JournalismFree tool
Check the attribution in your news draft
Paste your story and get every attribution checked against AP practice: loaded verbs flagged, unsourced facts marked, and said kept where it belongs.
Free to start · Opens in your River workspace, ready to edit and share
Why said is almost always right
Attribution tells readers how you know something, and the verb you choose also tells them what to think of it. Claimed hints the speaker may be wrong, admitted suggests a confession, and insisted suggests stubbornness. Noted and pointed out do the opposite, quietly endorsing the statement as fact. Said carries no judgement, which is why AP style treats it as the default and why repeating it is not a flaw.
There are honest exceptions. Asked fits a question. Wrote fits a letter, a post or a report. Testified fits sworn testimony, and announced fits a formal announcement. According to works well for documents and data. Each is right when it is more precise, not when it is chosen to avoid repetition. If a passage feels repetitive, vary the sentence structure instead of the verb.
Placement matters as much as the verb. Put attribution after the first sentence of a long quote, and attribute again whenever the speaker changes. Every fact a reader could doubt needs a source, whether a person, a document or the reporter's own observation. An illustrative fix: The repairs will cost $2 million becomes The repairs will cost $2 million, according to the city's contract with the builder.
How it works
River reads your news draft and checks every attribution: who said it, how the verb describes it, and whether a reader can tell where each fact came from. You get each problem listed with the original line and a suggested fix, from a loaded verb like claimed to a figure with no source at all, plus a clean copy with the fixes applied.
Most attribution advice online offers lists of words to use instead of said. News style runs the other way. AP prefers said because it is neutral and nearly invisible, and repeating it is correct. River suggests another verb only when it is more accurate, such as asked for a question or wrote for a written statement, and it never touches the words inside quotation marks.
It is for student reporters, freelancers, newsletter writers and anyone editing news copy who wants sourcing that is clear and fair. Run it on a full draft before it goes to an editor, or on a single paragraph you are unsure about.
Paste your draft
Paste the full story, a few paragraphs, or attach the file.
River checks each source
Every quote and fact is checked for who said it, the verb, and placement.
Review the fixes
Each problem comes with the original line and a suggested rewrite.
Finish in chat
Ask River to apply only the fixes you agree with, or to check names and titles.
What you get
- Every attribution in your draft checked, with each problem listed beside the original line
- Loaded or endorsing verbs such as claimed, admitted and noted flagged with a neutral fix
- Facts with no clear source marked, with a note on what kind of source each needs
- Quotes with an unclear speaker or late attribution repositioned so readers always know who is talking
- A clean copy with the fixes applied, and the words inside quotation marks never changed
Common questions
Isn't using said over and over repetitive?
Not to news readers. Said is so familiar that readers skim past it and focus on what was said. Swapping in stated, remarked or exclaimed draws attention to the verb and can imply a judgement. If a passage still feels repetitive, change the sentence structure, not the verb.
When is a verb other than said correct?
When it is more accurate: asked for a question, wrote for something written, testified for sworn testimony, announced for a formal announcement. Claimed and admitted are right only when the story is actually about a disputed claim or an admission, and even then many editors prefer said with the context spelled out.
Does River change my quotes?
No. Words inside quotation marks are never altered. River works only on the attribution around them: the verb, the speaker's name and title, and where the attribution sits. If a quote looks garbled or incomplete, it is flagged so you can check it against your recording.
What about anonymous sources?
River flags each unnamed source and checks that the draft says why the source was not named and how they know what they say. The SPJ Code of Ethics asks journalists to reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, and whose information cannot be obtained elsewhere.
Built by
Chandler Supple
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.