Toggle Daily · Methodology
An event's label is reported, contested, or developing. The label measures one thing. It shows how much of the event's reporting is corroborated, how much is disputed, and how much is incomplete. The label does not measure how large the event is, how many people it affects, or how long it will matter.
The amount of coverage an event receives and the state of its reporting are different quantities, and they often point in different directions. In the first hours of a disaster, casualty counts change between briefings. Officials revise figures. A court ruling can be appealed the same afternoon it is issued. An event can lead every front page while its central numbers are still moving. Toggle measures the state of the reporting separately from the volume of coverage so that the uncertainty stays visible.
This is why a small local event can carry the reported label while a major international event carries contested. The local event's few facts are corroborated. The international event's key numbers are in dispute. The labels describe the evidence, not the stakes.
The software checks two things across the coverage. It checks whether the accounts agree and whether enough independent outlets carry them. An event earns the reported label when its core facts hold across outlets that are reporting independently rather than republishing a single feed. An event moves to contested when coverage differs in a way that could leave a reader with the wrong conclusion. That includes different figures, timelines, or accounts of the same event, and wording that changes what a reader would take away. An event stays at developing when there is not enough independent coverage to classify it. When new coverage is published, the label can move in either direction. A contested toll can resolve when outlets converge on one number, and a reported event can become contested when a later account disputes it.
Toggle does not decide which outlet is correct when accounts diverge. It records what has been corroborated, what has been disputed, and what is incomplete. The full definitions are on Reported, contested, developing. How independent corroboration is counted is on How corroboration is counted.