How Citizen Spin researches
Where the sources for a Citizen Spin essay come from, in the order I work through them, and the checks before anything goes on air.
This is the guide I use before making a Citizen Spin essay. It is built around the access I have: a Hennepin County Library card, New York Public Library databases when I am in the city, and a few possible subscriptions. I publish it because the method is part of the promise. If you want to check my work, these are the same doors.
Per-topic workflow
Work from the original document outward, so every claim in the video traces to something a viewer can open. Aggregators and commentary come last, not first.
- Frame the question. Write the issue as one question and list the three or four sub-questions a series would answer. Note what would change my mind.
- Find the primary source. The bill, ruling, filing, dataset, transcript or report the story is about. If I cannot find it, that is itself a finding.
- Map the coverage. Use Ground News or AllSides to see who covered it, who ignored it, and how the framing differs left, centre and right.
- Read the deep reporting. Library databases for the paywalled papers, investigative outlets, and the wire copy that everyone else rewrote.
- Find the experts. Academic search, think-tank reports from both sides, and polling. Record each expert's affiliation.
- Collect real quotes. From transcripts only, with timestamps and links, never from memory or a model's summary.
- Verify before recording. Fact-checkers, archived versions, and a second source for every number.
- Log the sources. Keep a source list per topic so the series can be corrected as new information arrives.
Library access
The two libraries together cover nearly every paywalled national paper, the wire services, Congress, and the academic journals.
A full NYPL card requires living or working in New York State, so from Minnesota the NYPL resources below are ones I use on site during trips, with a visitor card; "From home" for NYPL rows assumes a full card. Neither library offers Nexis Uni or LexisNexis. Westlaw is in-library only at Hennepin.
Other routes worth knowing
- Media Cloud is a free archive of open-web news that charts how coverage of an issue rises and falls over time.
- University of Minnesota libraries let walk-in visitors use most licensed databases on library computers.
- Independent journalists can get discounted LexisNexis access through the Hatch Institute, or through the Institute for Nonprofit News for member newsrooms.
| Resource | Card | What it covers | From home? |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Newsstream | Both | Full text of NYT, WSJ, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, CNN wires and hundreds of regional papers, 1980s to today. First stop for paywalled national coverage. | Yes |
| Global Newsstream | NYPL | Same for international papers | Yes |
| PressReader | Both | Today's issues of about 7,000 papers and magazines, 90-day backfile. Same-day access. | Yes |
| New York Times full text | Hennepin | Articles back to 1857 via eJournals; page images 2008 on (60 to 90 day delay) and 1851 on minus the last four years | Yes |
| NYTimes.com live site | NYPL | Current site, all content | Branch Wi-Fi only |
| Wall Street Journal | Hennepin | Page images 2008 on, 60 to 90 day delay | Yes |
| Star Tribune | Hennepin | Full text 1986 to today via America's News; page images 1867 on in-library only | Yes / in-library |
| St. Paul Pioneer Press | Hennepin | Full text 1988 on | Yes |
| Minnesota Newspapers | Hennepin | Minnesota print and online papers, blogs and broadcast transcripts, 1986 on | Yes |
| Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub | Hennepin | Minnesota papers 1849 to present, Minnesota Historical Society | Yes |
| Newspapers.com | NYPL | 300 million+ pages of historical papers | Yes |
| ProQuest Historical Newspapers | Both | U.S. and international collections from home; the Metro set (NYT, WSJ, Post, Tribune page images) is NYPL in-library | Mostly |
| ProQuest Congressional | Hennepin | Bills, hearings, reports and other Congress publications, 1789 on | Yes |
| CQ Magazine and CQ Researcher | Hennepin | Congress coverage since 1983; issue briefs with pro and con since 1923 | Yes |
| Gale Opposing Viewpoints, Points of View | Hennepin | Pro and con essays on social issues. Useful for mapping the arguments, not as sources. | Yes |
| JSTOR | Both | Scholarly journals and books, humanities and social sciences | Yes |
| Academic Search Premier, EBSCO MegaFILE, Gale General OneFile | Hennepin | Scholarly and general periodicals since the 1970s and 1980s | Yes |
| EBSCOhost (30+ databases), Academic OneFile, Project Muse | NYPL | Scholarly and trade periodicals | Yes |
| ProQuest One Global Studies, ProQuest One History | NYPL | Government documents and archival primary sources | Yes |
| Social Explorer | Hennepin | Census and demographic maps and charts back to 1790 | Yes |
| ABI/INFORM, Business Source Premier, Mergent | Hennepin | Company, industry and market data | Yes |
| Westlaw | Hennepin | Minnesota and U.S. cases, statutes, court rules | In-library only |
| HeinOnline | NYPL | Law journals and legal history; access level unconfirmed | Check |
Also in Minneapolis: the Hennepin County Law Library is free to use in person and carries ProQuest Newsstand, the Star Tribune and Minnesota Lawyer.
Sources: Hennepin online resources, NYPL A-Z databases, NYPL remote news guide.
Primary sources
Start here for anything involving a law, a ruling, a number or a filing. All free unless noted. The video should link the document, not the article about it.
| Need | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Federal bills, votes, members | Congress.gov | Bill text, every version, sponsors, roll-call votes, committee reports |
| Official federal documents | GovInfo | Public laws, the Federal Register, budget documents, hearings, court opinions |
| Regulations and rulemaking | Federal Register, Regulations.gov | Proposed and final rules, plus the public comments filed on them |
| Nonpartisan analysis for Congress | CRS reports, CBO, GAO | Research Service explainers, Budget Office cost estimates, Accountability Office audits |
| Supreme Court | supremecourt.gov, Oyez | Opinions and orders; Oyez has oral-argument audio and transcripts |
| Federal court filings | CourtListener and RECAP | Free mirror of PACER dockets and opinions. PACER itself charges per page. |
| Company filings | SEC EDGAR | 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, proxy statements. Full-text search. |
| Nonprofit filings | ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer | Form 990s: revenue, salaries, grants |
| Money in politics | OpenSecrets, FEC | Donors, lobbying, PAC spending; raw filings at the FEC |
| Economic data | FRED, BLS, BEA | Any series with a chart and a permanent link |
| Population and social data | Census Bureau | American Community Survey; Social Explorer maps it |
| Crime and justice data | FBI Crime Data Explorer, BJS | National and agency-level counts; BJS for prisons, courts, victimisation |
| Health data | CDC, PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov | |
| Government spending | USAspending | Contracts, grants and loans by agency and recipient |
| Government datasets, any topic | Data.gov | Catalogue across agencies |
| Presidential documents | American Presidency Project | Every speech, order and statement, searchable |
| Congressional hearings on video | C-SPAN | Full video with searchable transcripts, timestamped |
News and commentary across the spectrum
Use these to see who covered a story and how, then read the actual pieces through the library. Bias labels are a starting point, not a verdict; the rating services disagree with each other often enough that citing the rating itself is weak.
| Tool | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ground News | Every outlet covering a story, sorted left, centre, right; blindspot feed of stories one side ignored; ownership and factuality ratings | Free tier; paid tier for blindspots and full comparison |
| AllSides | Same story, three headlines side by side | Free |
| Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart | Two-axis chart: bias and reliability | Free chart; paid for detail |
| Media Bias/Fact Check | Outlet-level ratings with a factuality record | Free |
Outlets to check on every topic
- Investigative: ProPublica, The Marshall Project (criminal justice), Reveal, The Intercept
- Across the spectrum: Reason, The Dispatch, The Free Press, Tablet, The American Conservative, Jacobin, The Bulwark
- Wire copy: AP and Reuters, the version everyone else rewrote
- State and local: see State and local sources below
Research and expertise
For every expert quoted, record the affiliation and who funds it. Pair a think tank on one side with one on the other for the same question; the disagreement between them is usually the most honest map of the issue.
| Where | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Google Scholar | First pass on any topic; "All versions" for free copies |
| PubMed | Anything medical or public health |
| SSRN | Law, economics and policy working papers |
| arXiv | Computing, AI and statistics preprints |
| Semantic Scholar | Who cites a paper and whether it was contested |
| Retraction Watch database | Check a paper is still standing |
Polling
- Pew Research Center and Gallup for long-running series with published methods
- AP-NORC and Roper Center for archives of past polls
- Read the question wording and the sample before quoting a number
Think tanks by leaning. Labels follow how each describes itself and how it is generally placed.
| Leaning | Organisations |
|---|---|
| Left | Center for American Progress, Economic Policy Institute, Roosevelt Institute |
| Centre-left | Brookings, Urban Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities |
| Centre / nonpartisan | RAND, Council on Foreign Relations, Bipartisan Policy Center, Tax Policy Center, Niskanen Center |
| Centre-right | American Enterprise Institute, Manhattan Institute, Hoover Institution, Tax Foundation |
| Right | Heritage Foundation, Claremont Institute, American Compass |
| Libertarian | Cato Institute, Mercatus Center, Reason Foundation |
Investigations, documents and records
Where the documents behind the stories live, and how to get the ones nobody has published yet.
| Need | Where |
|---|---|
| Documents journalists already obtained | DocumentCloud |
| Public-records requests | MuckRock |
| Declassified material | National Security Archive, FOIA.gov |
| Television news, searchable | Internet Archive TV News |
| Dead or changed web pages | Wayback Machine |
| Inspector general reports | Oversight.gov |
| Lobbying and influence | OpenSecrets, Senate Lobbying Disclosure |
| Data journalism, reusable | ProPublica Data Store, The Markup |
| Investigative collaborations | ICIJ, OCCRP |
Links rot, so each topic keeps the documents themselves, not just links.
State and local sources
Where to look when a story turns on one place: the laws, courts, public records, open data and newsrooms for the states and city I cover most.
Minnesota
| Need | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Laws and bills | Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Legislature | Statutes and rules; bills and session coverage |
| Courts | Minnesota Judicial Branch | Appellate opinions and court records |
| Public records | Minnesota Government Data Practices Act | Ask the agency's data practices officer; every agency must name one |
| Open data | Minnesota Geospatial Commons | Maps and spatial data from state agencies |
| Major newsrooms | Star Tribune, MPR News, Pioneer Press, KARE 11, KSTP, WCCO, FOX 9 | Star Tribune and Pioneer Press archives are full text through Hennepin |
| Independent and nonprofit | MinnPost, Sahan Journal (immigrant communities), Minnesota Reformer (state politics) |
Georgia
| Need | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Laws and bills | Georgia General Assembly | Bills, votes and legislation |
| Courts | Supreme Court of Georgia, Court of Appeals of Georgia | Opinions and docket search |
| Public records | Georgia Open Records Act, from the Attorney General's office | Guidance on what agencies must release |
| Major newsrooms | Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GPB News (Georgia Public Broadcasting) | |
| Independent and nonprofit | Georgia Recorder (state politics), The Current (coastal Georgia) |
New York
| Need | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Laws and bills | New York State Senate, New York State Assembly | State law text, bills and votes |
| Courts | New York State Unified Court System | Decisions and case information |
| Public records | Committee on Open Government | The Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and advisory opinions on it |
| City government | New York City Council | Bills, hearings and votes |
| Open data | NYC Open Data, Open NY | City and state datasets |
| Major newsrooms | The New York Times (New York section), Newsday, New York Daily News, WNYC and Gothamist, Times Union (Albany) | The Times is full text through U.S. Newsstream |
| Independent and nonprofit | The City Reporter (formerly THE CITY), New York Focus (state government), City & State, Documented (immigrant communities) |
California
| Need | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Laws and bills | California Legislative Information | Bills, votes and the state codes |
| Courts | California Courts | Opinions and court information |
| Public records | First Amendment Coalition | Guides to the California Public Records Act |
| Open data | California Open Data | State datasets |
| Major newsrooms | Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, LAist | |
| Independent and nonprofit | CalMatters (state politics and policy) |
Chicago and Illinois
| Need | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Laws and bills | Illinois General Assembly | Bills and the Illinois Compiled Statutes |
| City government | Chicago City Clerk legislation | Ordinances and City Council votes |
| Courts | Illinois Courts, Circuit Court of Cook County | Opinions and county court information |
| Public records | Honest and Open Government, Illinois Attorney General | Illinois FOIA and the Public Access Counselor |
| Open data | Chicago Data Portal | City datasets |
| Major newsrooms | Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ | |
| Independent and nonprofit | Block Club Chicago (neighbourhoods), Capitol News Illinois (state government), City Bureau, The TRiiBE, Injustice Watch (courts and justice) |
Podcast and video transcripts
| Source | How |
|---|---|
| The show's own site | Check the episode page first |
| YouTube | "Show transcript" under the description, or yt-dlp for a file; verify wording by ear |
| Podscribe, Tapesearch | Search across podcast transcripts |
| Apple Podcasts | Auto-transcripts in the app; fine for confirming |
| My own transcription | Whisper locally, keeping the audio next to the transcript |
| C-SPAN and Internet Archive TV News | Searchable captions with clip links |
Which shows: the Citizen Spin podcast list, grouped by leaning as rated by outside watchdogs.
Quote rules
- Guests only, never hosts.
- Every quote has a speaker, their role, a timestamp, a link and a transcript file.
- No show used twice in one episode; long-form over short-form; do not default to the most popular shows.
- Timely segments use episodes from the last 14 to 21 days; evergreen ones can go older but say the date on screen.
Verification
The checks before anything goes on air, the same every episode, so corrections are about new facts rather than old mistakes.
- The number traces to a primary source, and the video links that source.
- A second, independent source gives the same number, or the discrepancy is stated on screen.
- Every quote has a transcript file, a timestamp and a link, and was checked by ear.
- Every expert is named with affiliation and funding.
- Every web page cited was saved to the Wayback Machine on the day of citing.
- The date of every source is said or shown.
- Retraction Watch was searched for any study relied on.
- Coverage was checked on Ground News or AllSides for what the other side said about the same facts.
Fact-checkers and media checks
- FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, AP Fact Check, Reuters Fact Check, and Google Fact Check Explorer to search them all. Each is one more source with its own reasoning, not a ruling.
- Images: Google Lens, TinEye.
- Video: the InVID verification plugin for keyframes and reverse search.
Corrections and predictions logs. Each topic keeps two logs. Corrections: date, what was wrong, what changed, and which essay was inserted into the playlist to say so. Predictions: date made, the prediction in one sentence, the essay, the date it resolved, and whether it was right, wrong or partly right. That second log is what makes the public scorecard honest.