Transparency & Methodology

Modern media uses a wide range of narrative and influence techniques—some intentional, some simply stylistic. The Narrative Influence Index highlights patterns that may impact the way a story is interpreted, such as:

• Strong emotional presentation relative to the underlying facts
• Framing choices that guide interpretation of events
• Selective emphasis that shapes perceived importance
• Reduction of complex topics into overly simple narratives
• Presentation styles that encourage quick or reactive judgments

The result is a Numerical Influence Score and a category-based breakdown that helps readers reflect on how a story is being told—not whether it is right or wrong.

To maintain fairness and avoid external gaming or cloning of the methodology, the system’s internal mechanics are kept deliberately abstract. At a high level, each analysis follows this process:

• Text Processing: The article content is isolated and cleaned so only the substantive text is evaluated.
• Contextual Reading: A large language model (LLM) reviews the article using internal analytical guidance.
• Pattern Assessment: The model considers a range of narrative and influence indicators.
• Composite Scoring: Indicators are combined through a private weighting system to produce a 0–100 influence score.
• Neutral Explanations: The system provides brief, descriptive reasoning for each observed pattern.

Specific evaluation criteria, categories, scoring thresholds, and LLM instructions remain confidential to prevent tampering, gaming, and unauthorized replication.

The Narrative Influence Index is built around several foundational principles intended to reduce bias and ensure responsible use:

• Neutrality: The tool is not aligned with any ideology or political group.
• Symmetry: All topics and sources are evaluated using the same internal standards.
• Evidence-Only: Conclusions are drawn exclusively from the article text itself.
• No Motive Assignments: The system does not speculate about intent or moral worth.
• Conservative Scoring: Higher intensity scores require clear, repeated evidence.

To avoid confusion, here is what the Narrative Influence Index is not designed to measure:

• Factual accuracy or whether claims are true or false
• Political bias or ideological alignment
• Moral judgments, ethical evaluations, or intent
• The reliability of the outlet, author, or source
• The motives of individuals or institutions

It is a media-literacy aid—not a truth meter, fact-checker, or political classifier.

Certain components of the system are intentionally not disclosed, including:

• Internal evaluation criteria and category structure
• Weighting formulas and scoring thresholds
• LLM instructions, prompts, and calibration parameters
• Internal heuristics designed to stabilize fairness

These details are kept private to prevent:

• Third parties from copying or recreating the system
• Authors from attempting to manipulate or “optimize” articles to achieve certain scores
• Bad-faith usage or distortion of the methodology

Like any analytical framework, the Narrative Influence Index has limitations:

• Scores reflect patterns in writing, not objective truth.
• Breaking-news format may naturally have less context.
• Quoted emotional statements can affect tone without representing the narrator.
• Articles covering similar events may vary in style and emphasis.
• No AI-driven analysis is perfect; occasional misinterpretation is possible.

The best way to use the score is as a prompt to pause, reflect, and consider how the framing of a story might influence perception.

The Narrative Influence Index is a tool for awareness, not authority. We encourage users to:

• Compare multiple sources covering the same event
• Look for patterns in emotional framing or selective emphasis
• Reflect on your own reactions to different writing styles
• Use the tool to support discussion, not to shut it down