The arithmetic for one report
Trump Says Renewed U.S. Strikes on Iran ‘Highly Unlikely’ if Talks Progress
75Moderate density of flagged expressions
What was read
1038 words in the outlet's own voice, plus 13 in the headline. 15% of the text is in quotes, with 5 listed words inside quotes. 22 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): outrageous
, ridiculous
, unfortunately
, very
, war on
.
Scare quotes (a phrase of one to three words in quotation marks with no speaker in the same sentence): Highly Unlikely
, highly unlikely
, highly unlikely
, a few days
, emphatic yes,
. Since method 3.1.0 their words count as the outlet's own.
Words found
- Word choice:
regime
attributed to a speaker, not counted Contentious label
and drones, estimating that the regime ’s missile production had fallen to roughlyregime
3 points Contentious label
Iran, maintaining that preventing the regime from obtaining nuclear weapons outweighed theregime
3 points Contentious label
aimed at cutting off the regime ’s remaining military supply routes. U.S. Centralregime
attributed to a speaker, not counted Contentious label
Guard personnel, maintaining that the regime ’s worsening financial crisis would eventually compel - Raises the temperature:
devastating
1 point Raises the temperature
with CNN, Trump cited the devastating losses inflicted on Iran’s military, coupledsweeping
1 point Raises the temperature
from U.S. sanctions and a sweeping naval blockade, as reasons he expectsdestroyed
attributed to a speaker, not counted Raises the temperature
asserted that American strikes had destroyed Iran’s air defenses and severely crippledsweeping
1 point Raises the temperature
economic campaign against Iran, combining sweeping sanctions and a naval blockade with - Attribution phrases:
according to sources
negated, not counted Unnamed source
ultimately issued no attack order, according to sources cited by the Jerusalem Post .
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 | 6 | 1038 | 5.8 | 30.0 (words 451 to 650) | 17.9 | 0 to 40 | 55 |
| Temperature | 3 | 1038 | 2.9 | 10.0 (words 1 to 200) | 6.4 | 0 to 40 | 84 |
| Flagged attribution phrases | 0 | 1038 | 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: Word choice, words 451 to 650 of 1038, with regime
, regime
; Temperature, words 1 to 200 of 1038, with devastating
, sweeping
.
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: 1 of 3 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 55 + 10)0.4 × (Temperature 84 + 10)0.3 × (Flagged attribution phrases 100 + 10)0.2 × (Headline wording 100 + 10)0.1 − 10 = 75. 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: Word choice.
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 | 2 (President Donald Trump, Minister Abbas Araghchi) |
|---|---|
| Unnamed sources | 1 (33% of all sources found) |
| Links to primary records (government, court, filings, PDFs) | 0 |
| Documents cited in the text (a report, bill, ruling, filing) | 1 |
| Checkable specifics (numbers and dates) | 7 |
| Data shown (a table or chart) | no |
| 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: d600c880ba6a6714. 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.