i mostly evaluate it by the topics they cover, and how much i feel engaged when reading them; nothing particularly savvy i'm afraid. for instance teen vogue has started focusing on pressing social and political issues over the last few years, washington post has done a series of "this is what the people in power are doing, and here's why it's not right/normal", nyt has had a lot of good in-depth coverage of various segments of the country and how they are living in these times, not to mention some excellent coverage of medical advances, and the guardian has been good about writing about systemic social and environmental issues.