Methodology
Eye-Sea is an archival record of how major news stories were reported, attributed, and amplified. Our work is not journalism about events; it is journalism about journalism.
What Eye-Sea Is
Eye-Sea reconstructs the reporting timeline of significant stories — who put facts on the record first, who amplified them, and who added genuinely new reporting. We publish these reconstructions as Story Traces: dated, sourced and revisable.
How Stories Are Selected
- ▸Material consequence — the story moves markets, policy, or public understanding.
- ▸Disputed provenance — there is meaningful disagreement about who reported what, when.
- ▸Sufficient public record — enough timestamped material exists to reconstruct a chain.
How Attribution Is Determined
We catalogue every public report in the first 72 hours of a story’s life, timestamped to the minute where possible. We separate three distinct acts: first publication, amplification, and incremental reporting. Citation chains are read literally — “according to the Financial Times” is attribution; “people familiar with the matter” without an outlet cited is not.
Confidence Framework
Clear reporting chain. Timestamps are corroborated. First publication is unambiguous.
Some uncertainty around sourcing or timing. A plausible first report exists but cannot be fully isolated.
Insufficient evidence to determine origin. We publish the trace, flag the uncertainty, and revise as evidence accrues.
Corrections & Revisions
Every trace carries a version. When new evidence emerges, we revise the record openly and note what changed. We score publication, not access — an outlet that holds a story is not credited for reporting it.