Mandatory Postmortems for Major Reporting

When a news organization publishes reporting that materially shapes national politics (investigations cited by leaders, triggering prosecutions, or awarding prizes), an independent, transparent postmortem should be required: publish a timeline of editorial decisions, source provenance, internal review memos, and a public assessment of what went right and wrong. These audits would be time‑bound, include named participants, and be archived for future oversight and research. — Institutionalizing public postmortems would raise journalistic standards, supply evidence for policy and legal debates about press influence, and reduce repeat mistakes that have outsized political consequences.