The arithmetic for one report
EXCLUSIVE: Mexico’s Sewage Is Making America’s Future Navy SEALs Sick
88Few flagged expressions
What was read
1115 words in the outlet's own voice, plus 10 in the headline. 36% of the text is in quotes, with 5 listed words inside quotes. 28 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): disgusting
, disgusting
, of course
, massive
, extremely
.
Words found
- Word choice:
absolutely
1 point Editorializing
Air Pollution Control District . Absolutely beautiful day in Coronado. A rundisgusting
2 points Editorializing
by our third world neighbor. Disgusting , heartbreaking, and infuriating all at theclaimed
1 point Expression of doubt
coast of San Diego. Sweetman claimed . Aside from an increase in sewage - Raises the temperature:
massive
1 point Raises the temperature
a condition that leads to massive muscle breakdown and ultimately muscle death.
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 | 4 | 1115 | 3.6 | 15.0 (words 151 to 350) | 9.3 | 0 to 40 | 77 |
| Temperature | 1 | 1115 | 0.9 | 5.0 (words 251 to 450) | 2.9 | 0 to 40 | 93 |
| Flagged attribution phrases | 0 | 1115 | 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 151 to 350 of 1115, with absolutely
, disgusting
; Temperature, words 251 to 450 of 1115, with massive
.
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: 0 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 77 + 10)0.4 × (Temperature 93 + 10)0.3 × (Flagged attribution phrases 100 + 10)0.2 × (Headline wording 100 + 10)0.1 − 10 = 88. 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 | 4 (Robert Sweetman, Jeff Gum, Mexican Embassy, John Vincent Fuller) |
|---|---|
| Unnamed sources | 0 (0% of all sources found) |
| Links to primary records (government, court, filings, PDFs) | 8 www.waterboards.ca.gov, www.nsw.navy.mil, www.slc.ca.gov, www.epa.gov, www.epa.gov, www.ibwc.gov, media.defense.gov, www.sdcoastkeeper.org |
| Documents cited in the text (a report, bill, ruling, filing) | 1 |
| Checkable specifics (numbers and dates) | 32 |
| 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: e2dcfff5f92fe648. 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.