Provenance clustering: why eight outlets count as one
Eight outlets running the same wire story look like eight confirmations. They are one.
Provenance clustering groups retrieved evidence by its underlying source before any of it counts toward a claim. A single press release reprinted across the web contributes one weight, not many, so coverage volume never masquerades as independent agreement.
In short
Eight outlets reprinting one wire story are one piece of evidence, not eight.
How it works in Merlise
Inside Merlise this runs as part of the pipeline that turns a document into a ledger. Each claim carries its own state, and the result is always traceable to the records that produced it rather than to a summary you cannot open.
The reasoning step is kept separate from the probability the system reports, so a persuasive explanation never moves a number on its own. Every adjustment is written to the update log in order.
Worked example
Key points
- The reading traces to a primary record, not a summary.
- Evidence is weighted by provenance before it counts.
- Every step is written to an audit trail you can reopen.
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