Documenting Hate is a project of

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010 ...

, in collaboration with a number of journalistic, academic, and computing organizations, for systematic tracking of hate crimes and bias incidents. It uses an online form to facilitate reporting of incidents by the general public. Since August 2017, it has also used

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

and

natural language processing Natural language processing (NLP) is an interdisciplinary subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence concerned with the interactions between computers and human language, in particular how to program computers to proc ...

techniques to monitor and collect news stories about hate crimes and bias incidents. , over 100 news organizations had joined the project.

History

Origin

Documenting Hate was created in response to ProPublica's dissatisfaction with the quality of reporting and tracking of evidence of hate crimes and bias incidents after the

United States presidential election of 2016 The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

. The project was launched on 17 January 2017, after the publication on 15 November 2016 of a ProPublica news story about the difficulty of obtaining hard data on hate crimes.

Introduction of the Documenting Hate News Index

On 18 August 2017, ProPublica and

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

announced the creation of the Documenting Hate News Index, which uses the Google Cloud Natural Language API for automated monitoring and collection of news stories about hate crimes and bias incidents. The API uses

and

techniques. The findings of the Index are integrated with reports from members of the public. The Index is a joint project of ProPublica, Google News Lab, and the

data visualization Data and information visualization (data viz or info viz) is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the graphic representation of data and information. It is a particularly efficient way of communicating when the data or information is nume ...

studio Pitch Interactive.

Response

Participation

, thousands of incidents had been reported via Documenting Hate. , over 100 news organizations had joined the project, including the ''Boston Globe'', the ''New York Times'', ''Vox'', and the

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

''Hoya''.

Relationship to government statistical monitoring

A policy analyst for the Center for Data Innovation (an affiliate of the

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is a U.S. nonprofit public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on public policy surrounding industry and technology. , the University of Pennsylvania ranks ITIF as the ...

), while supporting ProPublica's critique of the present state of hate-crime statistics, and praising ProPublica for drawing attention to the problem, has argued that a nongovernmental project like Documenting Hate cannot solve it unaided; instead, intervention at the federal level is needed.

References

{{reflist , 30em , refs = {{cite web , url = https://www.fastcompany.com/3067505/this-new-reporting-project-aims-to-shine-a-light-on-the-next-year-of-hate-crimes , last = Anzilotti , first = Eillie , date = 3 February 2017 , title = This new reporting project aims to shine a light on the next year of hate crimes , website =

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan We ...

, language = en , access-date = 2017-08-12 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170823074210/https://www.fastcompany.com/3067505/this-new-reporting-project-aims-to-shine-a-light-on-the-next-year-of-hate-crimes , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-23 {{cite journal , url = https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/propublica-is-collaborating-with-newsrooms-to-create-a-national-database-for-hate-crimes-and-bias-incidents-in-the-us/s2/a698540/ , last = Ciobanu , first = Mădălina , date = 20 January 2017 , title = ProPublica is collaborating with newsrooms to create a national database for hate crimes and bias incidents in the US , website =

Journalism.co.uk Journalism.co.uk is a website with news and advertorial content for journalists based in Brighton, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1999 by John Thompson with the aim of covering the online publishing industry and how the Internet is fundamen ...

, access-date = 2017-08-11 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170823071551/https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/propublica-is-collaborating-with-newsrooms-to-create-a-national-database-for-hate-crimes-and-bias-incidents-in-the-us/s2/a698540/ , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-23 {{cite web , url = https://www.propublica.org/article/track-news-stories-about-hate-with-the-documenting-hate-news-index , last = Glickhouse , first = Rachel , date = 18 August 2017 , title = Track news stories about hate with the Documenting Hate News Index , website =

, access-date = 2017-08-22 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170823042542/https://www.propublica.org/article/track-news-stories-about-hate-with-the-documenting-hate-news-index , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-23 {{cite web , url = https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9937 , last = Gockowski , first = Anthony , date = 10 October 2017 , title = Georgetown student paper begins documenting 'bias' incidents , website =

Campus Reform ''Campus Reform'' is an American conservative news website focused on higher education. It is operated by the Leadership Institute. It uses students as reporters. The news site is known for conservative journalism, where it reports incidents of ...

, language = en , access-date = 2017-11-23 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171123131527/https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9937 , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-11-23 {{cite web , url = https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/18/google-documenting-hate-news-index-propublica/ , last = Hatmaker , first = Taylor , date = 18 August 2017 , title = Google and ProPublica team up to build a national hate crime database , website =

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximat ...

, access-date = 2017-08-22 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170822210909/https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/18/google-documenting-hate-news-index-propublica/ , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-22 {{cite web , url = http://latinousa.org/2017/05/10/thousands-hate-crimes-reported-propublicas-database/ , date = 10 May 2017 , title = Thousands of hate crimes reported to ProPublica's database , website =

Latino USA ''Latino USA'' is a nationally syndicated public radio program and podcast produced by The Futuro Media Group and distributed nationwide by the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), after 27 years of being distributed by NPR. The program is anchored b ...

, access-date = 2017-08-09 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170823074113/http://latinousa.org/2017/05/10/thousands-hate-crimes-reported-propublicas-database/ , archive-date = 2017-08-23 , url-status = live {{cite web , url = http://fortune.com/2017/08/19/google-propublica-artificial-intelligence-hate-crimes/ , last = Morris , first = David Z. , date = 19 August 2017 , title = Google's new site uses artificial intelligence to track hate crimes , website = Fortune , access-date = 2017-08-22 {{cite web , url = https://www.datainnovation.org/2017/02/civil-society-shouldnt-have-to-solve-the-problem-of-bad-hate-crime-data-on-its-own/ , last = New , first = Joshua , date = 17 February 2017 , title = Civil society shouldn't have to solve the problem of bad hate crime data on its own , website = Center for Data Innovation , access-date = 2017-08-11 , archive-url = https://www.webcitation.org/6seJsAhfu?url=https://www.datainnovation.org/2017/02/civil-society-shouldnt-have-to-solve-the-problem-of-bad-hate-crime-data-on-its-own/ , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-12 {{cite web , url = https://www.propublica.org/about/propublica-and-coalition-of-news-organizations-launch-documenting-hate , date = 17 January 2017 , title = ProPublica and coalition of news organizations launch 'Documenting Hate' to collect data on hate crimes and bias incidents in the most complete, sustained effort to date , website =

, access-date = 2017-08-11 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170812074633/https://www.propublica.org/about/propublica-and-coalition-of-news-organizations-launch-documenting-hate , url-status = dead , archive-date = 12 August 2017 {{cite web , url = https://www.blog.google/topics/journalism-news/new-machine-learning-app-reporting-hate-america/ , last = Rogers , first = Simon , date = 18 August 2017 , title = A new machine learning app for reporting on hate in America , website =

, access-date = 2017-08-22 {{cite web , url = https://www.propublica.org/article/hate-crimes-are-up-but-the-government-isnt-keeping-good-track-of-them , last1 = Thompson , first1 = A.C. , last2 = Schwencke , first2 = Ken , date = 15 November 2016 , title = Hate crimes are up—but the government isn't keeping good track of them , website =

, access-date = 2017-08-11 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170811232255/https://www.propublica.org/article/hate-crimes-are-up-but-the-government-isnt-keeping-good-track-of-them , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-11 {{cite web , url = http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/01/propublica-is-leading-a-nationwide-effort-to-document-hate-crimes-with-local-and-national-partners/ , last = Wang , first = Shan , date = 23 January 2017 , title = ProPublica is leading a nationwide effort to document hate crimes, with local and national partners , website =

Nieman Lab The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University is the primary journalism institution at Harvard. It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ...

, access-date = 2017-08-09 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170805165410/http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/01/propublica-is-leading-a-nationwide-effort-to-document-hate-crimes-with-local-and-national-partners/ , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-05 {{cite web , url = http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/with-data-from-google-news-this-new-tool-makes-it-easier-for-reporters-to-track-hate-crimes-nationwide/ , last = Wang , first = Shan , date = 18 August 2017 , title = With data from Google News, this new tool makes it easier for reporters to track hate crimes nationwide , website =

, access-date = 2017-08-22 , archive-url = https://www.webcitation.org/6suxWUIBB?url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/with-data-from-google-news-this-new-tool-makes-it-easier-for-reporters-to-track-hate-crimes-nationwide/ , url-status = live , archive-date = 2017-08-22