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The confidence meter on our stories, defined in full. What each level requires, what the number does not claim, and how it moves.
Confirmed, reported, unconfirmed and rumour are different things, and most coverage of Zambian entertainment treats them as the same thing. Versadence is how we keep them apart on the page, so that a reader can tell at a glance how much weight a claim can carry.
A number with no published definition is just an assertion with a decimal point. This page is the definition.
A primary source, or two or more independent sources that do not trace back to each other. A primary source means the people involved on the record, a document we have seen, or our own direct observation. Two outlets repeating the same single origin is one source, not two.
One credible source that we can name or characterise, and that we judge to be in a position to know. Reported means we believe it and have published it, and also that nobody has independently confirmed it yet.
The claim is circulating and is being treated as fact elsewhere, but no source we can point to stands behind it. We publish it labelled this way when the claim is already widespread enough that ignoring it would leave readers with nothing accurate to read.
Chatter only. No source, no document, no confirmation. Published as a claim that exists, never as a claim that is true, and only when the rumour itself has become the story.
The score within a level reflects how much evidence sits behind the claim relative to that level, not a probability of anything.
Versadence is a score from 0 to 100 that expresses how much evidence currently stands behind a specific factual claim in a story. It sits beneath the headline on stories where the evidence state is contested, developing, or worth stating plainly.
The score reflects VersaCorp Media's assessment of the evidence available to us at a point in time, and nothing else. It is a description of our sourcing, not a measurement of the world.
Every meter shows the date it last moved and the history of how it got there, so a reader can see whether a number is fresh or has been sitting unchanged for a year.
It is not a probability that any person did or did not do anything. A story can carry a low score because we cannot source it yet, and that says nothing whatsoever about whether the underlying claim is true or about the conduct of anyone named in it.
It is not a verdict, a finding, or an accusation. It is not a substitute for a court, a regulator, or an investigation, and it should not be read as anticipating what any of those would conclude.
It is not a vote. There is no reader input of any kind: no polling, no reactions, no crowd percentage, no aggregate sentiment. The meter cannot be moved by how many people believe something. Audience participation on this site is a separate feature covering future public events only, and the two are never combined.
It is not a rating of the person the story is about. It rates our own sourcing.
Versadence is applied to questions of fact that can actually be resolved. Did the collaboration happen. Was the contract signed. Is the tour confirmed. Did the label drop the artist. These are questions that have an answer and that evidence can settle.
We do not put a confidence meter on an unresolvable allegation about a person's private conduct. Attaching a percentage to a question that no available evidence can close would turn a sourcing note into a published guess about someone's character, which is precisely what this publication exists not to do.
Where a story concerns an allegation, the meter, if it appears at all, refers to a checkable surrounding fact such as whether a complaint was filed or whether a named party has responded. It never refers to whether the allegation is true.
Evidence moves the number. Opinion does not. A score changes when a new source is obtained, when a source is lost or retracts, when a document surfaces, when a party goes on the record, or when a claim is independently confirmed or disproved.
A score does not change because a story became popular, because someone complained, because an artist or their management asked, or because the newsroom changed its mind without new information.
Every movement is published with its date and the reason, in the "How this moved" block on the meter itself. A score that goes up or down without an entry explaining why is a bug.
Scores can fall as well as rise. A claim we labelled REPORTED that later fails to stand up is downgraded in public and the downgrade is dated, rather than the story being quietly deleted.
If you are named in a story carrying a Versadence meter and you believe the score, the label, or the underlying facts are wrong, write to versacorp@versaedits.com. Say which story, which claim, and what you say the position is.
We aim to respond within seven working days. New evidence is assessed on its merits and, where it changes the picture, the score moves and the movement is published with its date.
You may also submit a response for publication. Where the dispute is factual, we will carry your response alongside the story.
Where the meter records that a party was contacted and has not replied, that note is removed or updated as soon as a reply arrives. A stale note saying somebody has not responded, when they have, is itself an error and we treat it as one.
Questions about a score, or a correction to report? Write to versacorp@versaedits.com. The principles behind this are at Our standards, and published corrections are at Corrections.
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