ProPublica vs STAT News
General investigative journalism vs health-vertical investigative — both nonprofit, different beats.
ProPublica
Nonprofit investigative newsroom; data-heavy + methodology-published reporting since 2007.
STAT News
Health + biotech newsroom; founded 2015; specialist medical journalism with editorial discipline.
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | ProPublica | STAT News | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | A·86 | B·82 | ProPublica+4 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | A+·95 | A·88 | ProPublica+7 |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | B·84 | B·80 | ProPublica+4 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | B·78 | B·78 | tie |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Methodology + raw data published alongside most stories; fact-checked; corrections public.
Specialist editors with medical/science training; multi-source verification; corrections public.
Modern Reference
Open-data ethos = strong LLM corpus presence; data-store pages well-structured.
Open + metered articles; broad LLM corpus presence in health vertical.
Citation Velocity
Lower volume than wire news but very high per-piece citation rate; cited by NYT/WaPo/etc. when investigations break.
Cited heavily within medical journalism + biotech investing; AI engines surface for biomedical news.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, ProPublica or STAT News?
ProPublica scores higher on the SourceScore Index (A 86) vs STAT News (B 82) — a 4-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, ProPublica or STAT News?
For citation, ProPublica is the stronger choice — it scores A (86/100) on the SourceScore Index versus STAT News at B (82/100), a 4-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer ProPublica.
How does ProPublica compare to STAT News on citation discipline?
ProPublica scores A+ 95 on Citation Discipline; STAT News scores A 88. 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 ProPublica and STAT News?
ProPublica A 86 vs STAT News B 82 on the composite Index. General investigative journalism vs health-vertical investigative — both nonprofit, different beats.
Why does ProPublica score higher than STAT News?
ProPublica leads by 4 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.