How Swisher Post reports, verifies and publishes: our sourcing rules, our use of photographs and AI, and the standards we hold ourselves to.
Who we are
Swisher Post is a South African news publication owned and operated by I WISH U WUD Publications (Pty) Ltd, a private company registered in South Africa (registration number 2019/597681/07) and based in Cape Town. We are independently owned. No political party, government body, church or outside investor holds a stake in this publication or a say in what we publish.
Andile Sicetsha is the founder, publisher and editor. He is responsible for everything published here. Partnerships and advertising are handled separately from the newsroom by our partnerships department, which has no say in editorial decisions.
What we publish
We cover South African news, crime and courts, sport, entertainment, lifestyle and the daily utilities our readers use, including lottery results. We publish news reports, explainers, reviews, opinion and podcasts. Opinion is labelled as opinion. Anything we did not report ourselves is attributed to the publication or person that did.
The standard we hold ourselves to
We write and edit to the Code of Ethics and Conduct for South African Print and Online Media, the code administered by the Press Council of South Africa. We are not currently a subscriber member of the Press Council, so complaints about our journalism come to us directly, using the process on our corrections page. We apply the Code’s standards to our own work whether or not a complaint is ever made.
The Code’s core requirement is that news shall be presented in context and in a balanced manner, without any intentional or negligent departure from the facts. That is the test we hold each story to.
How we report
Verification
We publish what we can verify. Every factual claim is attributed to a named person, an official statement, a document, or a named publication that reported it first.
Single sources
Breaking news often starts with one source, usually the police, a court, a government department or another outlet. Where a story rests on a single source, we say so plainly in the copy and we do not present an unconfirmed claim as established fact. We update the story as more information is confirmed.
Anonymous sources
We prefer people on the record. Where a source cannot be named because of a real risk to their safety or livelihood, we explain in the story why the source is not named, and the editor knows who they are. We protect confidential sources.
Right of reply
Where a story makes a serious allegation against a person or an organisation, we approach them for comment before publishing and we say in the story whether they responded.
Suspects and victims
We do not name people who have not appeared in court unless the police have released the name or there is a clear public interest. We do not identify survivors of sexual offences, and we do not identify children involved in crime, court proceedings or trauma.
Crediting other newsrooms
When we build on another outlet’s reporting, we name that outlet in the copy and link to it. We do not pass off other people’s work as our own.
Photographs and video
Most of our photographs come from official sources, from the people involved, or from social media posts that are publicly available and relevant to the story. Every image carries a credit naming the owner and, where applicable, the platform it came from.
AI-generated images. We use AI-generated illustrations only for re-enactments and scene illustrations where no photograph exists. These images never depict identifiable real people, and they are never presented as a photograph of a real event. We do not use AI to alter news photographs.
AI in our newsroom
We use AI tools for research, drafting, editing and production. Every story is checked and published by a named human editor who is responsible for its accuracy. AI does not decide what we cover, and no story is published without human review. Where AI has produced an illustration, the image is credited as such.
Corrections
We correct our mistakes quickly and visibly. The full process, including how to ask for a correction, is on our corrections page.
Independence and money
We are funded mainly by advertising. Advertisers, sponsors and commercial partners have no influence over what we report or how we report it. Sponsored and branded content is labelled as such, and is never presented as independent editorial. Our funding is set out in full on our ownership and funding page.
Dignity, discrimination and harm
We report on race, gender, sexuality, religion, disability and nationality only where it is relevant to the story. We do not publish hate speech. We treat bereaved families, survivors and vulnerable people with care, and we do not publish gratuitous detail or graphic images where a warning and a plain description would do.
Plagiarism and copyright
We do not plagiarise. Our own work is protected by copyright, and the terms for using it are in our privacy policy and terms.
Contact
Editorial: [email protected]
Corrections: [email protected]
Advertising and partnerships: [email protected]
I WISH U WUD Publications (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa.
Last updated: 27 September 2026