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Posted October 14, 2004.
Newsknife rates news sites on relevance (how),
based on our analysis of Google
News.
We've produced a progressive rating of presidential debate news
coverage after each debate. Further down this page are ratings produced
after debates two and one (read for explanatory notes).
Here are the Top 12 of 71 sites. See the full list with the numbers,
in the Members' Area.
1 ABC
News
4 1 3 0 0 2 1
2 Reuters
4 1 0 2 1 0 1
3 The
Mercury News, CA
0 3 3 2 0 0 1
4 USA
Today
5 Christian Science Monitor
6 Washington
Post
7 San
Diego Union Tribune, CA
8 CNN
9 Bloomberg
10 swissinfo, Switzerland
11 Voice
of America
12 MSNBC
The ranking is produced from 21 news items, a smaller number than
is usual for Newsknife. However, as shown below in the interim ratings,
the results are consistent throughout. This gives them weight as
sites worth visiting for election news.
ABC News gathered strength with each debate to reach top spot overall.
Reuters was always in the Top 2.
The Mercury News and The San Diego Union-Tribune soared into prominence.
Worth watching.
The New York Times did not appear in the Top 12.
Swissinfo, a regular at Google News, appeared in our Top 12 after
the second debate - likely a factor of our small sample.
Newsknife analyzed these 5 news items from Google News for the
third debate...
Just before the 3rd debate:
Bush, Kerry trade charges in the run up.
Bush, Kerry prepare for final duel.
Immediately after:
Transcript and reaction.
Debate hits taxes, jobs, health.
Next day:
Shot in arm for Kerry.
Debate 1 + 2 ranking
This rating measures the most relevant news sites for coverage
of the first two television debates between George Bush and John
Kerry.
Newsknife had intended to produce a separate rating for each debate
but we were only able to capture four items at Google News about
the second date. Hence this consolidated rating. Further down this
page is the rating of debate one. It helps explain this first list.
Here are the Top 12 of 56 sites. See the full list with the numbers,
in the Members' Area.
1 The
Mercury News
0 3 3 2 0 0 0
2 Reuters
3 1 0 2 1 0 1
3 ABC
News
3 0 2 0 0 1 1
4 USA
Today
5 The
Christian Science Monitor
6 San
Diego Union Tribune
7 CNN
8 Washington
Post
9 swissinfo, Switzerland
10 Bloomberg
11 Newsday
12 Voice
of America
The Mercury News crowns its amazing rise by reaching top place.
The San Diego Union-Tribune likewise has soared into prominence
as a site worth checking for election news.
The New York Times continues to be out of the Top 12. Swissinfo,
a regular at Google News, was not in our Top 12 ranking of the first
debate. It's appearance is likely a factor of our small sample from
Google News for the second debate - just 4 news items...
The day before the 2nd debate:
Bush to come out swinging in second debate.
Democrats, GOP claim the lead before the debate.
Immediately after:
Finally, after a week of long-distance sniping.
Both mangle tax and job facts.
Debate 1 ranking
This current rating measures the most relevant news sites for coverage
of the first television debate between George Bush and John Kerry.
The sites that we ranked highest have proven themselves well worth
visiting for election news.
There are surprises in the rankings. Some sites that usually rank
highly at Newsknife are down a bit. Others have rocketed up. Don't
assume that your regular news site has the best election coverage.
Some highlights...
* The Mercury News, California, at No.2 position continues its meteoric
rise from 5th place in our last rating
of John Kerry coverage. Compare this with its September
ranking of 30th place for news in general. Check out this site for
election news.
* Similarly, compared with our September rating for general news
coverage, MSNBC moves up 24 places to 10th, and Chicago Tribune
moves up 64 places to 11th.
* For the first time both The Washington Post and The New York Times
are absent from Newsknife's Top 6 sites. Our "1st debate" rating
is very much a snapshot though. A large sampling would bring these
notable sites to the top.
These are Newsknife's Top 12 for the 1st Debate. See the full list
of 44 with the numbers, in the Members'
Area.
1 Reuters
2 1 0 2 1 0 1
2 The
Mercury News
0 2 2 2 0 0 0
3 USA
Today
1 0 2 2 1 0 0
4 ABC
News
5 The
Christian Science Monitor
6 CNN
7 Voice
of America
8 The
Washington Post
9 The
San Diego Union-Tribune
10 MSNBC
11 Chicago
Tribune
12 CJAD, Canada
Method and results
The above ranking was done from our recording of twelve "1st debate"
news items at Google News before, during and immediately after the
debate. It was done solely from those sites, 44 in all, that appeared
on the Google News home page for those items.
Google News usually lists seven news sites on its home page for
each major news item, plus many on sub-pages, all "sorted by relevance".
We awarded points per appearance on the home page on a sliding scale
of one to seven. In all, we recorded 3243 news site listings for
those 12 stories, down to 10 sub-pages deep.
The number of appearances are shown above for the first three sites.
For example, over the 12 news items Reuters appeared on the Google
News home page twice as the number one source and once as the seventh
listed source.
Newsknife's Top 12 ranking list is usually based on our analysis
of news site appearances on the Google News home page AND the first
sub-page of listings as per the ranking below. We didn't use it
this time because the main difference is the appearance of two Singapore
sites. It's nice to see they're watching the election closely, but
it doesn't help US citizens choose good election news sites.
Note that in this ranking The Mercury News moves to top slot, appearing
23 times over the 12 news items on the Google News first sub-page
of listings.
1 The
Mercury News
0 2 2 2 0 0 0 23
2 Reuters
2 1 0 2 1 0 1 19
3 USA
Today
1 0 2 2 1 0 0 17
4 ABC
News
5 Straits
Times, Singapore
6 MSNBC
7 Newsday
8 Channel
News Asia, Singapore
9 The
Christian Science Monitor
10 NPR
11 Chicago
Tribune
12 Voice
of America
1st Debate news items
Newsknife based its ratings on its recording of these 12 Debate
news items...
Before the debate (from Sept 20):
Kerry, Bush pre-debate jousts on Iraq.
Each side agrees to hold 3 debates.
The candidates hone their messages.
Exacting details behind the debates.
Battle lines drawn.
Bush, Kerry hope to win voters in Debate.
Showdown could determine election outcome.
During:
Bush and Kerry argue: who makes us safer
Bush defends Iraq policy
Immediately after:
Mixed views in the first debate.
Battle lines in foreign policy drawn.
Next day:
The pressure is on Bush after shaky performance.
Remember, you can see the full list of 44 top ranked sites if you
click at left to join Newsknife’s Members'
Area.
The 3-month Newsknife membership also lets you see in amazing detail
for each news site, Newsknife's overall relevance rankings for the
year to date. These are based on 123,000+ Google News site listings
for 677 major stories that we’ve studied to date.
Visit Newsknife regularly. We rate the news sites.
Newsknife in-depth information tools:
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