How NewsWatch works

What is a cluster?

A cluster is a group of news articles from different outlets all covering the same story. When Mihaaru, Avas, and Sun Online each publish an article about the same event, NewsWatch groups them into one cluster so you can compare how each outlet covered it.

How are clusters created?

Every 30 minutes, our system compares new articles to find ones covering the same story. Articles are matched using their titles, lead paragraphs, and key entities (people, places, organisations). If they are about the same event, they are added to the same cluster.

What does "first to report" mean?

The outlet that published the earliest article in a cluster is marked "First" in the timeline. This is based on the article's publication time as shown on the outlet's website.

What is the cluster summary?

Each cluster has an AI-written Dhivehi summary that describes the main story in a few sentences. The summary is generated from all articles in the cluster and updated as new articles are added.

How is article quality scored?

Each article is analysed by AI across four dimensions. Each dimension is scored 1–5 and the overall score is their average.

What does the score look like?

Scores are shown as stars and bar charts on each article in the story timeline. Here is an example of an article scoring 3 out of 5 overall.

Does a low score mean the article is wrong?

No. Quality scores reflect journalistic practice, not factual accuracy. A breaking news article published minutes after an event may score low on sources or specificity simply because details were not yet available — not because it is inaccurate. Scores should be read in context.

What is an article's angle?

The angle describes the editorial stance of an article — what perspective the journalist took when covering the story. Each article is assigned one angle by AI.

Can the same story have multiple angles?

Yes — and that is the point. One cluster might have Mihaaru covering a story as Institutional (official statement), Avas covering it as Exclusive (with new details), and Adhadhu taking an Opposition angle. Seeing all three together gives you a fuller picture of the story.

How is a reporter's rating calculated?

A reporter's rating is the average quality score across all their AI-scored articles.

Does a high rating mean the reporter is better?

A higher rating reflects consistent journalistic practice — sourcing, balance, detail, and clarity. It does not measure the importance of the stories covered, investigative depth, or impact. It is one signal among many, not a definitive judgement of a journalist's work.

How are reporters identified?

Reporter names are extracted automatically from article bylines. If an article has no byline, it is not attributed to any reporter. Names are matched across articles from the same outlet — the same person writing under slightly different spellings may appear as separate reporters.