The arithmetic for one report
A million people could gain health insurance in Texas after Democrats’ huge win
93Few flagged expressions
What was read
637 words in the outlet's own voice, plus 13 in the headline. 15% of the text is in quotes, with 1 listed word inside quotes. 4 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): absolutely
.
Words found
- In the headline:
huge
1 point Raises the temperature
insurance in Texas after Democrats’ huge win - Raises the temperature:
massive
1 point Raises the temperature
state House too . Those massive , unexpected wins have now opened thesweeping
1 point Raises the temperature
is some optimism that the sweeping Democratic victories in Texas and acrossstunning
1 point Raises the temperature
is no guarantee that the stunning midterm results will finally break that
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 | 637 | 0.0 | 0.0 (words 1 to 200) | 0.0 | 0 to 40 | 100 |
| Temperature | 3 | 637 | 4.7 | 10.0 (words 401 to 600) | 7.4 | 0 to 40 | 82 |
| Flagged attribution phrases | 0 | 637 | 0.0 | 0.0 (words 1 to 200) | 0.0 | 0 to 20 | 100 |
| Headline wording | 1 | 25 | 40.0 | headline only | 40.0 | 0 to 240 | 83 |
Densest stretch: Temperature, words 401 to 600 of 637, with sweeping
, stunning
.
Shown, not scored: the headline's rate minus the rate of the story's first 80 words is 64.3 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 100 + 10)0.4 × (Temperature 82 + 10)0.3 × (Flagged attribution phrases 100 + 10)0.2 × (Headline wording 83 + 10)0.1 − 10 = 93. 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 | 1 (Bee Moorhead) |
|---|---|
| Unnamed sources | 0 (0% of all sources found) |
| Links to primary records (government, court, filings, PDFs) | 2 aspe.hhs.gov, www.episcopalhealth.org |
| Documents cited in the text (a report, bill, ruling, filing) | 0 |
| Checkable specifics (numbers and dates) | 14 |
| 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: 4adc7c2ed619fe12. 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.