Vet a publication in six minutes.
Editorial-grade due diligence on any publication. Crunchbase company record, masthead and about pages, RSS feeds, Wikipedia, traffic-analytics signals, news mentions, ownership and parent-company structure. Twelve sections, every claim cited to a public URL.
What gets verified
Every Publication Vetting Report draws from these public sources. Where a source returns nothing useful for the subject, the relevant section degrades gracefully with an explicit insufficient-evidence tag rather than padding with guesses.
| Source | What it tells us |
|---|---|
| Crunchbase | Company record. Founding date, employees, funding rounds where applicable, current investors, parent company. |
| Masthead and about pages | Editorial leadership, executive editor, contributing editors, editorial-staff composition. |
| RSS feeds | Post cadence, beat consistency, byline distribution, multi-author versus single-author footprint. |
| Wikipedia | Founding history, ownership-change record, controversies of record, awards. |
| Similarweb / Alexa traffic | Estimated monthly unique visitors, top-traffic countries, traffic-trend signal. Tagged as estimates. |
| News mentions across other publications | How peer publications describe this publication. Awards mentions, controversy mentions, citations of work. |
| SEC EDGAR (publicly traded media) | 10-K and 10-Q disclosures of subsidiary publications, segment reporting, audience figures. |
| IRS 990 filings (nonprofit media) | Disclosures of revenue, executive compensation, foundation grantors. |
| Public corrections archive | Where the publication maintains a public corrections page, the corrections cadence and severity over time. |
| Substack publications | Post cadence, paid-tier presence, subscriber-count signal when public, editorial-team composition. |
What the report contains
The full Publication Vetting Report is twelve sections, paginated, between 2,500 and 5,500 words depending on the publication's public footprint.
- Executive Summary. 200-400 word synthesis.
- Publication Profile. Founding date, current ownership, primary editorial focus, current editor-in-chief, headquarters.
- Editorial Leadership. Masthead position, executive-editor history, contributing-editor list, editorial-board composition.
- Beat Coverage and Editorial Identity. Topic clustering across recent posts. Editorial-identity consistency over time.
- Audience and Reach. Estimated monthly traffic. Subscriber-count signal where publicly disclosed.
- Ownership and Corporate Structure. Parent-company structure. SEC 10-K / 990 / Crunchbase funding rounds.
- Editorial Track Record. Awards, publication-level recognition, citations of work.
- Corrections and Ethics Signal. Public corrections archive cadence. SPJ ethics complaints where relevant.
- Comparable Publications. Five archetype-matched peers from a curated reference.
- Public Reputation and Press. News coverage of the publication itself.
- Editorial-Staff Stability. Departures and hires across the prior 24 months.
- References and Source Citations. Full audit trail.
How we identify the right publication
Same-name publications are a real failure mode. We solve this with three independent gates.
Gate 1 — Domain match
The publication's primary domain is the canonical identifier. Domain-match search resolves to Crunchbase, Wikipedia, and masthead URL.
Gate 2 — Disambiguation card
Multiple candidates surface as a disambiguation card with parent company, founding date, primary beat, and editor-in-chief.
Gate 3 — Confirm before charge
Wrong-publication reports are credited back automatically.
Defamation guardrails
We do not characterize publications as "biased" or "fake news" without sourced public commentary.
Sample report on file
Public sample report curated for the publication vertical. Built from public-record sources only.
The Platformer sample illustrates the Substack-led independent-publication mode, with founder-editor Casey Newton, beat focus on AI policy and platform regulation, paid-subscriber tier signal, and editorial-team composition.
When to use a Publication Vetting Report
- PR pitch preparation. Surface audience size, editorial focus, ownership, and editorial-staff stability before pitch allocation.
- Source vetting before granting an interview. Surface the publication's editorial track record, corrections record, and editorial leadership.
- Media-investment due diligence. Funding history, ownership structure, audience-size trajectory, paid-subscriber metrics.
- Editor hiring or commissioning. Surface masthead leadership, beat consistency, contributing-editor list.
- Brand-safety review. Editorial track record, audience size, ownership structure, public-reputation signals.
Pricing
Publication Snapshot
One-page publication brief.
30 credits
- Headline (name, parent company, primary beat, editor-in-chief)
- Audience-size headline
- Editorial track record headline
- Ownership headline
- Source URL audit trail
- Returns in roughly 60 seconds
Publication Vetting Report Recommended
Full publication-level due diligence.
200 credits
- All twelve sections, 2,500-5,500 words
- Editorial leadership and masthead history
- Audience and reach analysis
- Ownership and corporate structure
- Editorial-staff stability over 24 months
- References section: every cited URL
- Returns in 5-6 minutes
Credits are platform-wide. A Pro plan includes credits monthly; pay-as-you-go credit packs are available. See pricing for current plans.
Methodology
The full methodology behind the Publication Vetting Report is published. It covers the domain-match gate, the four-class source taxonomy, defamation guardrails, ownership-disclosure handling, and what the report explicitly does not do.
Frequently asked questions
What sources does the Publication Vetting Report draw from?
Crunchbase, masthead and about pages, RSS feeds, Wikipedia, traffic-analytics signals, news mentions, ownership disclosures, parent-company SEC filings when applicable.
What does ownership and corporate structure look like?
The report surfaces parent company, holding-company structure, foundation backing where applicable, and known investors.
Can I use this to evaluate a publication before granting an interview?
Yes. The source-vetting mode tunes the headline toward audience reach, editorial track record on the relevant beat, public corrections record, and known editorial leadership.
How does the report handle audience-size claims?
Audience-size claims are sourced from Similarweb traffic estimates, publicly disclosed subscriber counts, and parent-company SEC disclosures. The report does not invent traffic numbers.
Does the report cover Substack publications?
Yes. Substack publications are first-class subjects.
How does the report handle defunct or shuttered publications?
The report runs against the historical archive when shuttered. Shuttered status is surfaced explicitly in the headline.
Related
Journalist Vetting Reports → Use case: Journalist Source Vetting → Methodology: Publication → Founder Vetting Reports →