Editorial Divergence Rate (EDR)

What is JustSuss

JustSuss is an AI-powered information reliability analysis platform that quantifies differences in factuality and editorial intent across news coverage.

Core principle: You judge. JustSuss provides the evidence.

What is EDR

The Editorial Divergence Rate (EDR) quantifies how far apart media outlets are in their coverage of the same issue, using a 3-dimensional independent vector model. The result is bounded between 0 and 1.7.

EDR is further adjusted by a weight based on reporting style (factual through sensational, 6 tiers).

Reporting Style Categories

Reporting closer to purely factual receives a lower weight; reporting closer to sensationalism receives a higher weight.

EDR Grade Scale

Terms

Divergence Score

The Divergence Score measures how far each outlet's coverage deviates from the factual baseline built from all coverage, expressed as a relative distance from 0.0 (theoretical upper bound 1.7). It combines three dimensions: editorial bias, information transparency, and headline-body consistency. Scores closer to 0 indicate coverage faithful to the baseline; larger values indicate reporting skewed toward a particular perspective.

Bias signals

• Selective Emphasis — Highlighting facts favorable to one side
• Fact Omission — Omitting key counterarguments or contextual facts
• Subjective Judgment — Using evaluative or biased words unnecessary for factual reporting
• Labeling — Attaching positive or negative labels to specific subjects
• Framing Bias — Repeatedly presenting only one angle and restricting a multi-faceted story
• Emotional Tone — Rhetoric designed to provoke fear, anger, or sympathy
• Dogmatic Assertion — Presenting uncertain information or possibilities as confirmed facts
• False Causality — Imposing causal relationships not supported by objective evidence
• Overgeneralization — Extrapolating a single case to a broad, universal pattern
• False Dilemma — Reducing complex, nuanced issues to simple binary choices
• Fearmongering — Emphasizing threats and anxiety-inducing elements
• Understatement — Minimizing severity or presenting harmful actions as benign and trivial

Tone map and Stance Alignment

In the coverage tone map, redder means higher divergence and a larger area means more outlets took that tone. Stance Alignment measures whether outlets take the same direction (supportive or critical) toward a specific target such as a person, policy, or organization. It shows direction, while the Divergence Score shows intensity. 'Conflict' means outlets are split.

Data Coverage

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