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TheBias Brief

Methodology

How a Score is made

The Bias Brief mixes a qualitative model read with countable word choice, framing intensity, and how contested the subject is. Outlet reputation is stored as metadata and is not copied into the article leaning.

  1. 01

    Collect

    Scheduled jobs read official RSS/Atom feeds from a curated Source list.

  2. 02

    Read

    We fetch the article page or a text extract. Headline-only items are not scored.

  3. 03

    Score

    A model returns leaning, qualitative intensity, framing intensity, significance, 1–3 subject topics, story form, a summary, and a short rationale. A curated lexicon counts bias terms. A topic table supplies contestation. mix_v1 combines those into the public Bias.

  4. 04

    Show

    Only Ready articles appear in the feed and on the analysis page, with a stored featured image or a first-party placeholder.

Reading the scores

  • Leaning is about this article’s framing, not the outlet’s usual editorial line. Neutral is reserved for pieces that take no political side; a mild lean is still Left or Right.
  • Bias is mixed intensity on a 1–10 scale (mix_v1): 35% qualitative model intensity, 35% word-choice hits, 30% framing, then scaled by subject contestation. A lexicon that contradicts Leaning damps the number; it does not flip the side. The marker moves left or right from center; Neutral sits on the midline regardless of intensity.
  • Word choice is a countable intensity from a curated Left / Right / loaded-neutral phrase list. A directional lexicon may replace Neutral only; it does not flip Left to Right or Right to Left.
  • Framing is a model 1–10 for how hard the piece structures the subject. It is not a word count and not a side.
  • Contestation is a topic prior that scales intensity. Elections and Conflict sit high; Science and Technology sit lower. It never assigns Left or Right.
  • Significance is newsworthiness. High impact means 9 or 10.
  • Topics are 1–3 subjects from a closed list so the feed and analysis page can filter what is covered, not only how it leans.
  • Story form is news, analysis, or opinion. Intensity should be read in that genre.
  • Rationale is a short explanation of the language that drove the leaning.
Left 7.2
Neutral
Right 6.4

The landscape

The analysis page charts mixed score_v3 rows: volume, score composition (qualitative intensity, word choice, framing, contestation), subject mix, story form, and the split between an outlet’s editorial prior and the article Score. Feed cards keep their stored Bias until each row is rewritten. We do not claim a thousand-source catalog.