Steve Lehto reports on a case where a lawyer submitted a case that used fake citations, as well as citations that did not mean what the case claimed. The court then incorporated the fake case law into ruling, including the AI hallucinations.
Building trust in media
Steve Lehto reports on a case where a lawyer submitted a case that used fake citations, as well as citations that did not mean what the case claimed. The court then incorporated the fake case law into ruling, including the AI hallucinations.
by Tim Langeman
In a recent blog post, I used my CiteIt Citation App to analyze quotes from Rachel Maddow’s July 30, 2024 show. (See Twitter thread) My investigation uncovered a troubling problem: Maddow’s portrayal of Donald Trump’s comments not only appeared to take his words out of context but may have deliberately misconstrued their meaning
Maddow’s producer, Steve Benen, had previously blogged that Trump isn’t literally telling Americans not to cast ballots, he’s instead arguing that he’s so wildly popular, receiving support from voters will be effortless as Election Day nears.
Yet just days later, Maddow warned viewers of what she called a “frightening truth”: “that He doesn’t think he needs to win the vote to win the election. He doesn’t think he needs to win the election in order to take power.
1
This stark discrepancy between Benen’s analysis and Maddow’s portrayal raises critical questions about accuracy and accountability in journalism.
While I don’t consider myself a journalist, I felt it was important to seek a correction and answers for the public’s benefit. On November 17, I emailed Maddow’s team the following three questions:
To date, I have not received a response. That’s why I’m now asking for your help to amplify these questions and encourage Maddow’s team to address them directly.
Walter Kirn recently spoke about a bygone era of “cowboy journalism”, when reporters adhered to a code of honor.
we’ve got honor when it comes to two things one we’re not out to hurt anybody we’re not out to hurt anybody who especially the weak we protect the weak right okay maybe we are out to hurt people who are hurting others you know cuz Cowboys do that too it’s like wait a second I’m gonna get that big bad blackheaded Rano yeah yeah yeah right we’re Cowboys and the other thing we’re not gonna do is We’re not gonna lie right because why should a cowboy lie he doesn’t claim to have anything but his horse his bed roll and his basic honor
Does today’s media have an equivalent code of honor? If you asked many Americans, I suspect their answer would be laughter, anger or tears.
Maddow’s episode is emblematic of the broader challenges facing modern media. When quotes are taken out of context or misrepresented, the repercussions are far-reaching:
This isn’t just about one show or one quote—it’s about the broader responsibility of media figures to present facts accurately and fairly. With great influence should come great accountability.
I want to hear your thoughts:
Is the time right for a conversation about how journalism can repent, become self policing, and restore a code of honor?
CiteIt is developing new digital tools that help combat misinformation and selective quotations.
These tools show the context surrounding the quoted media in order to build trust and understanding.
CiteIt Home | Demos | Try CiteIt | Blog | FAQ | About
Is Matt Taibbi’s article more persuasive to skeptics when it uses CiteIt’s Contextual Citations?
Rachel Maddow Show: Request for Comment Screenshot:
DEBUNKED: Rachel Maddow’s Misreading of Trump’s “We Don’t Need the Votes” (Full Context)
Twitter thread: https://x.com/CiteIt_net/status/1859470517901852718
If you have an example of a quote that you would like to be featured as a contextual demo, send an email to citeit@openpolitics.com, with:
(Poynter | Politifact) Note: The other allegedly misinterpreted quote concerned Trump telling voters they will never having to vote again (because Trump will allegedly end democracy) and took place in the context of Christians who don’t regularly vote in elections. The context of Trump’s you’ll never have to vote again is that Trump knows that these voters normally don’t vote but he is promising to make it worth it to vote because his changes will be fixes for the long term. ↩
by Tim Langeman
On July 30, 2024, Rachel Maddow alleged that the “frightening truth” is that when Trump said “We don’t need the votes,” he was suggesting he could seize power without winning the election:
He doesn’t think he needs to win the vote to win the election. He doesn’t think he needs to win the election in order to take power
But Maddow’s misconstrual depends on cherry-picked quotations that twist the meaning of Trump’s words. After reviewing the full context, it’s clear that in two of her five quotations, Trump was actually imploring his supporters to get out and vote! Had Maddow begun the clips 45 seconds before, her ‘frightening” clipped soundbites would not have supported her theory. Her own producer admitted the “theory” wasn’t true 4 days prior, saying that Trump isn’t literally telling Americans not to cast ballots, he’s instead arguing that he’s so wildly popular, receiving support from voters will be effortless as Election Day nears.
Here’s the truth behind those five misleading quotes
Contents:
Trump’s statement, “We don’t need the votes,” was not a call for a power grab but a reference to his belief that his popularity would ensure a win—unless there was significant cheating. The real focus of his remarks was not on undermining the election process but on guarding against alleged electoral fraud. Despite his lack of evidence, and the possibility he was setting up a scapegoat for his potential failure, the context here is crucial: Trump wasn’t saying “he doesn’t need to win the vote in order to win the election,” but was invoking the “bandwagon effect” — everyone can see that we’re winning. Look at all the yard signs! — and he was suggesting that the only remaining battle was against fraud, not voter turnout.
Click the quotes to play the videos and view the context for the 5 quotes cited by Maddow:
1. my instruction we don’t need the votes I have so many votes
Trump emphasizes the importance of poll both monitors to prevent cheating:
“They cheat on elections. They cheat. That’s what they do the best. They’re no good at policy. They’re no good on the border. They’re no good with the economy. But they cheat like hell. That’s what they’re good at. We have lawyers at every pole booth.”
Trump sees he is popular in Florida because all the yards sides say “Trump”.
“I’m in Florida now and I drove to another location yesterday and every house has a trump Vance sign on it”
2. We don’t need votes
Trump implores supporters to vote: “Go out. Get your family get your friends. Get everyone you know and vote. Vote early. Vote absentee. Vote on Election Day. But whatever you do you have to go out and vote. You have to vote.”
Trump also promotes protectthevote.com
3. I tell my people I don’t need any votes We got all the votes we need
.
Trump implores supporters to vote: “If you want to save America get your friends get your family and get everyone out to vote you got to go vote I’ll say it again and again vote [Applause] I’ll say it again and again — vote! Christians you gotta vote, and do it early if you want. You know do it early do it. Just do it. You got to vote! And watch your vote. Guard your vote, and follow your vote. Follow your vote.”
4. we don’t need votes we got more votes than anybody’s ever ever had
Trump implores supporters to prevent cheating: “We need to watch the vote. We need to guard the vote.” “Don’t worry about votes. We got all the votes. I was in Florida yesterday. Every house has a trump sign. Trump trump Trump trump. We have to we have to guard the vote”
5. you don’t have to vote don’t worry about voting the voting we got plenty of votes
We had plans for a New VA building, but the last election went astray. We need to prevent cheating:
“You got to watch election night. You know it used to be Election Day, election night. Now it’s election month. Now it’s election period, some of these things going for 53 days. It’s terrible we want to bring it back same day voting, paper ballots, right, voter ID”
by Tim Langeman
Several weeks ago, Walter Kirn and Matt Taibbi talked about the 60 minutes Kamala Harris interview “editing” scandal.
Walter said he avoids doing print interviews because his responses are easily taken out of context — they can take a statement you made and make it seem that it occurred in an entirely different context
I created the CiteIt App to build reader trust and understanding, by looking up a quote’s context when the writer provides a link to a webpage or video transcript.
You can view a real-life example of an article with contextual citations by reading Matt Taibbi’s Nord Stream pipeline article, as well as more examples further down this page.
Kamala Harris: The 2024 60 Minutes Interview
After the 60 minutes interview, Water Kirn declared that the 60 minutes television format is dead
because we can no longer assume the good faith of audience and integrity of the network
.
But its not just 60-minutes-style television that is troubled. Walter says he currently avoids print media because they can take a statement you made and make it seem that it occurred in an entirely different context than when you made it and there’s no way you know there’s no way for the audience to tell
When you expand one of Walter’s above quotes, you can see the roughly 30 seconds of video and the YouTube transcript.
Copernicus’s Heleocentric Model inspires a Source and Expertise centered Model
In a similar vein, journalist Ken Klippenstein is calling out the way “mainstream” media act as gatekeepers, putting themselves at the center of everything, much like humans used to believe the universe revolved around the earth. Klippenstein advocates a Copernican revolution for the news where media revolves around the source materials and expertise instead of other media commentary.
I majored in History before embarking on a career as a computer programmer, so this questioning of gatekeeping and the ad fontes philosophy (“back to the sources”) recalls my college Reformation History classes. Imagine if, in addition to the 60 minutes “director’s cut”, the show also published the Raw video of the interview.
Almost exactly 500 years ago, Europe was transformed by the mass reproduction of texts. Gutenberg’s printing press was invented in an environment receptive to reform, and was used to end the Catholic church’s monopoly on access to important texts. This new technology revolutionized society, politics, scholarship, and the church.
Institutions might not like to provide more transparency by re-centering the focus on the sources (and expertise), but what if this is a necessary reform required to establishing society’s “social contract” with media?
How might the path of reform or revolution be outlined?
Flemish printer’s shop, Impressio Librorum, Antwerp, 1580-1605 (British Museum, London)
Personally, I’ve been focused on the print revolution because it is easier to achieve results there in the short-term. You can see the contextual popups featured in this article as an early implementation of print reform.
As Walter Kirn suggested, would readers and writers be more likely to engage in media which is more complete, transparent and contextual:
I’d be interested in hearing Ken sketch out more of what he envisions a Copernican Revolution would look like.
I’m prioritizing work with “print”, but I’d like to describe how I imagine video would look like if the full contents of each camera were available, unless it has been explicitly and “transparently redacted.”1 This proposed video format would mean that 60 minutes would be transparent about the full version of:
Bill Whitaker: Interviewer, 60 minutes
The viewer could choose to watch the “director’s cut,” or toggle between cameras at their discretion. 2
Software could also be developed to simultaneously display multiple video sources from a crowd, taken from hundreds or thousands of camera view-points, aggregated on a map locatable from the camera’s GPS coordinates and orientation.
This sort of transparency of media fits well with the American sports tradition of instant replays where spectators can review the referees call and judge for themselves.
https://youtu.be/
I built the CiteIt App for writers in the belief that the inadequacies of the old model necessitate new tools to build reader trust and understanding. CiteIt makes it easy for writers to conveniently demonstrate a quote’s context:
Readers may want to use contextual citations because:
Readers may be curious about how the topic came up, even if there isn’t suspicion that the quote was taken out of context:
Many news reports quote Kamala as saying: I have a Glock
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first Inaugural Address is remembered for the line: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself
If you cite the source with CiteIt, the reader can explore the historical context, so that the quote lives on, connected to its historical context, rather than as a disconnected soundbite.
Isn’t it outrageous that this year at the 2024 Oscars, an Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer went on stage and said: Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness
. What a disgraceful thing to say!
No, the director of Zone of Interest did not disavow his Jewish identity at the Oscars (Vox)
CiteIt can be a convenient option for a writer who wants to show readers this contextual video and transcript, without having to devote the time and screen real estate to provide a contextual background.
A lot of the media carried a quote in which Donald Trump says: if I don’t get elected it’s going to be a blood bath
. Television is seldom able to present the whole context of a quote, given space limitations and incentives for soundbites and sensationalism.
Substack writers could exploit this flaw because CiteIt enables interested readers to have the option of pursuing a quote’s context without commandeering the attention of all viewers.
In his inaugural address John F. Kennendy said ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
What else did Kennedy’s famous inaugural address say?
Rabbi David Wolpe:
I think that Judaism has the same problem that any thick civilization has in a world in which as you say context is stripped away and not only is context stripped away but but attention to any one thing is is scanter and less than it used to be
the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters
Authors who cite a quotation should share the context from the most complete video they can, rather than a short clip. Snopes described Trump’s rhetoric as violent but concluded that he did not threaten Cheney. In a second Trump term, one can expect writers have the need to easily contextualize those they are critiquing. This is how an excerpt of Mary Trump’s post could be mocked up using CiteIt:
“Last night, in conversation with fascist and Russian stooge Tucker Carlson, the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States said this about Liz Cheney, somebody he considers a political enemy:”
Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.
Article: Did Trump threaten Liz Cheney with Firing Squad?
Snopes did an article about Trump denying that he would be a dictator except for day one
.
Its not just out-of context quotations that prompt inspection, Readers may be curious about quotes like David Whyte’s quote on poetry:
I always say that poetry is language against which you have no defenses.
It’s not just out-of-context quotations. Contextual citations can be used to surface related, sometimes humorous material. After the Trump-Harris debate, the internet responded with songs and remixes of the Trump line
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: .. And I’ll tell you something, he’s going to talk about immigration a lot tonight even when it’s not the subject that is being raised. And I’m going to actually do something really unusual and I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies because it’s a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams, and your, your desires. And I’ll tell you, I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first. And I pledge to you that I will.
DAVID MUIR: Let me just ask, though, why did you try to kill that bill and successfully so? That would have put thousands of additional agents and officers on the border.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: First let me respond as to the rallies. She said people start leaving. People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s busing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So, she can’t talk about that. People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That’s because people want to take their country back. Our country is being lost. We’re a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War 3, just to go into another subject. What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs
. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats
. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there
. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame. As far as rallies are concerned, as far — the reason they go is they like what I say. They want to bring our country back. They want to make America great again. It’s a very simple phrase. Make America great again. She’s destroying this country. And if she becomes president, this country doesn’t have a chance of success. Not only success. We’ll end up being Venezuela on steroids.
Source: ABC News Transcript
One curiosity-provoking point Gladwell made was that there are no bad neighborhoods there only bad blocks
. By this Gladwell meant that crime is concentrated in small areas (blocks), which require a concentrated response, rather than a blanket “stop and frisk” policy that affects whole neighborhoods.
My thesis is that the journalists who differentiate themselves, including by sourcing transparency and accountability, are the most likely to regain trust:
In an interview on Rising, Matt Taibbi said how does science recover from this how do you regain trust and it’s similar to what happens in journalism after an episode like for instance the WMD affair or even Russia gate I would argue uh you know once the public is betrayed and they see that they’ve been betrayed it’s very hard to win that trust back and in science it’s it’s the same thing
The New York Times doesn’t feel the need to be transparent or accountable:
Judith Miller says the New York Times found that the paper had lacked skepticism
, but they did not interview any of the editors or name specific reporters as responsible.
Miller disagrees that there was insufficient skepticism, but that we were accurately conveying wrong information
.
In a hearing on the weaponization of government, Congressional Delegate Stacy Plaskett took issue with Robert F. Kennedy’s statements about Covid 19 vaccinations saying: this is not the kind of free speech that I know of
I can imagine Matt Taibbi or Michael Shellenberger putting this quote in one of their stories. Contextually citing the video, makes a “money quote” golden:
With CiteIt, writers can evoke the Jack Nicholson line:
You can’t handle the truth
! — by pulling in the context from a YouTube video.
Do you remember the context in which Wesley tells Inigo: Get used to disappointment
?
I think I’ve heard this quote been alluded to, but with the emphasis on restoration rather than trauma:
Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century.
Song lyrics or podcast audio can be quoted in print media. With CiteIt, they can be transparently demonstrated and writer, Substack and musician can profit from any affiliate sales.
Why do they still call it “New” York? It has been around for ages.
Phisto Sobanii: Here’s an explainer, Hamish!
even old New York was once New Amsterdam
why they change it I can’t say people
just like it better that way
While most people have heard that Trump said there were very fine people on both sides
in Charlottesville, many have not heard the full context, in which he also said:
You had people and I’m not talking about the neo-nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally but you had many people in that group other than neo-nazis and white nationalists okay and the press has treated them absolutely unfairly
In an interview with The Young Turks, Ken described the FBI agent who visited him over the JD Vance dossier as a young blond guy who might have tripped over his umbilical cord on the way over [and] looked stumped when I asked him what the point of the visit was
.
P.S. I’d like to see Substack add contextual citations to both Articles and Notes. This would create “Twitter” with context! (example)
Softballs: Lex Fridman has become the tech CEO interviewer of (the CEOs’) choice,
Bloomberg reports:
Why risk putting an executive in front of an incisive journalist when there’s a gentler route?
I’m interested in hearing feedback on Solutions to Reform Journalism and Contextual Citations.
Email me your feedback, leave comments below, or reply on Twitter.
In a “transparent redaction” of a video clip, the start time and end time of redacted video is declared, including from what camera angle. In the missing 18.5 minutes of Nixon tape 342, we can download and listen to the gap recording. This would make it easy to compare camera angles for an event, as well as construe the contours of what is being withheld↩
Another high-stakes example of cherry-picked evidence occurred when the US alleged that the Soviet Union knowingly shot down a civilian plain, omitting the part of the tape that contradicted their argument.↩
Note: My App is currently subscribed to a YouTube transcription service that enables writers to pull in the context of video transcripts but I’m not subscribed to scrapers for the New York Times or Twitter. I can add these subscriptions if there is interest.↩
by Tim Langeman
Do you know about Ken Klippenstein’s philosophy of bringing the receipts?
Here’s a short 1.5-minute video that outlines the concept, and the next step in its implementation.
Take a look at these three mockups and let me know what you think. If you’re interested, I can even do a demo of the current WordPress implementation.
My goal is to get feedback from readers and writers before I pitch it to Substack, with the goal of making the feature available to all Substack writers.
Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay was NATO’s first Secretary General. He once said that NATO was created to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.
Admiral Kirby said: There’s no excuse for these kinds of documents to be in the public domain, they don’t deserve to be in the public domain
Isn’t it outrageous that this year at the 2024 Oscars, an Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer went on stage and said: Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness
. What a disgraceful thing to say!
No, the director of Zone of Interest did not disavow his Jewish identity at the Oscars (Vox)
I think that Judaism has the same problem that any thick civilization has in a world in which, as you say, context is stripped away. And not only is context stripped away, but attention to any one thing is scanter and less than it used to be.
Judith Miller says the New York Times found that the paper had lacked skepticism
, but they did not interview any of the editors or name specific reporters as responsible.
Miller disagrees that there was insufficient skepticism, but that we were accurately conveying wrong information
.
Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” draws its title, in part from a line where the books’s main character, Elizabeth says: I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.
With CiteIt, writers can evoke the Jack Nicholson line:
You can’t handle the truth
! — by pulling in the context from a YouTube video.
Delegate Stacy Plaskett said: this is not the kind of free speech that I know of
A lot of the media carried a quote in which Donald Trump says: if I don’t get elected it’s going to be a blood bath
.
In Racket News, Matt Taibbi described a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” in which “TV News Won’t Identify Defense Lobbyists” who are identified by their former government titles.
In the Ukraine War, former General Jack Keane went on Fox News, “applauding $800 million” in spending, “saying areas like the Donbass are very conducive to armor operations
, which surely has nothing to do with the fact that he served for years as chair of armored vehicle maker AM General.”
Anthony Kennedy in “Citizens United” arguing that corporations should be allowed to spend unlimited money in elections because they have valuable information to contribute to the debate:
Corporations have lots of knowledge about environment, transportation issues, and you are silencing them during the election.
This week when the world really got to see how robust our democracy is our 81 year old Senate minority leader one of the most powerful people in the entire country freezes for 20 seconds on camera
Trump and I were both born and raised in New York City you know he has that New York Swagger about him that I can relate to I feel comfortable with that kind of bravado that he has
Over 60 of the break-ins come through the front door so I guess that this is why labors steel door started out is because they got fed up and getting break-ins with a local area they wanted something that was reliable affordable and robust and that lasted time I see
I was surprised that Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” had a staff person call show sponsors to ask permission to make fun of them:
There was a certain person who was in charge of if the show wanted to make fun of a corporate sponsor or someone under the umbrella of one of the corporate sponsors, this person who worked for the Daily Show would call that company and try to convince them it’s cool to be made fun of. It’s okay to be made fun of on the Daily Show. The clear implication was if that company says no, it’s not getting on there. So imagine the level of corporations that are somehow tied to Viacom, Comcast, all of those, every entity. If they don’t want to be made fun of on the Daily Show, then they’re not going to be. Well, then the Daily Show can’t critique half of what owns this country.
by Tim Langeman
(Click on grey YouTube quote below to view contextual citation)
Emily Jashinsky: The state department alleged that you had taken things out of context and actually they you know threw a whole bunch of accusations against you as a journalist how do you respond to their the substance of their arguments to discredit you
CiteIt enables responsible authors to demonstrate quote context and earn reader trust.
If they accuse you of taking things out of context use a tool like CiteIt to, demonstrate the context of your quotations and challenge them to match your level of transparency!
Can the NYTimes or the State Department match this level of transparency?
Next Steps:
by Tim Langeman
(This video is a placeholder until after the script has been finalized and recorded)
In an increasingly polarized world, how can independent media buck the trend of:
Take for example, this piece that Matt Taibbi and Matt Orfalea did about the Nord Steam pipelines bombing. — a piece which challenges the Overton Window (what is considered politically acceptable to say). When I shared this article with friends, I found that the less politically-aligned readers experienced barriers that prevented them from accepting Taibbi’s thesis 1234.
To help inform readers and build trust, I’ve developed CiteIt — a citation app that looks up a quote’s context when the quote has been linked to a web source.
If you scroll down this page, you can click on the “Majority Report’s” suggestion that independent writers need editors so they can avoid the type of mistakes that gatekeepers like Mehdi Hassan have charged Taibbi with.
Life is unfair. Typos are bound to happen, as are misrepresentations of mistakes and one can’t always reach all subsequently misinformed partisans.5 A productive response is to innovate, defending one’s record, 6 and demonstrating a higher standard of transparency 7 that discloses conveniently a quote’s context in a way that is not possible in print or television, and which mainstream media will find difficult to match. 8
See what a demo of Taibbi’s Nord Stream article looks like after I manually linked the sources, enabling CiteIt to look up the context, and pull from an auto-generated YouTube transcript.
CiteIt is not a panacea. 9 The potential of quotations to be taken out of context constantly undermines authors seeking to use quotations to challenge and inform their readers. By using CiteIt’s contextual citations, Substack could,
I propose that Substack try CiteIt first with Long-form Articles, and if this is successful add the feature across the Substack product line:
To see the Nord Stream Demo article for yourself, click the green button underneath the video.
A footnoted transcript of this video is also available.
Despite an excellent video by Matt Orfalea and Matt Taibbi’s 29 quotations ↩
I really like Matt Orfalea’s video, which I recall preceded the article, but this video format is designed to tell a story and can’t provide enough context to satisfy skeptics. When I did a usability test of my demo article, I also found that a significant number of readers skipped the video and went straight to the article. That’s why my demo integrated contextual video with the article. I know at this point that readers haven’t been introduced to CiteIt, so that they don’t know what to expect, but my hope is that contextual citations eventually become conventional for readers.↩
Taibbi didn’t actually argue that the US was responsible for the bombing and his thesis was pretty well undeniable.↩
Taibbi’s thesis was:
There are bound to be people left with the mistaken impression that the typos Mehdi misrepresented were serious. ↩
Create a canonical response that you can refer back to, rather than having to rehash it.↩
This would be a way to play offense —build something better, rather than being defensive.↩
MSNBC may have a louder voice with those who watch television, but Substack writers have the potential to be more authoritative on many issues because mainstream media is limited by the Overton window and captured by its advertisers and sources. (yes, this is a generalization) ↩
To be sure, there are reasons that not all sources — like “Deep Throat” or Seymour Hersh’s Nord Stream pipeline source/s can be disclosed. CiteIt is for stories where greater disclosure is possible↩
I saved a copy of a Slide that outlines Proposed Next Steps. ↩
A higher-quality alternative to Twitter and Threads, that differentiates Substack.↩
Make it easy to cite Video within Long-form Articles and Notes. Videos must support auto-transcription.↩
Make it easy to cite Podcasts within Long-form Articles and Notes. Transcript support would need to be added. Podcasts have RSS Support. (Historic.ly) ↩
by Tim Langeman
A) Watch this Video first: (This video is a placeholder until I finalize and record my script)
C) Below: Items #1-5
Many Substack writers, such as Matt Taibbi and Matt Orfalea, stretch the Overton Window (what is considered politically acceptable to say) 1
Unfortunately, while Racket News’s existing subscribers are receptive to it, when it is shared with others, it meets resistance that prevents Substack outlets like Racket News from broadening their subscriber base. 2
I’ve developed the CiteIt Citation App to address 3 stumbling blocks faced by Substack writers:
they pretend that they’re being censored when in reality they just don’t want editors but they need them
Let’s look at an example article — Matt Taibbi’s Nord Stream article — containing what I call “naked quotations” — that is quotations that have no surrounding context.8. These type of quotations are regarded with suspicion by non-aligned non-subscribers.
Now, lets see the same article, only with the writer using CiteIt to:
CiteIt Looks up Linked quotations:
Video and Transcript have been looked up from link: (right side popup: “Quote Context by CiteIt.net”)
Using the current WordPress implementation of CiteIt, the plugin adds 2 custom buttons to the editor.
The writers click on the “CiteIt inline popup button”, and paste in the source URL just like a traditional editor “link” button. 11
Add 2 CiteIt buttons to Editor:
The Writer enters the link URL after they select the quote and click the “CiteIt inline popup” button
Then when the article is published, the CiteIt plugin locates all the cited web sources and YouTube video transcripts.1213
The CiteIt webservice then finds the 500 characters of context before and after the quote and saves that information to display when the reader requests it.
Contextual citations are about more than policing cherry-picked quotes or disinformation. Contextual Citations give readers a better understanding of the source. This can clearly be seen when readers are able to dive into the context surrounding quotes like The only thing we have to fear is “fear itself
“.
I want Substack to establish a reputation for a higher standard of transparency and trust in media by:
If I aim higher, I will know we’ve been maximally successful when I hear the concept of contextual citations discussed in general conversation:17
I anticipate that I would best be able to realize my vision for contextual citations by working with Substack. CiteIt technology could be deployed first for long-form writing22, and later across the platform:
D) Next:
Watch Video: How to Create Contextual Citations using the WordPress Plugin
Documentation: how to use the WordPress plugin
username: public password: demo22
In a world that is increasingly partisan and censorious.↩
By resistance I include resistance from non-subscribers who may experience cognitive dissonance with the work, resistance in the form of being too busy or dismissive to investigate the claims, and resistance from gatekeepers.↩
Sometimes skepticism is a rationalization when an article is shared with people who are non-aligned politically. The non-subscriber may face cognitive dissonance when their political views don’t align with a work.↩
A friend of mine who I shared the Nord Stream article with, initially balked for partisan reasons because he had been told that Matt Taibbi was “right-wing” for associating with Elon Musk.↩
I do not think CiteIt is a panacea, but it can be emphasized that the writer is referencing sources and has made it easy for readers to inspect them. ↩
See Mehdi Hassan’s “nitpicking”, which had the effect of gatekeeping for the “CIC” (Censorship Industrial Complex) over the Twitter Files↩
In a hearing on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” Stacey Plaskett, Virgin Island Democratic Delegate threatened Matt Taibbi with up to 5 years in prison for “perjury.”↩
I really like Matt Orfalea’s video, which I recall preceded the article, but this video format is designed to tell a story and can’t provide enough context to satisfy skeptics. When I did a usability test of my demo article, I found that a significant number of readers skipped the video and went straight to the article. That’s why my demo integrated contextual video with the article. I know at this point, readers haven’t been introduced to CiteIt, so they don’t know what to expect, but my hope is that this becomes conventional for readers..↩
The WordPress implementation add a special button that writers use to link to their source↩
When an article is published, CiteIt follows the link and looks up the source’s context↩
My goal is to make it as easy to create a contextual link as it is to create a standard link.↩
To be sure, it is currently possible to embed video in articles, but this takes up space and breaks up the flow of the article. The other option is to create a link that sends the reader to a new page. CiteIt keeps the reader within the article and automates the process of looking up and displaying the context.↩
You can see how contextual YouTube citations are implemented in HTML on the homepage.↩
Quotes, such as the FDR quote (above) about “fear itself” can convey much more information to the reader when context is added, particularly when videos are used.↩
Readers who can easily verify quotes are more like to understand and trust a writer that makes themselves more accountable to inspection.↩
I would anticipate that Substack writers could use CiteIt’s contextual citations as a marketing point that demonstrates the higher standard of transparency that they employ, which the mainstream press will have a hard time matching.↩
I’m using this term of “contextual citations” as a generic way to describe citations that show readers the context of a text, audio, or video, that doesn’t require the reader to follow a link in which they leave the original work.↩
I hope readers recognize that innovation is coming via Substack and independent writers. Make sure to claim credit for it! ↩
Or whatever you want to name the concept of quotes that do not show their context↩
The difference between a “cherry picked” quotation and a “naked quote is that a cherry-picked quote is deliberately selected to be misrepresentative, while a “naked quotation” is a quotation that does not contain context. Naked quotations need not be deceptive. Rather they are opaque to the reader↩
Ideally, I would want to hear the concept of contextual citations associated with the entire Substack platform: including notes, podcasts, and video ↩
I saved a copy of a Slide that outlines Proposed Next Steps ↩
CiteIt could help differentiate Substack Notes from Twittter and Threads ↩
CiteIt could make it easy for anyone on Substack to embed a contextual quote of a podcast or video ↩
Adding CiteIt support for podcasts would require adding transcription support.↩
It appears that Substack podcasts have RSS Summaries, but are not completely transcribed. (Historic.ly)
↩
CiteIt currently supports YouTube, but could be expanded to support Substack Video, Vimeo, and other formats if it added transcription support.↩
by Tim Langeman
I just got finished listening to Matt Taibbi’s podcast with Walter Kirn from July 7 that discusses the Missouri v. Biden Court ruling in which Biden appointees requested that social media companies censor so-called “disinformation” on a wide variety of topics. 1
Co-host Walter Kirn speculated that this “censorship industrial complex” will not end with a court loss, but once established, may seek to work around new constraints.
So what are independent journalists to do to counter this new concentration of power?
I’ve been working on an App called CiteIt that may help with this ..
Is this Nord Stream bombing article Disinformation?
Episode 46 of America This Week got me wondering about whether possible US involvement in the Nord Stream bombing was also on the official social media censorship/suppression list?
Is the censorship status of Nord Stream pipeline something that can be checked? A quick google search suggests that such a status is plausible:
There are a variety of ways of addressing this censorship issue, but rather that addressing the issue narrowly, I’d like to expand our conception of the problem beyond just the Twitter-style public-private “collaborative censorship” (my euphemism) to the general category of “elite gatekeeping,” which can include all manner of conventional and unconventional acts designed to manipulat information and attack opponents.
I consider the work of delegate Stacey Plaskett and MSNBC journalist Mehdi Hassan to counter Matt Taibbi’s work on the Twitter File as a broader form of “elite gatekeeping,” which tried to protect the Democratic party from embarrassment and perhaps deter journalists from exposing abuse of of power.
Even if no backchannel continues to exist between the government and Twitter, elites will still likely gatekeep in an effort to counter people that undermine their power..
So given that the threat of elite gatekeeping (in the form of Plaskett – Hassan) will continue to exist even if the government is disentangled from social media moderation/censorship, how can independent media counter “Elite Gatekeeping?”
One way is by “showing up” the establishment media by demonstrating more trustworthy practices, such as superior citation transparency.
Take the following example of Matt Taibbi’s Nord Stream pipeline bombing article whose thesis is hard to deny.
Could this article be presented in a way that is more persuasive and harder to attack as disinformation? I believe so, using CiteIt’s contextual citations.
Although a motivated reader could track down the original quote contexts, a skeptical rider is not likely to verify, and thus not trust the quotes, especially if they perceive the writer has a different partisan alignment.
Below is what Matt Taibbi’s original article looked like originally, without the quotations being linked to their context.
If you think as a partisan skeptic, one might suspect that the quotes are taken out of context and remain unpersuaded.
Before: (screenshot)
Original Article: We will bring an end to it
Compare the above example with what Matt Taibbi’s article looks like after quotes are linked to their sources.
This example simulates what the article would look like if the writer linked to YouTube videos, so that CiteIt can lookup and conveniently display a popup with the video and transcript context for the reader.
After: (screenshot)
Contextual Popup: view linked video and transcript
The goal of CiteIt is to help writers earn the trust of readers by making it as easy for writers to create contextual quotes as it is to create a normal link.
CiteIt automates the process of constructing a contextual popup from a web source or YouTube video URL.
The range of agencies requesting censorship was wide, even including the census agency.↩
by Tim Langeman
On the All-In podcast this week, the hosts reviewed Google Bard AI’s answers to questions about themselves:
David Friedberg read Bard’s answers and David Sacks responded: So the question is where is he getting these quotes and then why doesn’t it give citations?
This problem with Bard’s citations highlights an important issue with how human writers function, whether on Substack or elsewhere:
I expect the AI to improve dramatically, including the ability to cite sources, but when current writers create something, I assume we want writers to cite their sources themselves. (AI may be useful for suggesting possible sources for existing publications) :
I speculate that, in the future, a significant portion of the revenue of organizations like the Associated Press and Reuters’ will come from being a trusted primary source that are embedded by other content creators or AI.
There is a real need for sources to supply transcripts, audio, and video that readers and content creators can trust, in a media landscape that may contain slanted, buggy, and deep faked content.
Photo: Matt Taibbi, during Occupy Wall Street, Wikimedia Commons
Substack writer and journalist Matt Taiibbi (CiteIt demo article) has recently faced criticism from Virgin Islands congressional delegate Stacy Plaskett, including threats of prison time. Likewise MSNBC host Mehdi Hassan attacked (or nitpicked with) Taibbi’s coverage of the Twitter files. Both critics seem to function as gatekeepers, defending establishment interests that are threatened by exposure of the government’s allegedly close involvement with Twitter content moderation/censorship.
Briahna Joy Gray commented on delegate Plaskett‘s letter to Taibbi:
It seems very clear that this kind of a letter is an effort to threaten and coerce and punish Taibbi for giving testimony that was inconvenient to the Democratic party and that’s a real problem and it’s exactly what Lee Fong has been warning of this whole time and while he why he’s treated the characterization of Matt’s remarks during that Congressional hearing so seriously saying that it’s not it’s it’s not okay this isn’t just like a Tit for Tat accusing someone of lying
In many of these situations, it is vital that readers/viewers are able to consult the original text/video/transcripts, but writers don’t always want to interrupt the flow of their article.
This is why it is so important that CiteIt makes it easy to :
I’ve tried in the past to get local and national newspapers and magazines to use CiteIt. I now suspect that legacy media institutions don’t currently perceive themselves to have the financial incentives (or perhaps the technological or organizational ability) to implement contextual citations. Part of this is may be because legacy institutions don’t currently seem to perceive how bad the trust deficit is.
By contrast, independent media seems to understand how dire the trust deficit is.
The key value proposition that CiteIt’s contextual citations offer to all parties is:
gain transparency into sources so they can trust writer’s content and gain understanding.
build greater reader trust and defend against gatekeeping critics,
set a standard for transparency that legacy institutions will find hard to match:
potentially monetize content by paying quoted on-platform and external creators as part of “Substack paid sources program.”
The Des Moines Register offers valuable information about Iowa, which is particularly valuable during election season, but these surplus readers are unlikely to pay for a regular subscription.↩