✕ Sensationalism [9/10]: The headline uses alarmist and definitive language ('It's so obvious', 'the signs are all there') to suggest a universal ability to detect cocaine use, which oversimplifies a complex medical and behavioral issue and invites judgmental observation.

"It's so obvious when someone is on cocaine. This is how to tell if your friends or family are secret users - the signs are all there"

✕ Loaded Language [8/10]: Phrases like 'secret users' and 'the signs are all there' frame cocaine use as a hidden moral failing rather than a public health issue, encouraging stigma.

"the signs are all there"

✕ Editorializing [10/10]: The article is a first-person opinion piece masquerading as news reporting, filled with personal anecdotes and value judgments rather than objective reporting.

"As someone who has also had to get clean from this most pernicious of party drugs, Keoghan’s words landed in my chest with a thud of recognition."

✕ Loaded Language [9/10]: Words like 'pernicious', 'seedy web of deceit', and 'trapped' inject strong moral and emotional judgment into the narrative.

"I was trapped in a seedy web of deceit, lying to my husband almost constantly."

✕ Appeal to Emotion [8/10]: The author leverages personal trauma and family risk ('our four-year-old daughter') to evoke sympathy and moral urgency, rather than informing.

"often returning the next morning just as he was taking our four-year-old daughter to nursery."

✕ Vague Attribution [8/10]: The article cites 'statistics' about cocaine deaths and usage without specifying source, date, or methodology, undermining credibility.

"According to statistics, deaths caused by the drug are at an all time high, with nearly a million adults a year taking it in powdered form."

✕ Cherry-Picking [7/10]: Relies solely on the author’s personal experience and one celebrity anecdote to generalize about cocaine use patterns, ignoring broader medical or sociological research.

"Barry Keoghan... revealed he used to take lots of cocaine."

✓ Proper Attribution [6/10]: Correctly attributes Keoghan’s quotes to a specific podcast and host, which is a rare instance of proper sourcing.

"He told the hosts that he abstains from everything, including alcohol."

✕ Omission [9/10]: Fails to include public health data on treatment success rates, socioeconomic disparities in addiction outcomes, or expert medical perspectives on cocaine use and recovery.

✕ Selective Coverage [7/10]: Focuses exclusively on middle-class, high-functioning cocaine use while ignoring systemic issues like poverty, mental health comorbidities, or racial disparities in drug enforcement.

"I was lucky that by dint of being middle class, I got to go to rehab."

✕ Narrative Framing [6/10]: Frames cocaine use entirely through a redemption arc (celebrity confession + personal recovery), ignoring structural and policy contexts.

"I feel so grateful to Keoghan for his openness"