The arithmetic for one report
Economic relief is on the way, Democrats say. But what, how and when?
79Moderate density of flagged expressions
What was read
1102 words in the outlet's own voice, plus 13 in the headline. 13% of the text is in quotes, with 1 listed word inside quotes. 11 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): very
.
Scare quotes (a phrase of one to three words in quotation marks with no speaker in the same sentence): lame duck
, day one agenda
, affordability bill
, working group
, affordability working groups
, target
. Since method 3.1.0 their words count as the outlet's own.
Words found
- Word choice:
insists
2 points Loaded word for "said"
. They should move immediately, insists Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland senator - Raises the temperature:
massive
1 point Raises the temperature
a press conference celebrating Democrats’ massive midterms win . Winning candidates promisedfrenzy
2 points Raises the temperature
early January is often a frenzy of behind-the-scenes battles and public posturingchaos
2 points Raises the temperature
administration corruption and foreign policy chaos , Democrats say. They hope to tiemeltdown
2 points Raises the temperature
Protection Bureau after the housing meltdown of 2008 to protect consumers from - Attribution phrases:
some say
2 points Vague attribution
should swing for the fences, some say .
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 | 1102 | 1.8 | 10.0 (words 201 to 400) | 5.9 | 0 to 40 | 85 |
| Temperature | 7 | 1102 | 6.4 | 15.0 (words 1 to 200) | 10.7 | 0 to 40 | 73 |
| Flagged attribution phrases | 2 | 1102 | 1.8 | 10.0 (words 901 to 1100) | 5.9 | 0 to 20 | 70 |
| Headline wording | 0 | 25 | 0.0 | headline only | 0.0 | 0 to 240 | 100 |
Densest stretch: Word choice, words 201 to 400 of 1102, with insists
; Temperature, words 1 to 200 of 1102, with massive
, frenzy
; Flagged attribution phrases, words 901 to 1100 of 1102, with some 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 85 + 10)0.4 × (Temperature 73 + 10)0.3 × (Flagged attribution phrases 70 + 10)0.2 × (Headline wording 100 + 10)0.1 − 10 = 79. 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 | 3 (David Joyner, Van Wye, Joe Van Wye) |
|---|---|
| Unnamed sources | 0 (0% of all sources found) |
| Links to primary records (government, court, filings, PDFs) | 6 era-af.org, www.welch.senate.gov, ocasio-cortez.house.gov, jeffries.house.gov, democrats-judiciary.house.gov, www.consumerfinance.gov |
| Documents cited in the text (a report, bill, ruling, filing) | 0 |
| Checkable specifics (numbers and dates) | 8 |
| 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: 269c69a816c40058. 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.