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Walnut Creek · Crash · Roads · Sat Sep 26

Car rolls over on N. California Boulevard in Walnut Creek and two people leave

> THE MARTINEZ WIRE ▌SOURCE CHECK · SEP 29, 2026F14 / 100

Grade F · score 14/100

The story links no document and names no one on the record; the one fact the Wire could check does not match its records. No sources cited.

Checked Tue Sep 29, 12:52 AM · 1 of 1 page read

What the reporting says

The car flipped and slid on its roof toward a parked Jeep at Cypress Street at 1:09 a.m. Saturday, and two people got out and fled, News24-680 reports.

record check0 of 1 match

  1. Not in the Wire's records, so not checked.

    As News24-680 wrote it: “Walnut Creek residents were awakened by the sound of a crash and grinding metal early Saturday morning when a car rolled and slid on its roof towards a Jeep parked at N. California Boulevard and Cypress Street at 1:09am.”

coverage1 outlet

1 newsroom

No sources cited

News24-680

News report · NEWS24-680 · Sat Sep 26

Source grade F14/100

“Rollover Crash Resonates In Walnut Creek Early Saturday; Occupants Flee”

0 documents linked0 quotes0 of 2 paragraphs say where facts came from

No sources cited

Read the full story at News24-680

How this was graded0 + 0 + 0 + 10 + 4 = 14 of 100 · Grade F
0
Sourcing · of 45
0
Corroboration · of 15
0
Record match · of 20
10
Headline · of 10
4
Transparency · of 10

At most D: No sources cited.

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    How the grading works

    The short version

    The Wire grades each article from what the page itself shows: whether its facts say where they came from, the public documents it links, the other outlets and sources that confirm the same story, whether its facts match the Wire's own public records, a calm headline, and a clear byline and date. The story takes its best-sourced telling's grade. The grade describes the page, never the people in it.

    The formulaGrade = 100 × points ÷ possibleA 85 · B 70 · C 55 · D 40

    Grade = 100 × points ÷ possibleeach article · 0 to 100

    Story = its best tellingA 85 · B 70 · C 55 · D 40 · F below 40

    45
    Sourcing · 25 for the share of facts that say where they came from, 0, 7 or 12 for none, one or two or more public documents linked, 0 to 8 for the people and agencies named on the record
    15
    Corroboration · 8 or 12 for one or two or more other outlets or sources confirming it, 3 more when one is official; 8 for a telling alone that links two or more documents
    20
    Record match · 20 × the key facts confirmed or matching the Wire's records ÷ the facts checked; left out when none could be checked
    10
    Headline · less for a question, capitals, an exclamation mark, a teaser or heated words
    10
    Transparency · a byline, a date, an update or correction note, the outlet's identity, the kind labelled
    This story's arithmeticone article graded
    OutletSCRHTScore
    News24-68000010414

    0 + 0 + 0 + 10 + 4 = 14 of 100 · Grade F

    S sourcing · C corroboration · R record match · H headline · T transparency. A dash is a part left out.

    How it is checked6 rules
    • Every input is read by rules from the page itself; the arithmetic is shown for every article.
    • An article that names no source, links no document and names no one on the record says "No sources cited", and its grade is at most D.
    • Where the Wire's own records hold the fact (a vote, a meeting, an amount, a call, a listing), the story and the record are set side by side; a vote the record tells differently holds the grade at most at D.
    • An agency's own release is the record itself and is not graded; an outlet that prints it as its story counts once.
    • Each story's key facts are checked for independent confirmation: first by rules against the Wire's records and the agencies' own releases, then each morning by research. A confirmation counts only when the Wire read the source's page itself and found the sentence on it; a government page, a public record or another newsroom's own reporting, never a copy of the story or a social post. A source that tells a fact differently is shown beside the story.
    • A page the Wire cannot read is never guessed at: it shows only its own headline, quoted, and is not graded.
    Sources1 records
    1. News reportSat Sep 26News24-680Read