The arithmetic for one report
Hegseth’s “maximum lethality” comes back to haunt him
84Moderate density of flagged expressions
What was read
707 words in the outlet's own voice, plus 8 in the headline. 6% of the text is in quotes. 3 attribution markers (such as "said" or "according to") found.
Scare quotes (a phrase of one to three words in quotation marks with no speaker in the same sentence): maximum lethality
, maximum lethality,
, woke
, warriors
, rules of engagement
, DEI
, climate change.
, maximum lethality
. Since method 3.1.0 their words count as the outlet's own.
Words found
- Word choice:
arguably
1 point Editorializing
when a search and seizure arguably would have sufficed; and oversaw theneedless to say
negated, not counted Editorializing
of impeachment. Massie is not, needless to say , a huge fan of the doctrine.actually
1 point Editorializing
welfare benefits of forgoing meat, actually doing it can be hard. Maybe - Raises the temperature:
very
1 point Raises the temperature
Pete Hegseth could join a very exclusive club: Only two other Cabinetrebuke
experimental, shown but not counted Raises the temperature
Hegseth is still a striking rebuke of both the man and hiswar on
attributed to a speaker, not counted Raises the temperature
ruined the military, titled The War on Warriors . But even among warriorshuge
1 point Raises the temperature
not, needless to say, a huge fan of the doctrine. Massie said - Attribution phrases:
experts say
2 points Vague attribution
Former military officers and legal experts say Hegseth’s dismissal of legal restraints breaks
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 | 2 | 707 | 2.8 | 10.0 (words 451 to 650) | 6.4 | 0 to 40 | 84 |
| Temperature | 2 | 707 | 2.8 | 5.0 (words 1 to 200) | 3.9 | 0 to 40 | 90 |
| Flagged attribution phrases | 2 | 707 | 2.8 | 10.0 (words 201 to 400) | 6.4 | 0 to 20 | 68 |
| Headline wording | 0 | 25 | 0.0 | headline only | 0.0 | 0 to 240 | 100 |
Densest stretch: Word choice, words 451 to 650 of 707, with arguably
, actually
; Temperature, words 1 to 200 of 707, with very
; Flagged attribution phrases, words 201 to 400 of 707, with experts say
.
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.
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 84 + 10)0.4 × (Temperature 90 + 10)0.3 × (Flagged attribution phrases 68 + 10)0.2 × (Headline wording 100 + 10)0.1 − 10 = 84. 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: Flagged attribution phrases.
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 | 0 |
|---|---|
| Unnamed sources | 0 |
| Links to primary records (government, court, filings, PDFs) | 1 massie.house.gov |
| Documents cited in the text (a report, bill, ruling, filing) | 0 |
| Checkable specifics (numbers and dates) | 4 |
| 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: 981f324867cf7475. 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.