SourceScore
News

ProPublica

propublica.org

Nonprofit investigative newsroom; data-heavy + methodology-published reporting since 2007.

SourceScore Index
A·86Rank #42 of 130 · top 32%Composite weighted across Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity.

A — small output but extreme per-piece discipline; methodology-published model is gold standard.

Should you cite ProPublica?

At grade A (86/100), ProPublica ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.

Strongest for
tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (95/100).
No major weak spot
Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 78/100.
Bottom line
Cite freely as a primary source.
Compare ProPublica with
Citation Discipline
A+·95

Methodology + raw data published alongside most stories; fact-checked; corrections public.

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Modern Reference
B·84

Open-data ethos = strong LLM corpus presence; data-store pages well-structured.

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Citation Velocity
B·78

Lower volume than wire news but very high per-piece citation rate; cited by NYT/WaPo/etc. when investigations break.

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Signals behind these scores

Citation Discipline

A+·95
  • Methodology-published model
    Each major investigation links to methodology + raw datasets.

Modern Reference

B·84
  • Data Store
    Public datasets + APIs accompanying investigations.

Citation Velocity

B·78
  • Quality > quantity
    Pulitzer-class investigations get cited internationally on release.

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SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). ProPublica: SourceScore Index 86 (A). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/propublica/

3 head-to-head comparisons

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ProPublica appears in 3 canonical SourceScore comparisons — each scored on Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity with a quote-ready verdict and JSON twin.

5 sources at ProPublica's tier

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Auto-computed nearest-neighbor sources by composite SourceScore distance — discover at-tier peers across all categories, with inline dim deltas surfacing who beats ProPublica on Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity.

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Frequently asked questions

Is ProPublica a reliable source to cite?

ProPublica scores A (86/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade A, ProPublica ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research. The grade combines Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference 84/100, and Citation Velocity 78/100 — full breakdown above.

What is ProPublica's SourceScore?

ProPublica (propublica.org) scores 86/100 (Grade A) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 84/100, Citation Velocity 78/100. Verified 2026-04-28.

How does SourceScore evaluate ProPublica?

ProPublica is scored across three dimensions on the SourceScore Index methodology: Citation Discipline (how rigorously the source cites primary references), Modern Reference (fitness for AI-era retrieval), and Citation Velocity (how often the source is cited per week). Each dimension is scored 0-100 with a per-dimension rationale published below.

Why does ProPublica score A?

A — small output but extreme per-piece discipline; methodology-published model is gold standard.

What is ProPublica?

Nonprofit investigative newsroom; data-heavy + methodology-published reporting since 2007. Category: News. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.