FME Framework

The Forensic Media
Evaluation Framework

FME is the multi-dimensional model behind every Rhetoric Audit analysis. Instead of a single "bias score," it profiles a piece across independent rhetorical dimensions so readers can see how an argument is built — not just whether they agree with it.

Origins

Why a Multi-Dimensional Framework

Most public bias tools collapse a complex piece of writing into a single label — left, right, true, false, fake, real. That compression destroys the very structure a careful reader needs in order to evaluate the work.

FME takes the opposite approach. It profiles a piece across a set of independent dimensions, each answering a narrow, well-scoped question. The dimensions can disagree with one another, and that disagreement is informative: a piece can be emotionally loaded yet evidentially solid, or rhetorically neutral yet missing critical context.

Core Model

The FME Dimensions

Philosophical Frame

The underlying worldview a piece is reasoning from — the assumptions about reality and society that shape how the argument is built.

Political Inclination

Where the piece sits on the political spectrum based on its rhetorical posture, not the author's stated affiliation.

Manipulation Risk

How aggressively the text uses persuasion techniques that bypass deliberate thinking — emotional escalation, loaded framing, false urgency.

Fallacy Density

The concentration of common logical fallacies across the piece, weighted by how central they are to the argument.

Evidence Validity

How well the central claims are anchored in verifiable, attributable evidence within the text itself.

Emotional Resonance

The intensity and direction of the emotional charge the text is engineered to produce in a reader.

Intent Transparency

How openly the piece discloses its perspective, sponsorship, or agenda versus presenting opinion as neutral reporting.

Source Reliability

An assessment of the cited sources and the upstream credibility of the evidentiary chain.

Strategic Silence

Material context, counter-evidence, or stakeholders that are conspicuously absent — what the piece chooses not to say.

Narrative Archetype

The story shape the piece falls into — hero/villain framing, decline narratives, redemption arcs, threat constructions, and similar patterns.

Design Goals

What Makes FME Useful

Decomposable

Each dimension scores one question well, instead of compressing many judgments into a single number.

Comparable

Outputs are uniform across articles, sources, and time so trends and outliers are visible.

Defensible

Every score is paired with structural evidence inside the analyzed text — not vibe-based commentary.

Reader-first

Designed to enrich human judgment for journalists, researchers, analysts, and critical readers — not replace it.

See FME applied to a real article

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