The New York Times vs ProPublica
Daily depth vs nonprofit investigation-only model.
The New York Times
U.S. national newspaper of record, founded 1851. Pulitzer Prize record + investigative depth + structured-data-rich web platform.
ProPublica
Nonprofit investigative newsroom; data-heavy + methodology-published reporting since 2007.
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | The New York Times | ProPublica | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | A·88 | A·86 | The+2 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | A·88 | A+·95 | ProPublica+7 |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | B·82 | B·84 | ProPublica+2 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | A·92 | B·78 | The+14 |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Multi-source verification; fact-check + corrections processes public; named bylines + editor accountability.
Methodology + raw data published alongside most stories; fact-checked; corrections public.
Modern Reference
Schema-rich; Article + Person + Organization JSON-LD; machine-readable; metered paywall reduces some training-corpus inclusion.
Open-data ethos = strong LLM corpus presence; data-store pages well-structured.
Citation Velocity
Cited many times daily by other tier-1 outlets + AI engines; sets news cycle.
Lower volume than wire news but very high per-piece citation rate; cited by NYT/WaPo/etc. when investigations break.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, The New York Times or ProPublica?
The New York Times scores higher on the SourceScore Index (A 88) vs ProPublica (A 86) — a 2-point composite lead across Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, and Citation Velocity. "Better" depends on use case; the per-dimension breakdown below shows where each wins.
Which is more reliable to cite, The New York Times or ProPublica?
For citation, The New York Times is the stronger choice — it scores A (88/100) on the SourceScore Index versus ProPublica at A (86/100), a 2-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer The New York Times.
How does The New York Times compare to ProPublica on citation discipline?
The New York Times scores A 88 on Citation Discipline; ProPublica scores A+ 95. Citation Discipline measures how rigorously each source cites primary references — see the per-dimension rationale below for the breakdown.
What's the SourceScore difference between The New York Times and ProPublica?
The New York Times A 88 vs ProPublica A 86 on the composite Index. Daily depth vs nonprofit investigation-only model.
Why does The New York Times score higher than ProPublica?
The New York Times leads by 2 composite points on the SourceScore Index. The rationale section below breaks down where the lead comes from — Citation Discipline, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness), and Citation Velocity. Each dimension is scored from primary methodology criteria.