Methodology · Video · Updated 2026-10-26

How we handle video

In one line: We show you the official source at the exact second, and we quote the official transcript. We never embed or host a clipped hoax video.

The rules

Never embed or host the clipped video that carries the claim. We link it as evidence only, and add an archive.org snapshot link when we can get one. Embedding would play it on our page and send it more views.
Always show the official full source. Usually that is a plain link with a timestamp. If the official owner allows embedding, we add a click-to-load player (youtube-nocookie.com): your browser contacts YouTube only after you press the button.
Quote the official transcript. We give the full surrounding sentences, the exact seconds, and what the clip cut. Where the transcript is a U.S. government work it is not copyright protected (see below).
Say how we found the seconds. Auto-generated captions and our own automatic transcription help us locate a line; they are not a recording of record. When a person on our team has listened to a passage and confirmed it, the page says so (the 2011 passage has been checked this way). Where no one has listened yet, the page says that instead (the 2015 passage has not been).
Tell you what we could not confirm. No page states as fact something we could not trace.

What we do with each kind of video

Kind of video	Embed	Link	Clip or excerpt	Transcribe	Screenshot
Official government video (for example a White House or Defense Department upload)	Yes, click-to-load, if the official channel allows it	Yes, with a timestamp	Short excerpts, with the source and time given	Yes: we quote the official transcript	Yes, with the source link
Broadcaster, network or podcast video	Only the official full source, and only if the owner allows embedding	Yes, with a timestamp	No hosted clips	Only the few lines at issue, attributed, with a link	At most one small labeled frame to identify the item; usually we link instead
Social-media clip that carries a claim	Never	Yes, as evidence, with an archive link when available	Never host	We transcribe the words from the official source, not from the clip	Not by default; a small labeled still only if needed to identify the clip
AI-generated or deepfake video	Never	Link the original post or a fact-checker's page about it	Never host	We describe what we found	Not by default; any still is small, labeled “AI-generated” or “Altered,” with a source link

Why

Government works. Copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government (17 U.S.C. § 105), and the White House archive's copyright policy says its government-produced materials are not copyright protected (third-party content on that site may carry a different license). That is why we can quote an official transcript at length.
Everything else. U.S. law allows "fair use" of copyrighted works for purposes such as criticism, comment and news reporting. A court weighs four factors: the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the work, how much is used, and the effect on the market for the work (17 U.S.C. § 107). Each case turns on its own facts. We therefore keep to short, labeled, attributed uses, and prefer links to copies.
Not legal advice. This page describes our editorial policy. It is not legal advice and not a guarantee that a particular use is lawful.

Example: the 2011 ceremony clip

See our review of the 2011 clip: the official video at the exact second, the full transcript passage, and a list of what the 25-second copy cuts. The clipped copy is linked for the record only.

Questions, errors and rights concerns

Write to submissions@firstladyrevealed.com. See also corrections.

Change log

Date	Change
2026-10-26	First version.

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