Source Reliability
How we evaluate our sources
Every Telegram channel monitored by OSFeed is profiled across 5 dimensions. These profiles determine how each source is weighted in event summaries, contradiction detection, and corroboration scoring. No source is trusted blindly.
Five Profiling Dimensions
Reliability
Historical accuracy of the channel's factual claims. A 'high' rating means the channel consistently reports verifiable facts. 'Medium' means the channel is sometimes accurate but has a track record of exaggeration or premature claims. 'Low' means the channel frequently publishes unverifiable or demonstrably false information.
Bias
The channel's consistent editorial lean. This is not a value judgment — it describes the framing pattern. A channel with a known bias can still be high-reliability: it reports facts accurately, but selects and frames them through a consistent perspective.
Content Type
What the channel primarily publishes. Breaking news channels report events as they happen. Analysis channels provide context and interpretation after the fact. Propaganda channels have a clear persuasion objective. Aggregators repost from other sources. Official channels represent government or military institutions.
Region Focus
The channel's primary geographic coverage area. Channels are assigned to the topic that matches their regional focus.
Language
The channel's primary publishing language, detected through multi-stage analysis: character-set heuristics, lingua library classification, and Telegram metadata fallback.
How Profiling Works
Channel profiling is automatic. When a new channel is added to OSFeed, the following process runs without human intervention.
When a channel is first added, OSFeed fetches the last 50+ messages and selects at least 5 substantive messages (>20 characters) as a representative sample.
The sample is sent to an LLM with a structured profiling prompt. The model evaluates factual language vs. sensationalism, identifies consistent framing patterns, classifies content type, and detects geographic focus.
The LLM returns a structured JSON profile with all 5 dimensions. This profile is stored alongside the channel record and used in all downstream pipeline decisions.
Profiles are not static. As channels evolve — a formerly neutral channel adopts a clear bias, or a breaking news channel shifts to analysis — profiles are refreshed from recent message samples.
How Profiles Affect Event Synthesis
Source profiles directly influence how events are summarized, which claims are prioritized, and when contradictions are flagged.
High-reliability neutral sources
Take precedence for factual claims in event summaries.
Opposing-bias corroboration
When sources with known opposing biases report the same facts, confidence increases significantly.
Low-reliability or propaganda sources
Included in event source lists but only surface in summaries when corroborated by at least one independent source.
Aggregator deduplication
Aggregators that repost from channels OSFeed already monitors are counted for corroboration but not treated as independent sources.
Regional relevance
Sources covering their primary region are weighted higher than out-of-region channels reporting on the same event.
Source Count as Confidence Proxy
The number of independent sources reporting an event serves as a confidence indicator. But it is not a raw count — it is contextual:
- If you follow all source channels, the event card shows “N sources”
- If you don't follow all channels, it shows “N of your sources · M others” — without revealing which
- Higher count = higher corroboration = higher confidence
- Used in event ranking: Breaking (>10 sources) → Significant (5–10) → Emerging (2–4)
Current Coverage
OSFeed monitors 44+ channels across 4 geopolitical topics. Coverage is continuously expanded as gaps are identified.
Ukraine-Russia Conflict
Middle East Tensions
Sahel & West Africa
USA & Global Power Shifts
Evaluate our sources yourself
Every event card in OSFeed shows source attribution, reliability ratings, and bias tags. Join the beta to see the full picture.
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