Clawd, the Claude Code mascot, as a reporter: orange body, small smile, one arm raised in a wave, fedora with a PRESS card
Computation + Journalism Symposium | Northwestern | Oct. 3, 2026
Machine Bites Dog
Building a virtual data newsroom with Claude Code
Emma Bingham & Ian Clester
WHO WE ARE
Two people, one Claude
Ink cartoon portrait of Emma: wavy hair in a low ponytail, freckles, striped tank top
THE EDITOR
Emma Bingham
editorial technologist, bioscientist, wordcel and print media enjoyer
Ink cartoon portrait of Ian: short curly hair, clean-shaven, patterned short-sleeved shirt
THE ARCHITECT
Ian Clester
music technologist, programmer, computation connoisseur
Clawd, the Claude Code mascot, drawn in the same ink style as the two portraits, with an orange body, a small smile and a fedora with a PRESS card
THE REPORTERS
Claude
cub reporter: reads everything, still learning what's news
OUR NORTH STAR
Surface leads worth an editor's time.
And tie every claim to a public record.
WHAT WE BUILT · 1
First, make the data queryable
Raw files
JSON, XML, JSONL
Clawd
/profile-dataset
Maps the files
Clawd
/ingest-to-sqlite
Loads and checks
Database cylinder
gain.db
one database
Human checks
Jupyter notebooks, Datasette
Every row keeps its source filing ID.
Claude does this step
A person does this step
WHAT WE BUILT · 2
Claude digs. The editor decides.
EDITOR
Emma, the editor
CLAUDE
Clawd, the Claude Code mascot
newsroom.db
logs every step, marked agent or editor
Asks a question
“design a screen”
Reads 3–5 leads
promote or pass
Reviews
verdict → close
/sweep-for-screens
fleet of agents, rare, expensive
Screens
saved queries
/fish-for-leads
runs a screen, then 4 gates
/track-investigation
case file, novelty scan, skeptic, judge
Written-up case
→ to human reporting
writes a screen
3–5 leads
promote
verdict
close
reads past verdicts
CASE STUDY · THE FINDING
Two Texas tribes aren’t covered by the federal law that lets most tribes run casinos. A casino across the state line lobbies Congress to keep it that way.
“Were this bill to pass, they could eventually force Texas into gaming compact negotiations, something we oppose.”
Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino, lobbying disclosures, 2023–2024
Why now: as Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton sued one of the tribes over its casino. He is now the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate.
Screen
→
Lead
→
Case
Evidence
·
Novelty scan
·
Tribunal
JUL 1
Which issues get lots of lobbying but little press?
EDITOR
11:37
Our topic keywords had gaps. After the fix, re-rank every issue.
CLAUDE
11:38
Gaming
17×
Consumer safety
9×
Arts and entertainment
9×
Copyright and patents
9×
Insurance
8×
Lobbying activities per congressional press release, 2022–2024, top 5 of 73 issues
Screen
→
Lead
→
Case
Evidence
·
Novelty scan
·
Tribunal
JUL 1
Claude writes up three leads
CLAUDE
11:45
Tribal gaming had the fewest press releases
Prediction markets are a new lobbying front
The arts lobbying code covers two different fights
EDITOR
11:47
Let’s dig into tribal gaming.
Tribal gaming had the fewest press releases
Each is a real pattern, but a topic, not yet a story.
Screen
→
Lead
→
Case
Evidence
·
Novelty scan
·
Tribunal
JUL 1
What’s at stake?
Tribal gaming is still a category. What is it actually about?
EDITOR
11:47
“What is at stake in the tribal gaming issue?”
CLAUDE
11:48
Three separate fights. In one, two Texas tribes want the same gaming rights as other tribes, and someone pays a lobbyist to keep their bill out of must-pass legislation:
“Oppose passage of H.R.2208/S.4196 … and inclusion of its provisions in any other bill such as an annual appropriations bill or NDAA”
Screen
→
Lead
→
Case
Evidence
·
Novelty scan
·
Tribunal
JUL 1
Who’s opposing it?
EDITOR
12:04
“It would be interesting to see who is opposing this such that it cannot get passed.”
CLAUDE
12:05
Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino, just across the state line in New Mexico. The only filer that states its opposition.
EDITOR
12:07
“I do want to log this as its own lead and then open a case.”
Screen
→
Lead
→
Case
Evidence
·
Novelty scan
·
Tribunal
JUL 1
Has the bill ever moved?
THE BILL’S HISTORY
2019
Passes the House
2021
Passes the House again
2022
Sunland Park starts filing opposition
Since
No hearing, markup or vote
EDITOR
17:57
Report the timing, not a cause.
CLAUDE
18:18
“…neither chamber has gotten so much as a subcommittee markup on any version … Still framed per your instruction as notable timing, not proven causality …”
Screen
→
Lead
→
Case
Evidence
·
Novelty scan
·
Tribunal
JUL 2
Has anyone reported it?
CLAUDE
11:29
Nobody has tied Sunland Park to this bill
But the stall already had a reported cause: Sen. Cornyn, 2019
No coverage of the bill since 2020
EDITOR
11:36
“…there could be a story that’s an update on this situation and discusses the new involvement of Sunland Park.”
EDITOR
11:43
“…check if Cornyn/Texas’s objection is still current.”
CLAUDE
11:45
Sen. Cornyn just lost his primary runoff to Ken Paxton, who took the tribe’s casino to court.
Screen
→
Lead
→
Case
Evidence
·
Novelty scan
·
Tribunal
JUL 2
Can a skeptic kill it?
Claude switches sides to play skeptic, with fresh queries against this data’s known traps.
CLAUDE
12:05
Base rate
Only 3 tribal-gaming opponents. Sunland Park’s filing streak: 14. The next longest: 3.
The gap
Skipped one quarter, early 2023. Not a filing lull: 24,378 Senate filings that quarter, the most of 2023.
Mix-ups
The City of Sunland Park lobbies too. Flagged, kept separate.
Verdict: supported, medium confidence
EDITOR
12:28
Satisfied. Close the case: written up and on file for future review and reporting.
CASE STUDY · RECAP
From screen to closed case
JULY 1
JULY 2
Clawd, for Claude
Claude
Emma, the editor
Editor
11:38
11:45
11:47
12:04
12:05
12:07
17:57
overnight
11:29
11:36
12:05
12:28
Timeline dots: orange for Claude, green for the editor
Re-ranks issues
Writes 3 leads
What’s at stake?
Who’s opposing?
Names the casino
Opens a case
Timing, not cause
Novelty scan
“An update story”
Skeptic pass
Closes the case
Claude found where to look. The editor’s questions turned it into a story.
BY THE NUMBERS
What it took
68
hours of active work
Emma 48 · Ian 20
570
prompts we typed
Emma 462 · Ian 108
~30M in / 7M out
tokens Claude read / wrote
in = new input, not counting cache re-reads; includes sub-agents, partly estimated from surviving logs
Active hours per day
Stacked bars of active hours per day, June 9 to July 16, Emma in green and Ian in blue
0h
3h
6h
9h
Jun 15
Jun 22
Jun 29
Jul 6
Jul 13
Tokens written, by model (incl. sub-agents)
Tokens written by model in millions, split by person, including sub-agents: Sonnet 5 3.1M, Opus 4.8 1.3M, Sonnet 4.6 1.0M, Fable 5 1.0M, Haiku 4.5 0.2M. Emma green, Ian blue; solid is measured, pale dashed is estimated sub-agent output.
Sonnet 5
3.1M
Opus 4.8
1.3M
Sonnet 4.6
1.0M
Fable 5
1.0M
Haiku 4.5
0.2M
Emma
Ian
estimated (sub-agents)
Emma
Emma
Ian
Ian
From our 52 Claude Code sessions, June 9 – July 16, 2026
BY THE NUMBERS
74 leads, 13 investigations, 7 in the report
Sankey diagram: 74 leads surfaced; 39 never triaged, 18 passed on or parked, 4 folded into cases or rewritten, 13 promoted to a case. Of the 13: 5 findings and 2 method demos in the report, 2 merged into other cases, 3 shelved (2 left open and not written up, 1 parked), 1 killed.
74 leads surfaced
39 · Never triaged
no editor decision on record
18 · Passed on (incl. parked)
4 · Folded into cases
13 · Promoted to a case
5 · Finding in report
2 · Method demo in report
2 · Merged into another case
3 · Shelved
1 · Killed
Ways and Means chair story: true, not new
Findings report
5 findings + 2 method demos
newsroom.db
is our ledger of every screen, lead and case: 44 screens designed, 29 run, 19 produced leads.
WHAT SURPRISED US
“Interesting” is hard to teach
Boring leads
CLAUDE
“VERIFIED, and it holds.” Committee chairs raise 1.9× what other members of their committee do.
THE EDITOR, NEXT DAY
“I think [it] is also well-known (committee chairs getting more money).”
Headline-shaped leads
CLAUDE
“Is Barr a Politico story? Yes — I think this is squarely a Politico Influence piece, and possibly bigger.”
CLAUDE, HOURS LATER
Skeptic pass: same pattern with five other members. Not a Barr story.
Invented jargon
CLAUDE
“Leads and instruments co-evolve… the management problem is portfolio management across two backlogs.”
THE EDITOR, DAYS LATER
“There are just too many ‘named’ concepts.”
WHERE IT GOES NEXT
Three things we'd push on
Teach “interesting”
better baselines, the editor's taste
SO FAR
Emma's complaints became the four gates: one story, not a template; a named actor; boring explanation first; not old news.
NEXT
Turn her calls into principles Claude reads.
More autonomy
overnight runs, morning review
SO FAR
One night alone, Claude took 11 provisional actions. Emma overturned one; that parked case became our first finding.
NEXT
Run it nightly. Nothing leaves without a human sign-off.
Newer models
what changes with Opus 5.5
SO FAR
Built in June and July with Sonnet 4.6, Opus 4.8, Fable 5 and Sonnet 5.
NEXT
Running now: Opus 5.5 works the desk alone with our skills. Does it find the casino story?
Thank you
to the GAIN challenge organizers, and to everyone here.
Emma
Emma Bingham
emmapbingham.com
Ian
Ian Clester
ijc8.me
TRY IT YOURSELF
QR code linking to https://github.com/emmapbingham/agentic-newsroom
Open-source skills, MIT license
github.com/emmapbingham/ agentic-newsroom