The first citation should be the thing itself: the opinion, the statute, the transcript, the statistical table, the agency notice. Secondary reporting is used only to locate the record or to note how it was later described. If a claim cannot be tied to a source the reader can open, it does not belong in the article.
No sensationalism
Titles describe what occurred. They do not hint, frighten, or flatter. There is no countdown, no “what we know,” and no language designed to hold a cursor. Emphasis is a fact’s due weight, not a design choice. If an event is serious, the document will show it.
No political agenda
The site does not endorse candidates, parties, or programmes. It does not exist to punish or to protect any side of a dispute. Selection of stories follows the availability of a public record that can be checked, not the usefulness of the item to a cause. Where we fall short of that standard, the correction is to the story, not to the reader.
Contested claims
When responsible parties disagree about what a document means, or about what happened, the disagreement is reported as disagreement. Each perspective is attributed, summarised in language the speaker could recognise, and placed next to the others. The site does not referee the dispute in the headline or bury one account in a final paragraph. The reader is given the sources and the room to judge.
How a story is structured
Published pieces follow a fixed order. “What happened” is a plain account of the event or document. “Key facts” lists items that can be checked. “Sources” links to the underlying record. “Perspectives” appears only when the matter is contested. That last section is omitted when the record is not in dispute.
Corrections
Errors of fact are corrected in the story, with the date of the change noted in the frontmatter when the substance of the record has shifted. The aim is a durable public file, not a feed that disappears.