Files
news/tests/test_cluster.py
T
connor a2c812794d Tiered corroboration: origins, pickups and depth scored separately
Connor's point: "several outlets carried this" covers situations that carry
different amounts of information, and origin_count() flattened them all to one
number. Splitting on same/different newsroom and same/different text gives four
cases:

  same newsroom, same text  -> pure duplicate (BBC World + BBC top). Zero
                               signal; the front-page placement it does carry is
                               already captured by sources.prominence.
  same newsroom, diff text  -> DEPTH. A newsroom filing four pieces on one story
                               is a real editorial judgement, previously
                               discarded entirely.
  diff newsroom, same text  -> PICKUPS. Syndicated copy; each carrier chose to
                               run it. Weak but non-zero.
  diff newsroom, diff text  -> ORIGINS. Independent judgement and independent
                               newsgathering. Strongest.

score = origins + 0.3*log1p(pickups) + 0.2*log1p(depth), weights in config.
Origins stay dominant; the others break ties among the many two- and
three-origin clusters, and log damping stops a high-volume feed inflating depth.

Measuring first changed the design. Depth outnumbers pickups 78 to 11 across 91
real clusters, because these sources are mostly national outlets writing their
own copy rather than local papers running wire -- so the more valuable half was
the one not originally proposed. UK settlements scores 10.55 from 10 origins
plus 15 same-newsroom pieces; AfD scores 5.55 from 5 origins plus 15.

Tests assert the four-case ordering directly, and that twenty pieces from one
newsroom still rank below two independent ones. Both needed a helper generating
vectors with exact pairwise cosine: the band between the 0.82 clustering
threshold and the 0.97 syndication threshold is narrow, and two earlier drafts
of these tests used ad-hoc vectors that fell outside it and asserted nothing.
2026-09-08 16:00:09 -04:00

267 lines
12 KiB
Python

"""Clustering behaviour, using synthetic vectors so no model download is needed."""
import numpy as np
import pytest
from news import cluster, store
from news.util import stable_id
@pytest.fixture
def con(tmp_path):
c = store.connect(tmp_path / "t.db")
store.upsert_source(
c, id="s1", name="A", url="http://a", kind="rss", bucket="a",
weight=1.0, prominence=0, enabled=1, poll_interval_secs=900)
store.upsert_source(
c, id="s2", name="B", url="http://b", kind="rss", bucket="b",
weight=1.0, prominence=0, enabled=1, poll_interval_secs=900)
return c
def add(con, item_id, source_id, when, chash):
con.execute(
"""INSERT INTO items (id,source_id,title,summary,url,canonical_url,
published_at,first_seen_at,content_hash)
VALUES (?,?,?,'',?,?,?,?,?)""",
(item_id, source_id, f"t-{item_id}", f"http://x/{item_id}",
f"http://x/{item_id}", when, when, chash))
return con.execute("SELECT * FROM items WHERE id=?", (item_id,)).fetchone()
def unit(*v):
a = np.array(v, dtype=np.float32)
return a / np.linalg.norm(a)
def test_similar_items_merge_and_distinct_ones_do_not(con):
near_a, near_b = unit(1, 0.02, 0), unit(1, 0.06, 0) # cosine ~0.999
far = unit(0, 1, 0) # orthogonal
rows = [add(con, "i1", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "h1"),
add(con, "i2", "s2", "2026-01-01T01:00:00+00:00", "h2"),
add(con, "i3", "s1", "2026-01-01T02:00:00+00:00", "h3")]
out = cluster.assign(con, rows, {"h1": near_a, "h2": near_b, "h3": far})
by_item = {a.item_id: a.cluster_id for a in out}
assert by_item["i1"] == by_item["i2"], "paraphrase-near items must merge"
assert by_item["i3"] != by_item["i1"], "unrelated item must not merge"
def test_items_outside_the_window_do_not_merge(con):
v = unit(1, 0, 0)
rows = [add(con, "i1", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "h1"),
add(con, "i2", "s2", "2026-01-05T00:00:00+00:00", "h2")] # 4 days later
out = cluster.assign(con, rows, {"h1": v, "h2": v})
assert out[0].cluster_id != out[1].cluster_id
def test_bucket_count_counts_newsrooms_not_feeds(con):
"""Two feeds from one newsroom are one independent confirmation, not two."""
v = unit(1, 0, 0)
store.upsert_source(
con, id="s3", name="A2", url="http://a2", kind="rss", bucket="a",
weight=1.0, prominence=0, enabled=1, poll_interval_secs=900)
rows = [add(con, "i1", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "h1"),
add(con, "i2", "s3", "2026-01-01T01:00:00+00:00", "h2")]
out = cluster.assign(con, rows, {"h1": v, "h2": v})
assert out[0].cluster_id == out[1].cluster_id
assert cluster.bucket_count(con, out[0].cluster_id) == 1
rows2 = [add(con, "i3", "s2", "2026-01-01T02:00:00+00:00", "h3")]
cluster.assign(con, rows2, {"h3": v})
assert cluster.bucket_count(con, out[0].cluster_id) == 2
def test_assignment_is_idempotent(con):
v = unit(1, 0, 0)
rows = [add(con, "i1", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "h1")]
a = cluster.assign(con, rows, {"h1": v})
b = cluster.assign(con, rows, {"h1": v})
assert a[0].cluster_id == b[0].cluster_id
n = con.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) c FROM cluster_members").fetchone()["c"]
assert n == 1, "re-assigning an item must not duplicate membership"
def test_syndicated_partners_in_one_bucket_count_once(con):
"""Regression: Ohio Capital Journal and Kentucky Lantern are both States
Newsroom and carried 10 identical headlines in one poll. Configured as
separate buckets they would have doubled the corroboration signal."""
v = unit(1, 0, 0)
for sid, name in (("sn1", "Ohio Capital Journal"), ("sn2", "Kentucky Lantern")):
store.upsert_source(con, id=sid, name=name, url=f"http://{sid}", kind="rss",
bucket="states-newsroom", weight=1.0, prominence=0,
enabled=1, poll_interval_secs=900)
rows = [add(con, "s1i", "sn1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "hs1"),
add(con, "s2i", "sn2", "2026-01-01T00:30:00+00:00", "hs2")]
out = cluster.assign(con, rows, {"hs1": v, "hs2": v})
assert out[0].cluster_id == out[1].cluster_id
assert cluster.bucket_count(con, out[0].cluster_id) == 1, (
"syndicated partners must not read as independent confirmation")
def _cluster_of(con, items_spec, vec):
"""Put every item in one cluster and return its id."""
rows = [add(con, iid, sid, when, chash) for iid, sid, when, chash in items_spec]
out = cluster.assign(con, rows, {c: vec for *_, c in items_spec})
return out[0].cluster_id
def test_origin_count_collapses_syndicated_copy_across_newsrooms(con):
"""Different owners, identical text: a wire reprint is not corroboration.
This is the case no static bucket can express -- a local station is
independent on local stories and a pure reprinter on national ones.
"""
v = unit(1, 0, 0)
con.execute("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO embeddings (content_hash,dim,vec) VALUES (?,?,?)",
("hw", 3, store.to_blob(v)))
rows = [add(con, "w1", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "hw"),
add(con, "w2", "s2", "2026-01-01T00:20:00+00:00", "hw")]
# identical headline text across two different buckets
con.execute("UPDATE items SET title='Wire dispatch: minister resigns' WHERE id IN ('w1','w2')")
rows = con.execute("SELECT * FROM items WHERE id IN ('w1','w2') ORDER BY published_at").fetchall()
cid = cluster.assign(con, list(rows), {"hw": v})[0].cluster_id
assert cluster.bucket_count(con, cid) == 2
assert cluster.origin_count(con, cid) == 1
def test_origin_count_keeps_independently_written_reports_separate(con):
"""Same event, different newsrooms, different wording: real corroboration."""
# cosine ~0.90: above the 0.82 clustering threshold so they land in one
# cluster, below the 0.97 syndication threshold so they stay distinct
# origins. The first draft of this test used ~0.999 vectors and correctly
# merged them -- the test data was wrong, not the rule.
a, b = unit(1, 0, 0), unit(0.90, 0.436, 0)
for h, v in (("ha", a), ("hb", b)):
con.execute("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO embeddings (content_hash,dim,vec) VALUES (?,?,?)",
(h, 3, store.to_blob(v)))
add(con, "r1", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "ha")
add(con, "r2", "s2", "2026-01-01T00:30:00+00:00", "hb")
con.execute("UPDATE items SET title='Thieves steal two paintings' WHERE id='r1'")
con.execute("UPDATE items SET title='Renoir works taken in museum heist' WHERE id='r2'")
rows = con.execute("SELECT * FROM items WHERE id IN ('r1','r2') ORDER BY published_at").fetchall()
cid = cluster.assign(con, list(rows), {"ha": a, "hb": b})[0].cluster_id
assert cluster.origin_count(con, cid) == 2
def test_origin_count_never_exceeds_bucket_count(con):
"""Syndication detection may only ever reduce corroboration."""
v = unit(1, 0, 0)
con.execute("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO embeddings (content_hash,dim,vec) VALUES (?,?,?)",
("hx", 3, store.to_blob(v)))
specs = [("x1", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00", "hx"),
("x2", "s2", "2026-01-01T00:10:00+00:00", "hx"),
("x3", "s1", "2026-01-01T00:20:00+00:00", "hx")]
cid = _cluster_of(con, specs, v)
assert cluster.origin_count(con, cid) <= cluster.bucket_count(con, cid)
def equicos(n, c=0.90, dim=None):
"""n unit vectors with pairwise cosine exactly `c`.
Needed because these tests must sit in a narrow band: above the 0.82
clustering threshold so the items form ONE cluster, below the 0.97
syndication threshold so they read as distinct pieces of writing. Earlier
drafts of this test used ad-hoc vectors that fell outside it in both
directions and tested nothing.
"""
dim = dim or n + 1
out = []
for i in range(n):
v = np.zeros(dim, dtype=np.float32)
v[0] = np.sqrt(c)
v[1 + i] = np.sqrt(1 - c)
out.append(v)
return out
def _mk(con, spec, vec_for):
"""spec: list of (item_id, source_id, title, content_hash). One cluster."""
when = "2026-01-01T00:{:02d}:00+00:00"
rows = []
for n, (iid, sid, title, chash) in enumerate(spec):
con.execute(
"""INSERT INTO items (id,source_id,title,summary,url,canonical_url,
published_at,first_seen_at,content_hash)
VALUES (?,?,?,'',?,?,?,?,?)""",
(iid, sid, title, f"http://x/{iid}", f"http://x/{iid}",
when.format(n), when.format(n), chash))
v = vec_for(chash)
con.execute("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO embeddings (content_hash,dim,vec) VALUES (?,?,?)",
(chash, len(v), store.to_blob(v)))
rows = con.execute("SELECT * FROM items ORDER BY published_at").fetchall()
v = {r["content_hash"]: vec_for(r["content_hash"]) for r in rows}
return cluster.assign(con, list(rows), v)[0].cluster_id
def _sources(con, *pairs):
for sid, bucket in pairs:
store.upsert_source(con, id=sid, name=sid, url=f"http://{sid}", kind="rss",
bucket=bucket, weight=1.0, prominence=0, enabled=1,
poll_interval_secs=900)
def test_corroboration_ranks_the_four_cases_in_the_right_order(con):
"""The 2x2 that motivates the split, each case scored in isolation.
Ordering must be: four independent newsrooms > four outlets running one
wire story > one newsroom filing four pieces > one story on two feeds of
the same newsroom.
"""
# "wire" is one shared vector (cosine 1.0 -> syndicated); t0..t3 and u0..u3
# are pairwise 0.90 -> one cluster, four distinct pieces of writing.
distinct = equicos(4, 0.90, dim=6)
table = {"wire": np.eye(6, dtype=np.float32)[0]}
for i in range(4):
table[f"t{i}"] = distinct[i]
table[f"u{i}"] = distinct[i]
def vec(h):
return table[h]
# (a) one newsroom, one story, two feeds -> pure duplicate
c1 = store.connect(":memory:")
_sources(c1, ("f1", "bbc"), ("f2", "bbc"))
cid = _mk(c1, [("a1", "f1", "Same headline", "wire"),
("a2", "f2", "Same headline", "wire")], vec)
dup = cluster.corroboration(c1, cid)
# (b) one newsroom, four distinct pieces -> depth
c2 = store.connect(":memory:")
_sources(c2, ("g1", "nyt"))
cid = _mk(c2, [(f"b{i}", "g1", f"Distinct angle {i}", f"t{i}") for i in range(4)], vec)
deep = cluster.corroboration(c2, cid)
# (c) four newsrooms, one syndicated wire story -> pickups
c3 = store.connect(":memory:")
_sources(c3, *[(f"h{i}", f"local{i}") for i in range(4)])
cid = _mk(c3, [(f"c{i}", f"h{i}", "Wire dispatch text", "wire") for i in range(4)], vec)
wire = cluster.corroboration(c3, cid)
# (d) four newsrooms each writing their own -> origins
c4 = store.connect(":memory:")
_sources(c4, *[(f"k{i}", f"nat{i}") for i in range(4)])
cid = _mk(c4, [(f"d{i}", f"k{i}", f"Own reporting {i}", f"u{i}") for i in range(4)], vec)
orig = cluster.corroboration(c4, cid)
assert dup.origins == 1 and dup.pickups == 0 and dup.depth == 0
assert deep.origins == 1 and deep.depth == 3
assert wire.origins == 1 and wire.pickups == 3
assert orig.origins == 4
assert orig.score > wire.score > deep.score > dup.score, (
f"expected origins > pickups > depth > duplicate, got "
f"{orig.score:.2f} / {wire.score:.2f} / {deep.score:.2f} / {dup.score:.2f}")
def test_origins_dominate_the_tiebreakers(con):
"""No amount of depth or pickups may outweigh one extra real newsroom."""
c = store.connect(":memory:")
_sources(c, ("m1", "one"))
vs = equicos(20, 0.90)
table = {f"v{i}": vs[i] for i in range(20)}
cid = _mk(c, [(f"e{i}", "m1", f"Piece {i}", f"v{i}") for i in range(20)],
lambda h: table[h])
twenty_deep = cluster.corroboration(c, cid)
assert twenty_deep.score < 2.0, (
"20 pieces from one newsroom must still rank below two independent ones")