About

One standard. Every story. Every side.

Sunlight exists to recover reality, not to win an argument. Every breakdown runs the same framework, applies the same standard, and follows the evidence wherever it leads — including against the conclusion we expected.

The SUNLIGHT Framework

Every story is run through eight steps, in order: Source, Understand, Name, Link, Investigate, Ground Truth, Honesty, Tell. Two things govern the whole process before any of it starts: humility (hold conclusions loosely — ask what would change your mind before deciding what's true) and courage (say what the evidence produced, regardless of who it upsets).

The Eight Distortions

These are the patterns that turn open inquiry into captured belief. They're not always deliberate, but they always follow the same shapes. Every breakdown checks for all eight — the same eight, applied identically whether the story favours the left, the right, or neither.

Omission

The most powerful distortion, because it is invisible. You cannot question what you were never shown.

Emotional Framing

Emotion arrives before reason. How a story is framed shapes how facts are received, before they are ever evaluated.

Context Distortion

True facts, presented without the context that gives them meaning, change into something else entirely.

Authority Bias

Deferring to a credentialed source without asking about their incentives, their track record, or who benefits.

Tribal Loyalty

Truth filtered through group membership — where the tribe disciplines anyone who asks an inconvenient question.

Perceived Consensus

The manufactured appearance of agreement. Repetition creates the illusion that almost everyone already believes this.

Saturation

Sheer volume and repeated exposure crowd out alternative accounts, whether or not those accounts are true.

Social Cost

The real or perceived price of saying what the evidence actually shows. Silence enforced without anyone censoring anything.

The Non-Partisan Standard

The same framework applies to the ABC and to News Corp, to a government press release and to a viral social post, to a story we'd like to be true and one we'd rather wasn't. If a standard wouldn't hold up applied to the opposing side, it doesn't get published here. The mission is truth, not exposure — every breakdown ends with a clarity verdict, not a verdict against anyone.

The Honesty Check

Every single breakdown includes a section stating what cuts against the most likely conclusion — including the analyst's own. This is the step most analysis quietly skips. It's non-negotiable here.

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