On editorial standards and independence
Just here for very geeky rapping?
While on sabbatical the last two years I have wandered into running a multi-publication niche media business. Recent events compel me to clarify my standards on editorial integrity and independence.
In particular, a bank CEO asked me to retract Debanking (and Debunking?), a piece in Bits about Money, the day after he testified to the Senate Banking Committee on the same topic. After some off-the-cuff musings, and the geekiest rap track in history, I read our response to his request for retraction substantially verbatim.
Subsequent to our original publication, the CEO praised the response publicly and, one assumes very carefully and under advice, did not acknowledge any error in his request for retraction. The co-founder and executive chairman of the startup responded with a classic XKCD cartoon. I doubt this was part of a carefully advised PR strategy.
Ready to save time and close deals faster? Inbound security reviews shouldn’t slow down your team or your sales cycle. Leading companies use SafeBase to eliminate up to 98% of inbound security questionnaires, automate workflows, and accelerate pipeline. Go to safebase.io/podcast
Check is the leading payroll infrastructure
provider and pioneer of embedded payroll. Check makes it easy for any SaaS platform to build a payroll business, and already powers 60+ popular platforms. Head to checkhq.com/complex and tell them patio11 sent you.
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(03:04) Musical interlude
(04:56) A response to the retraction request
(06:35) You can’t please everyone
(08:06) The bar for retraction is high
(10:07) Our review of the retraction request
(10:37) “A few areas were incorrect or misleading”
(16:12) “Lots of omission of key facts”
(18:57) “Missing the point about what we mean by debunking”
(20:40) Sponsors: Safebase | Check
(25:00) Our response to McCauley’s testimony
(28:24) McCauley’s concluding remarks and our response
(30:21) Bank CEOs do not often ask writers for retractions
(34:20) Some context regarding custodial banks
(40:50) Returning to our regularly scheduled programming
Transcript
Hideho everybody. My name is Patrick McKenzie, better known as patio11 on the internet. During my sabbatical, I seem to have wandered into running a small media publishing empire under Kalzumeus Software LLC. I'd like to make a brief meditation on editorial independence and editorial standards.
One - I hope to have them.
Guests of this podcast are obviously presenting only their own opinions, but as I generally try to interview experts, I expect that most of what they say is accurate. I likewise try to be well-prepared for episodes and say mostly true things. I put quite a bit of effort into the post-production process to provide a full transcript and, if necessary, inline notes to correct things, link to sources, and similar.
I try to be even more rigorous when writing my newsletter, Bits About Money, which I describe as a professional journal at the intersection of finance and technology. I try to extensively cite sources, and if I ever fall into error, will happily make a correction if apprised of that error.
Regarding editorial independence - obviously my guests' opinions are their own, but things that I say are only coming from me.
We do have advertisers for this program, but the ad reads are clearly marked as such. Advertisers don't influence our editorial coverage, and I tend to disclaim floridly when, for example, an angel investment or other professional connection of mine might cause there to be any sort of tertiary consideration in anything I might say.
Another part of editorial independence is resisting outside pressure, which will become relevant in a moment.
*significant pause*
I have strong opinions on a number of issues. Some of those opinions, and the facts that back them up, might not be convenient to everyone.
Many readers and listeners will remember that we've discussed the debanking topic on Complex Systems before. The debanking issue has risen to public prominence as the result of an advocacy and press tour in the cryptocurrency industry.
While the threads of it go back longer, the current push really started in about November of last year with Marc Andreessen et al. It has intensified over the course of the last couple of months. It has intensified so much that there are formal hearings in Washington at, for example, the Senate Banking Committee on February 5th, which was a Wednesday.
That hearing called four witnesses, including one lawyer, one economist, and two bank CEOs. One of those bank CEOs, the following day, February 6th, Thursday, asked me for a retraction of Debanking (and Debunking?). And so, we will go into a detailed procedural history of— oh wait, it looks like someone is trying to grab the mic.
[Patrick notes: If you want to share this with anyone, I recommend this link: Reply to Anchorage Digital’s CEO. ]
Musical Interlude: Reply to Anchorage Digital's CEO
Yo!
[Verse 1]
This goes out to Anchorage Digital’s CEO
Want an essay deleted? That’ll be a “Hell no!"
You run a trust company, that ain't even taking deposits.
Your settlement service says consent order on it
I'm impressed you were on top of that call report
But your tweets were like Michael Lewis: Big Short.
[Chorus]
You can't retract the facts (nah)
Banking ain't just stacks (yeah)
Your AML's got cracks (what)
So just relax, huh.
[Verse 2]
Oh Silvergate was solvent? Yeah the sky is blue, too
Financial education came from playing with Mewtoo.
Prime Trust was the OG crypto custodian
Seed phrase on metal, oops! Where’d it go again?
Forty banks declined you? Can't imagine why.
Twenty percent chance each year that you die.
Metropolitan said Voyager's publicly traded
Turns out their underwriting: publicly faded
ACH transfers with six confirmations
Don't mean Reg E to a judge in this nation.
[Bridge]
“Yes, Senator. I’m just a square who follows rules”
Better hope the Banking Committee suffers fools
Awkward meeting with Legal, PR, and board, yay
Reciting elements of defamation. Per. Se.
[Verse 3]
Wire transfer compliance influencer in the house
You can't move money freely? Let me break it down now
Third-party wires for crypto? Try again, sir
Less able to read a room than Gary Gensler.
Lobbyist to DC: "I am what I am"
After that fall you're in the Summer of Sam.
[Outro]
I stand by every word I wrote, no retraction needed
Your threats are unwanted, unprofessional, and now, unheeded.
Performance evaluation? Better get my pen.
Anchorage: Unburdened by what has been.
(mic drop)
We now return you to commentary
So, the voice you just heard wasn't me, it was Suno, a large language model generating the music and vocal performance, but I wrote all the words.
[Patrick notes: I idly asked Claude "Hey, see this essay? Rewrite it as a diss track.", chuckled madly at the output, and then began iteratively rewriting it. After the lyrics and meter were in a place I was happy with, I used Suno to make variations until I found one whose sound I liked. I used Midjourney for the persona's image.]
Now, there isn't a Rap Genius to annotate that song yet, and so we will discuss the procedural history of this request and our response to it in much more detail.
I will now read virtually verbatim our reply to this retraction request, originally posted to kalzumeus.com.
[Patrick notes: I’ll take the liberty of embedding it into an iframe for anyone reading the transcript; if easier, just use Bank CEO: Retract your debanking piece? Me: No.]
