The arithmetic for one report
Scott Colom and Black Mississippians stand on the cusp of Senate history as vote count stretches on
98Few flagged expressions Wire copy: shown here but left out of the outlet's own score.
What was read
856 words in the outlet's own voice, plus 17 in the headline. 32% of the text is in quotes, with 5 listed words inside quotes. 13 attribution markers (such as "said" or "according to") found.
Listed words inside quotes (not scored; quoting is reporting, but which quotes to use is an editorial choice): essentially
, wonderful
, wonderful
, very
, very
.
Words found
- Raises the temperature:
backlash
1 point Raises the temperature
the midterms revealed a broad backlash against redistricting efforts in the South
Layer scores
Rates are counted points per 1,000 words of the story's own text. For a story longer than 200 words, the rate used is the average of the whole-story rate and the rate in its densest 200-word stretch, so neutral filler cannot dilute a loaded passage away. Score = 100 × (loaded end − rate used) ÷ loaded end, kept between 0 and 100. Headline words count only in the headline layer.
| Layer | Points | Words | Whole-story rate | Densest 200 words | Rate used | Scale | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word choice | 0 | 856 | 0.0 | 0.0 (words 1 to 200) | 0.0 | 0 to 40 | 100 |
| Temperature | 1 | 856 | 1.2 | 5.0 (words 451 to 650) | 3.1 | 0 to 40 | 92 |
| Flagged attribution phrases | 0 | 856 | 0.0 | 0.0 (words 1 to 200) | 0.0 | 0 to 20 | 100 |
| Headline wording | 0 | 25 | 0.0 | headline only | 0.0 | 0 to 240 | 100 |
Densest stretch: Temperature, words 451 to 650 of 856, with backlash
.
Shown, not scored: the headline's rate minus the rate of the story's first 80 words is 0.0 points per 1,000 words. Experimental: 2 of 2 names and figures in the headline also appear in the text read.
Overall
Weighted geometric mean of the layers that are established, with 10 added to each layer first and taken away at the end: (Word choice 100 + 10)0.4 × (Temperature 92 + 10)0.3 × (Flagged attribution phrases 100 + 10)0.2 × (Headline wording 100 + 10)0.1 − 10 = 98. Adding 10 means one layer at 0 lowers the total steeply without collapsing it. A weak layer pulls the total down.
Lowered the score most: Temperature.
Name-swap test: with party, politician and institution names swapped, this report's score moves by 0.0 points.
What a reader could check
| People named as sources | 4 (Angela Alsobrooks, Maati Jone Primm, Sorie Tarawally, President Donald Trump’s) |
|---|---|
| Unnamed sources | 0 (0% of all sources found) |
| Links to primary records (government, court, filings, PDFs) | 0 |
| Documents cited in the text (a report, bill, ruling, filing) | 0 |
| Checkable specifics (numbers and dates) | 9 |
| Data shown (a table or chart) | yes |
| Correction or clarification noted | no |
What a reader could check, counted by published patterns. Shown beside the score, never part of it. How each count works
Checked against the official record
No vote count or bill number found in the text read.
Record of this measurement
Method 3.1.0, word-list fingerprint 807a17189402a416, read by text extractor version 4. Fingerprint of the text read: 2bf0fbef6a58e4a6. Internet Archive copy nearest the time it was read. The text read was not kept (read before method 3.1.0, or from the feed only), so a later rule change can be applied only while the report is still in the outlet's feed.