TotalSportek Editorial Policy: How We Research and Fact-Check
TotalSportek covers football, cricket, F1, UFC, boxing, tennis, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, darts, golf and rugby for UK sports fans. This page explains how we research, verify and correct our articles, so you know exactly what standard to expect from any page on this site.
Sport moves fast. Kick-off times shift, injuries happen mid-week, and broadcast rights change between seasons. This policy sets out how we keep up with that, what sources we trust, and what we do when something needs fixing.
Why we have this policy
Readers come to TotalSportek to get an answer quickly, such as when a match kicks off, where to watch it legally, or how a competition format works. If that information is wrong, it wastes your time and sends you back to Google.
We publish this policy so our standards are clear and checkable, not just a promise. It also gives our own writers and editors a fixed process to follow, rather than leaving accuracy to guesswork.
How we source information
We use official and primary sources first. That means league and governing body announcements, official club and broadcaster statements, and verified sports data providers, rather than second-hand reports or social media rumours.
For anything time-sensitive, we check:
- Fixture dates and kick-off times
- Confirmed broadcast and streaming rights
- Player or team availability
- Competition rules and formats
- Rankings, results and records
If we can’t confirm a fact from a reliable source at the time of writing, we say so in the article rather than guessing. We would rather flag something as provisional than present it as settled.
How each article is checked before publishing
Every article goes through the same basic checks before it goes live:
- The main facts are checked against an official or primary source.
- Anything time-sensitive is checked as close to publication as possible.
- UK-specific details, like times, terminology and broadcast availability, are reviewed for accuracy.
- The article is checked against current guidance to catch anything that’s changed since it was drafted.
We use AI tools to help with research and drafting speed, but every article is reviewed by a human editor before publishing. The editor is responsible for the accuracy of the final version, not just the drafting process. AI assistance never replaces that human check.
How we handle fast-moving stories
Some stories change within hours, such as team news before a match or a last-minute broadcast switch. For these, we check the most recent official source before publishing, and we revisit the article if the situation moves on afterwards.
Where a detail is confirmed by one source but not yet official, we label it clearly as provisional rather than treating it as fact. This matters most around injury news, transfer stories and schedule changes, where early reports often turn out to be wrong.
How we handle corrections
If a fact in one of our articles turns out to be wrong, or a schedule changes after we publish, we fix it as soon as we’re aware. Small fixes, like a typo or a wording tweak, are made without a formal note.
Where a correction changes something meaningful, such as a date, score, result or broadcast detail, we update the article and note when it was last updated. We don’t quietly rewrite facts that readers may have already relied on, because that would undo the reason this policy exists.
Editorial independence
Our coverage decisions are based on what UK sports fans are searching for and what genuinely needs explaining, not on commercial relationships. Where a page includes affiliate or partner links, that will be disclosed clearly, and it has no influence on which facts we report or how we report them.
Legal viewing information
Where we mention how to watch an event, we only reference legal and licensed UK broadcasters and platforms, such as Sky Sports, TNT Sports, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, NOW and DAZN, or official league and governing body channels. We don’t cover, recommend or link to unofficial streams, IPTV services or geo-block workarounds.
Reporting an error
If you spot something on the site that looks outdated or wrong, you can flag it through our about us page. We take reader corrections seriously, since getting basic facts wrong, like a kick-off time or a result, is exactly what this policy exists to prevent.
You can browse our latest coverage in the blog, or head back to the TotalSportek homepage for our full sports coverage.
