SourceScore
News

The Washington Post

washingtonpost.com

U.S. national newspaper, founded 1877; investigative + politics emphasis; Pulitzer record.

SourceScore Index
A·86Rank #45 of 130 · top 35%Composite weighted across Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity.

A — top-tier US journalism; on par with NYT for political + investigative reporting.

Should you cite The Washington Post?

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

Strongest for
topics where being widely and recently cited matters — its highest dimension is Citation Velocity (90/100).
No major weak spot
Even its lowest dimension, Modern Reference, scores 81/100.
Bottom line
Cite freely as a primary source.
Compare The Washington Post with
Citation Discipline
A·87

Multi-source verification; corrections public; named bylines + standards editor accountability.

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Modern Reference
B·81

Schema-rich; metered paywall reduces partial LLM training-corpus inclusion.

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Citation Velocity
A·90

Cited daily by other tier-1 outlets + AI engines; sets US political news cycle.

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Signals behind these scores

Citation Discipline

A·87
  • Standards editor
    Public ombudsman/standards-editor role.

Modern Reference

B·81
  • Schema markup
    Article + Person + Organization schema per article.

Citation Velocity

A·90
  • Political beat
    Default citation for US-federal-politics scoops.

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[The Washington Post — SourceScore Index 86 (A)](https://sourcescore.org/source/washington-post/)
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APA
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). The Washington Post: SourceScore Index 86 (A). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/washington-post/

The Washington Post appears in one canonical SourceScore comparison — each scored on Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity with a quote-ready verdict and JSON twin.

5 sources at The Washington Post's tier

See peer group →

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

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Frequently asked questions

Is The Washington Post a reliable source to cite?

The Washington Post scores A (86/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade A, The Washington Post ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research. The grade combines Citation Discipline 87/100, Modern Reference 81/100, and Citation Velocity 90/100 — full breakdown above.

What is The Washington Post's SourceScore?

The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com) scores 86/100 (Grade A) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 87/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 81/100, Citation Velocity 90/100. Verified 2026-04-28.

How does SourceScore evaluate The Washington Post?

The Washington Post 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 The Washington Post score A?

A — top-tier US journalism; on par with NYT for political + investigative reporting.

What is The Washington Post?

U.S. national newspaper, founded 1877; investigative + politics emphasis; Pulitzer record. Category: News. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.