Washington I-638 media coverage, coded (262 stories, Sept. 2025 to Oct. 2026)

What this dataset measures

Coverage of I-638 was collected from outlet search pages, sitemaps, RSS feeds, web search and syndicated copies for three outlet groups fixed before coding (mainstream, conservative, progressive/advocacy), plus labeled fact checks. Any story that describes the measure or quotes someone on it was included; republished copies were coded once under the original. The same codebook was applied to every outlet so that omissions and errors can be compared in both directions.

Geography

Washington State, United States

Unit of observation

One news or opinion story about I-638

Update cadence

One-time audit; corrections published as new versions

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

These related tables form this versioned dataset release. Each table has its own downloadable file and field definitions.

Coded stories

One row per story in the sample, coded with the published codebook. Bias measures use only rows with counts_as_news = 1.

Unit of observation: Story

View this table

stories.csv text/csv · 242.2 KB (248,002 bytes)

39 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
story_id	string	Row id: P = newspapers, T = TV/radio, C = conservative outlets, A = progressive/advocacy outlets, K = labeled fact checks.	—	observed
group	string	Outlet group used in every tally: mainstream, conservative, progressive or factcheck.	—	derived
counts_as_news	integer	1 if the story was read (in full or in part) and its type is news, explainer, fact_check or broadcast; these rows make up the news counts.	—	derived
outlet	string	Publishing outlet, with opinion labels such as (op-ed).	—	observed
outlet_group	string	Coder's group label as recorded.	—	observed
date	string	Publication date, YYYY-MM-DD where known.	—	observed
author	string	Byline as published; a student author's name is withheld.	—	observed
headline	string	Headline as published (a student's name is replaced with a bracketed description).	—	observed
url	string	The story's URL. Blank for one row (P28) whose URL contains a minor's name.	—	observed
read_status	string	full, partial (paywall or extract) or unread (blocked).	—	observed
type	string	news, explainer, fact_check, broadcast or opinion.	—	observed
yes_sources	integer	Advocates for the Yes side quoted or paraphrased.	people	observed
no_sources	integer	Advocates for the No side quoted or paraphrased.	people	observed
neutral_sources	integer	Neutral sources quoted (officials, WIAA, residents).	people	observed
first_word	string	Side quoted first: yes, no or none.	—	observed
last_word	string	Side quoted last: yes, no or none.	—	observed
rebuttal	string	Y if the other side responds to the story's lead claim, else N.	—	observed
headline_term	string	How the headline names the measure.	—	observed
loaded_terms	string	Loaded words in the outlet's own voice (not inside quotes).	—	observed
no_claims_unchecked	string	No-side claim codes repeated with no context or rebuttal anywhere in the story (semicolon-separated; codes in the codebook).	—	observed
yes_claims_unchecked	string	Yes-side claim codes repeated with no context or rebuttal.	—	observed
claims_checked	string	Claim codes the story gives context or rebuttal for.	—	observed
F1	integer	1 if the story says the provider may rely on genetics or testosterone instead of anatomy (no genital exam mandated). Answers a No-side argument.	—	observed
F2	integer	1 if it says verification is by the student's own health care provider, with no role for coaches or school staff. Answers No.	—	observed
F3	integer	1 if it gives any quantified male performance advantage. Answers No.	—	observed
F4	integer	1 if it says transgender girls may still play on boys' or open teams. Answers No.	—	observed
F5	integer	1 if it gives context that 27+ states, the IOC or federal policy restrict the female category. Answers No.	—	observed
F6	integer	1 if it gives a documented placement by a male-born athlete in a Washington girls' event, or the Yes side's 269 count. Answers No.	—	observed
F7	integer	1 if it names who funds or backs the No side. Answers No.	—	observed
F8	integer	1 if it says Brian Heywood / Let's Go Washington funds the Yes side. Answers Yes.	—	observed
F9	integer	1 if it reports that the American Academy of Pediatrics objected to being cited in the Yes pamphlet statement. Answers Yes.	—	observed
F10	integer	1 if it says the number of transgender girl athletes in Washington is small. Answers Yes.	—	observed
F11	integer	1 if it raises cost or insurance for genetic or hormone tests. Answers Yes.	—	observed
F12	integer	1 if it says the sports-physical forms sent to schools have no sex field, or that no form has the provider verify sex (the family's self-reported sex stays on the history form in the doctor's file). Answers Yes.	—	observed
F13	integer	1 if it gives what happens next (effective date, lawsuits, Supreme Court cases). Neutral.	—	observed
has_error	string	Y if the story has a factual error in the outlet's or author's own voice (not inside a quote).	—	observed
errors	string	Each error's exact text, what is wrong, and whether it was corrected. Opinion-author errors are prefixed Author voice.	—	observed
key_quote	string	The most telling short exact sentence from the story.	—	observed
notes	string	Coder's notes, especially omissions that change the reader's picture.	—	observed

Facts F1-F12 by outlet group (news stories)

For each fact and outlet group, how many news stories included it and what share that is.

Unit of observation: Fact by outlet group

View this table

fact-rates.csv text/csv · 3.9 KB (4,037 bytes)

8 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
fact	string	Fact code F1-F12.	—	observed
fact_label	string	What the fact is.	—	observed
fact_short	string	Short label naming which side's arguments the fact answers.	—	derived
answers_side	string	No if the fact answers a No-side argument, Yes if a Yes-side one.	—	observed
group	string	Outlet group.	—	observed
news_stories	integer	News stories read in the group.	stories	derived
stories_including	integer	News stories that included the fact.	stories	derived
share_including	number	stories_including / news_stories.	fraction	derived

Sourcing and balance by outlet group (news stories)

Average advocates per side, first and last word, missing rebuttals, stories with unchecked claims and outlet-voice errors.

Unit of observation: Outlet group

View this table

sourcing-balance.csv text/csv · 344 bytes

12 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
group	string	Outlet group.	—	observed
news_stories	integer	News stories read.	stories	derived
avg_yes_sources	number	Mean Yes advocates per story.	people per story	derived
avg_no_sources	number	Mean No advocates per story.	people per story	derived
first_word_yes	integer	Stories where the Yes side is quoted first.	stories	derived
first_word_no	integer	Stories where the No side is quoted first.	stories	derived
last_word_yes	integer	Stories where the Yes side is quoted last.	stories	derived
last_word_no	integer	Stories where the No side is quoted last.	stories	derived
no_rebuttal	integer	Stories with no response from the other side to the lead claim.	stories	derived
stories_unchecked_no_claim	integer	Stories repeating at least one No-side claim with no context.	stories	derived
stories_unchecked_yes_claim	integer	Stories repeating at least one Yes-side claim with no context.	stories	derived
stories_with_outlet_voice_error	integer	Stories with a factual error in the outlet's own voice.	stories	derived

Campaign claims repeated unchecked vs given context (news stories)

For each claim code and outlet group, news stories that repeated it with no context and stories that gave it context.

Unit of observation: Claim code by outlet group

View this table

claim-checks.csv text/csv · 882 bytes

5 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
group	string	Outlet group.	—	observed
claim_code	string	Claim code from the codebook (N = No side, Y = Yes side).	—	observed
side	string	Campaign that makes the claim.	—	derived
stories_unchecked	integer	Stories repeating the claim with no context.	stories	derived
stories_checked	integer	Stories giving the claim context or rebuttal.	stories	derived

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• codebook.md Documentation · text/markdown · 8 KB (8,153 bytes)

  The codebook fixed before coding: ground truth from the text, sample rules, every field, claim codes and facts.

• derive.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 4.7 KB (4,849 bytes)

  Node.js script that recomputes the three derived tables from stories.csv (node derive.js).

Saved analyses

Sources

1. Washington Secretary of State: Initiative Measure No. IL26-638, filed text Ground truth for coding facts and errors: Sec. 3(1) and 3(2) and the Sec. 1 findings

   Retrieved October 23, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. The text as filed with the Secretary of State by the sponsor. It is the measure voters decide on; its Sec. 1 findings are the sponsor's own statements.

2. Washington Secretary of State: 2026 General Election voters' pamphlet, IL26-638 statements Source of the campaign claim codes (each side's own pamphlet wording)

   Retrieved October 23, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. The Secretary of State prints each campaign's argument and rebuttal as the campaign wrote it; the state does not check their accuracy.

3. WIAA: Health and wellness forms (medical history, physical examination and medical eligibility forms) Ground truth for fact F12 and the YDOC claim code: the history form that stays with the doctor asks the family to report sex assigned at birth; the forms sent to schools have no sex field, and no form has the provider verify sex

   Retrieved October 23, 2026. Publicly posted form. Linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Other. The recommended pre-participation forms posted by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which runs high-school sports. WIAA marks the history and physical examination forms as staying with the doctor and the medical eligibility form as going to the school.

4. The 262 coded news and opinion stories (one URL per row of the stories table) Coded material. Each row's url is its own source; this entry links one example (KUOW, June 4, 2026).

   Retrieved October 23, 2026. Copyright of each outlet. Only URLs, headlines and short quotes for analysis are included; story text is not redistributed

   Reliability: News report. News and opinion outlets of every leaning, grouped before coding as mainstream, conservative or progressive/advocacy. Their own positions on I-638, where stated, are recorded in the opinion rows.

Limitations and reproducibility

Partially reproducible: Every coded story has its URL, and the codebook, the coded table and the script that computes every derived table (derive.js) are published, so anyone can recode a story and recompute every count. Coding is human judgment and was done by one coder per outlet group; no blind second coder has checked it. Some pages have since changed or are paywalled, so a recoder may see different text.

• No blind second coder has checked this coding; agreement is unmeasured. (A similar audit of I-645 coverage, with the same design, found 85-100% agreement.)
• The sample was found by search, not drawn at random. KING 5, KREM, KGW and McClatchy papers block automated reading and are under-represented; some of their stories were read through archived or syndicated copies, and 8 of 262 rows could not be read (their fact fields are blank).
• TV and radio stories were coded from their web text, not the broadcast.
• Including a fact is not the same as getting the story right, and omitting one is not by itself an error: short event stories cannot carry every fact.
• Counts of advocates do not weigh how much space each side got.
• Names of minors, and of parents whose names would identify them, are replaced with bracketed descriptions in every field. One story's URL (row P28, a Spokesman-Review op-ed of Oct. 11, 2026) is withheld because its slug contains a minor's name; its outlet, date, headline and codes are kept.
• Outlet groups are our classification, fixed before coding; The Stranger, Axios and Cascade PBS are counted as mainstream.
• F12 was reworded on 2026-10-23 after we checked WIAA's forms: the history form that stays with the doctor asks the family to report sex assigned at birth, but the forms sent to schools have no sex field and no form has the provider verify sex. Stories coded 1 said current physicals or forms do not record or verify sex, which the corrected wording still covers; no codes changed.