O-Score proof
Election Day: Ocean City, Md., Council President Matt James ousts long-time Mayor Rick Meehan, 1,438 to 1,136 (unofficial)
10O-Score10 · Fully overlooked0 of 13 major U.S. outlets by our publish date · See proof →Method note: Score reflects coverage as of publish date; changed Nov 2, 2026. Only articles dated on or before our publish date (Nov 3, 2026, ET) count. Later articles are listed as pickups and never lower the score.
Status history (3 events, ET)
- O-Score check: 10 (Fully overlooked) · 0 of 13 outlets counted
- Published as breaking news
- Breaking period ends (24 hours) (scheduled)
The math
- Outlets checked: 13 major U.S. national outlets.
- Confirmed reports of this story dated on or before our publish date: 0.
- 0 found → O-Score 10 (Fully overlooked). Higher means more overlooked.
| Score | Meaning | Major U.S. outlets that covered it |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Fully overlooked ← this story | 0 of 13 outlets |
| 8 | Barely covered | 1 outlet |
| 6, 5 | Lightly covered | 2 outlets (6) · 3 outlets (5) |
| 4, 3 | Covered | 4 outlets (4) · 5 outlets (3) |
| 2, 1, 0 | Widely covered | 6–7 outlets (2) · 8–10 outlets (1) · 11–13 outlets (0) |
Provisional: All 13 outlets were checked through Google News and Bing News site searches; their own site search could not be run directly. 60 candidate headlines were reviewed and none was about this race.
Checked Nov 3, 2026, 11:38 PM ET · coverage window: 2026-09-25 to 2026-11-03 (40 days, built around this story’s publish date of 2026-11-03). Scored after publication.
Every outlet
| Outlet | Result | Searches run |
|---|---|---|
| AP | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| Reuters | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| The New York Times | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| The Washington Post | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| The Wall Street Journal | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| CNN | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| Fox News | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| NBC News | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| CBS News | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| ABC News | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| NPR | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| USA Today | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
| Bloomberg | Not found | Matt James Meehan Ocean City mayor Ocean City mayoral election Rick Meehan |
Pickups
We published: Nov 3, 2026 (ET).
No major-outlet pickup after our publish date yet.
Check history
| Checked (ET) | Check | O-Score | Confirmed outlets | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 3, 2026, 11:38 PM ET | initial | 10 Fully overlooked | 0 | No change |
Search terms
“Matt James Meehan”, “Ocean City mayor”, “Ocean City mayoral election”, “Rick Meehan”
Method
- google-news site: (4 term variants per outlet)
- bing-news site: (4 term variants per outlet)
- editor read of every candidate headline
A match counts only if the outlet’s own article is about this story, not a passing mention. “Not found” means not found by these methods; search engines index only part of each site. Stories are rechecked daily for pickups; the score itself is locked to coverage as of our publish date.