The same rules for every speaker
Every speaker goes through the same transcription and the same checks on their name, whoever they are and whatever their party. House and Senate sessions are added whole, not as clips picked for what was said. Videos from official government channels appear as the channel published them, and are labelled as possibly edited or excerpted. The sessions GovTube adds itself are chosen by source and date, never by who is speaking or what they said. People with an account can also suggest playlists from official government channels. A suggestion is never published without review, and a published video is labelled with the channel that posted it. Because someone outside GovTube picked those videos, the promise about how we choose doesn’t cover them.
How to check: The coverage page lists every session in the archive and what isn’t in it yet.
Results aren’t ranked by anyone’s opinion
Results come newest first, or with the most instances first if you choose that. The order never depends on who is speaking, their party or how often a clip is watched, and no one can pay for a place. GovTube shows no ads.
How to check: The rules behind every result are on the methodology page.
Plain titles, no commentary
Titles follow one pattern, Speaker — Event — Date, as the official record gives them. No one at GovTube writes a description, label or rating of what was said.
How to check: Any title can be compared with the official record it links to.
Party is a letter, never a colour
A speaker’s party is shown as a letter (D, R or I) next to their name. No colour, icon or border anywhere on GovTube stands for a party. The red and blue in our design are the same on every page, whoever is speaking.
How to check: Look at any two speakers from different parties: their name labels look the same.
Every name says where it came from
A name matched by machine from the official video is shown with the words “matched from on-screen name, not reviewed”, in the results and in the speaker filter. A name in an official transcript is the one the official text prints. The same rules name a speaker, or hold a name back, for everyone.
How to check: How names are matched and checked is on the methodology page.
Corrections in public, the same for everyone
Every change to a transcript is listed in the corrections log, with what it did to links people already shared. A report is handled the same way whoever sends it. A correction makes the transcript match the video; it is not a way to remove or soften what someone said on the record. We don’t remove what someone said on the record unless the law requires it, and every removal is logged. A record hidden because of an error is listed in the corrections log. [To confirm: counsel: which legal demands count (court orders, copyright notices), and what the public may see of a removal]
How to check: Old citation links keep working after a correction and say what changed.
Balanced examples
Example searches, and anything we show to explain GovTube, are chosen so that no party or person is singled out. A made-up example is marked as made up. Our marketing follows the same rules, and never presents words or names that haven’t been checked as fact.
How to check: If an example looks one-sided to you, tell us and we’ll look at it again.
Independent, and open about money
GovTube is independent and not affiliated with the U.S. government, any official, party or campaign. We don’t take money from parties, campaigns, candidates or political action committees. Who runs GovTube and how it is paid for is shown at the bottom of every page. [To confirm: Preston: operating entity and funding sentence (web/lib/operator.ts)]
How to check: The independence line is at the bottom of every page, and at the top on wide screens.
If we fall short
Tell us at info@govtube.us, or at corrections@govtube.us if a transcript, name or time is wrong. If we change this charter, we’ll post the new version here with a new date. Effective date: [To confirm: date]. See also the terms of use and the privacy notice.