Methodology
Last updated: Edited by Alex Gvozden
Sources
Every fact on NewsIntel comes from a public record and links to it. Today we read two kinds of record.
- WARNState WARN listsLayoff and plant closure notices filed by employersHow often we check: Daily
- EXECSEC EDGAR 8-K filings (Item 5.02)Executive appointments and departures at public companiesHow often we check: Every 10 minutes, 6 am to 10 pm ET on business days
Each state publishes its own WARN list, so we check each list once a day, at different times. A few states do not publish one. A page changes soon after a new record is matched to it. Every event shows the date it was filed and a link to the record. All times are Eastern Time (ET).
How we match records to companies
Each record names an employer. We match it to one company page by its SEC identifier when it has one, and otherwise by name and address. When a match is uncertain, an editor checks it before it is shown.
Before matching we tidy the name: legal suffixes, punctuation and “doing business as” names. Each match keeps how it was made, so a wrong one can be found and fixed. An employer we cannot match to a known company gets its own page.
What the model does and does not do
A language model writes the one or two sentence summary of each event from the facts shown on the page. Numbers, names, titles and dates always come from the source record, never from the model. We never store or show full article text.
A model also helps read long 8-K filings and scanned WARN lists to find the facts in them. We then check that each name, title and number it found appears in the source text. A fact that does not is dropped, and the record waits for an editor.
The model does not rate companies, predict events or add anything that is not in the record.
Example summary (an invented company)
When a page is shown to search engines
A company page is listed in search once it holds at least 3 dated events, or 1 event and a figure derived from it. A state month page is listed once it holds at least one notice. Other pages wait until they qualify.
Every page can be read on the site either way; the rule only decides what we ask search engines to list.
Listed in search at a glance
3+dated events
1+event and a figure
Corrections
If a fact is wrong, write to corrections@newsintel.org with the page link. We check the source record, fix or remove the fact, and note the change on the corrections page.
Report an error
Include the page link and the fact that is wrong.