Digital Reputation Indicator: a webometric approach for a global ranking of digital media

Abstract

In this article we present the Digital Reputation Indicator (DRI), an innovative methodological tool that allows evaluating and comparing the reputation of digital news media on a global scale. In use since January 2023 by SCImago Media Rankings (scimagomedia.com), DRI is a composite assessment and measurement instrument that weighs web metrics originating from trusted, stable, and globally accessible sources. DRI provides a resource for the qualitative comparison of digital media according to a webometric model based on its level of citation by other websites (citationflow), the quality of the sites that link to the media (trustflow) and the level of authority scores associated with their domain (domain rating and authority score). This article explores the reliability of this webometric approach, which overcomes the limitations of the two media measurement paradigms used up to now: the most traditional, based on audience measurement, and the most recent, oriented towards popularity in social networks. In this article we present and test the consistency of the DRI as a resource for the building of a global ranking of digital media, an instrument that we consider to be of interest to both the academic and professional communities.