News
A news story is built for one event at one time. The writer's job is to tell you what they know about that event, attribute it to sources, and publish before competitors. Speed is the headline value. Re-checking is usually downstream.
Conflict intelligence
A conflict intelligence record is built to be read together with hundreds of other records. The writer's job is to fit one event into a larger structure: which actors are involved, which prior events does it connect to, what confidence rating is justified by the available sources, what claims are pending verification. The value is in the structure.
Practical implication
- News tells you what happened. Conflict intelligence tells you how much we know about what happened.
- News updates per event. Conflict intelligence updates per record — the same event can be revised days or weeks later as evidence accumulates.
- A conflict intelligence record cites its news sources. The reverse is rarely true.