How to make music out of the Mueller report redactions
Several redacted pages of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election are seen in a photo illustration.
About 11% of the 448-page Mueller report is redacted.
How do we know? Developers at The World and our partner company, PRX, counted every character.
No, really. (There are 1.2 million characters, if you’re curious.)
You can take a look at this Google spreadsheet, which shows the number of lines per page. They counted the number of characters per line and then estimated the number of characters in each redacted section.
So, page 20 is a doozy. A total 96% of that page is redacted. The only readable words are “graphics and IT” and some footnote material. Page 38 is entirely redacted, except for the page header and the page number.
Then, we went a little further. We sometimes sonify data to help listeners hear data on the radio. Using Python, you can convert a CSV file of data into a MIDI file. Once you have the MIDI file, you can use software such as Logic or Garage Band to make music.
So Ryan Cavis, a technical lead at PRX, had a little fun with the Mueller report redactions.
(Tip: There’s a lot of redaction near the 30-second mark. You can also watch the video on YouTube.)
And that’s how we turned the Mueller report redactions into a song.
You can look at the redaction percentages here or download the .midi file and make your own song out of the Mueller report.
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!