Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Launches Global Power Barometer

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, a leading publisher of award-winning news and information websites, today announced the launch of the Global Power Barometer (GPB), a tool that measures which nations, ideologies or movements are most powerful based on how successfully they influence global opinion and events.

“We developed this tool with the hope that when combined with the opinions and analyses of the PostGlobal international team, the GPB will stimulate informed discussion and debate.”

Located on PostGlobal, washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com's panel blog on international issues, the Global Power Barometer (GPB) is a striking visual monitor updated each weekday by the research firm Denver Research Group, Inc. using a weighted sample of thousands of influential sources from the media, academia, governments, and NGOs from around the world. The GPB offers a non-partisan indication of the most powerful nations and ideologies on a given day without judging those group’s policies or values.

"We need new tools to help us make sense of the world around us. With our partners at Denver Research Group, we have created an intelligent information aggregator that analyzes global trends,” said David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist who, with Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek, is co-moderator of PostGlobal. “The Global Power Barometer offers a clear daily snapshot of what the world is saying and thinking. We can ask questions like who is becoming the dominant power in the Middle East, and the GPB will help us determine the answer.”

“With the whole world connected via the Internet, power is no longer reserved for those with the largest military or economy. Rather, groups have learned to maximize their power by creating alliances and utilizing the Web,” explains Caroline Little, CEO of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive. “We developed this tool with the hope that when combined with the opinions and analyses of the PostGlobal international team, the GPB will stimulate informed discussion and debate.”

Transparency in Reporting: Clicking on “Decoding Today’s Chart” takes the reader to a bulleted explanation of the observations and drivers for the current chart, as well as archived paragraphs from earlier days and weeks. Clicking on an individual country or group on the chart displays a representative sample of sources used in determining the power shift for that day.

Looking at What’s Next: As it tracks and analyzes thought and actions across the world, the Global Power Barometer (GPB) frequently catches sight of issues that will impact global politics. These are the issues that likely will move the icons in coming weeks. The “What’s Next” button allows the reader to access “Emerging Issues”, which is a simple listing of issues, players, events, political intrigues or other items that the PostGlobal team believes may become important in coming days or weeks.

Tracking Movements: The reader can click on the time bar at the top of the chart to watch movement of the icons over the current week. Clicking on any of the dates stops the chart at that specific date. The movement in previous weeks can also be viewed by clicking “Other Weeks”.

Find the Global Power Barometer at: blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/drg

About PostGlobal

PostGlobal is a washingtonpost.com and Newsweek experiment in global, collaborative journalism, a running discussion of important issues among dozens of the world's best-known editors and writers. It aims to create a truly global dialogue, drawing on independent journalists in the countries where news is happening. At least twice a week, a question is posted to solicit responses from a diverse network of experts, and readers, whose combined views offer a reflection of what the world thinks about important issues more quickly and completely than would those of any single commentator. Panelists include Moises Naim, the Editor of Foreign Policy magazine in Washington, Bill Emmott, the former Editor of The Economist magazine in London, M.J. Akbar, the Editor of The Asian Age in New Delhi, Michael Young in Beirut, Ahmed Rashid in Lahore, William Gumede in Johannesburg and Huang Hung in China with forty others.

Find PostGlobal at: blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal

The Denver Research Group

The Global Power Barometer is produced independently for PostGlobal by Denver Research Group, Inc. (“DRGI”). DRGI’s proprietary systems analyze Global Thought 24/7 using a weighted sample of thousands of influential sources from the media, academia, government, NGOs and other published sources. DRGI is a niche consulting firm that has for nearly three decades provided cutting edge monitoring, trend projection, strategic planning, and other services to Fortune 200 firms and other public and private clients.

About Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI)

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive is the online publishing subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO). Its mission is to create truly interactive platforms that offer unbeatable user experiences by developing editorial products with world-class reporting and award-winning content. WPNI’s flagship news and information sites, which include washingtonpost.com, Slate, Newsweek.com and Budget Travel Online, inform and encourage conversation and debate and reach over millions of unique and active users each month. WPNI properties’ long lists of awards include the first national Emmy award for original video journalism online given to washingtonpost.com.