NewsGuard

NewsGuard is a rating system for news and information websites. It is accessible via browser extensions and mobile apps. NewsGuard Technologies Inc., the company behind the tool, also provides services such as misinformation tracking and brand safety for advertisers, search engines, social media platforms, cybersecurity firms, and government agencies.[2][3]

NewsGuard
Developer(s)NewsGuard Technologies, Inc.
Initial releaseMarch 2018 (2018-03)
Stable release
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari:
4.1.1 (Edge) / April 5, 2022 (2022-04-05)[1]
PlatformBrowser extension
TypeBrowser extension
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.newsguardtech.com

History

NewsGuard Technologies was founded in 2018 by Steven Brill and L. Gordon Crovitz, who serve as co-CEOs.[4] Investors include the Knight Foundation, Publicis, and former Reuters executive of Tom Glocer.[5][6]

In April 2019, the co-founders of NewsGuard announced that they had entered talks with British internet service providers to incorporate their credibility scoring system into consumer internet packages. Under the plans, a user would see a warning message before visiting a misleading site without needing to have the NewsGuard extension installed. Users would also have the ability to disable the feature.[7]

In January 2020, NewsGuard began notifying users that it would become a paid, member-supported browser extension in early 2020, while remaining free for libraries and schools. Early adopters would get a 33% discount on the price, paying $1.95/month (USD) or £1.95/month (UK). They plan to roll out new premium features, including a reliability score, and offer new mobile apps for Android and iOS.[8]

Company structure

NewsGuard is based in New York City.[9] Its advisors include high-profile former officials such as Tom Ridge, former homeland security secretary, Richard Stengel, former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, and Michael Hayden, former CIA director general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO chief, as well as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.[10][7]

Products and services

As of 2019, the company employed 35 journalists to review over 2,000 news sites. Ratings are broken down in terms of reliability, trustworthiness, and financial conflict of interest. This and additional information is then displayed in the form of a "Nutrition Label" by the NewsGuard browser extension when a user visits a news site. Those that pass are shown with a green icon next to their name. Those with low scores are shown with a red icon. Research shows that readers who see the green icon find the corresponding news site more accurate and trustworthy compared to those who see no or a red icon.[10][11]

Brill positions the extension as an alternative to government regulation and automated algorithms, such as those used by Facebook.[10] NewsGuard attempts to advise sites that it labels as unreliable on how to come into compliance with its rating criteria.[12]

Supported systems

NewsGuard operates a consumer-facing browser extension[9] and mobile apps for iOS and Android.[13] Supported browsers for the browser extension include Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari. It is included by default in the mobile version of Edge, though users must enable it.[13]

Business model and reach

For revenue, NewsGuard Technologies licenses their ratings. Clients include technology companies and the advertising industry, who view the ratings as a way to protect clients against advertising on sites that could harm their brand.[5] It also contracts with the United States Department of Defense.[14][15]

NewsGuard expanded its coverage to news in European languages such as French and German ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election.[16][17]

As of January 2021, NewsGuard says it has rated for more than 6,000 news sites that account for 95% of online engagement with news in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany and Italy.[18]

Since 2022, the company has partnered the American Federation of Teachers so that its service can reach millions of teachers, students, and public library patrons in the United States.[19]

Ratings and reception

NewsGuard approved sites include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and BuzzFeed.[5] Sites labeled as unreliable include InfoWars, the Daily Kos, Sputnik,[20] RT, WikiLeaks,[5] and Fox News.[21] NewsGuard's founders cautioned that its "Nutrition Label" should not be treated as an endorsement equivalent to the nutrition facts label from the Food and Drug Administration.[5]

Sites that had previously ignored the extension, such as MailOnline, objected to being listed as unreliable.[20] The decision to list MailOnline as unreliable was reversed, and NewsGuard admitted they were wrong on some counts.[22]

NewsGuard has been criticized by Breitbart News as "the establishment media's latest effort to blacklist alternative media sites,"[6] and by the conservative Media Research Center as having "extraordinary left-wing bias."[23]

See also

References
  1. NewsGuard Technologies. "NewsGuard for Microsoft Edge". Microsoft Store. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  2. Mayhew, Freddy (October 29, 2019). "News websites rated 'red' by Newsguard could miss out on ad money after agency deal". Press Gazette. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  3. "NSIN Post | NSIN | #52Weeks: Countering Disinformation". UNUM. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  4. Stelter, Brian (March 4, 2018). "This start-up wants to evaluate your news sources". CNN Business. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  5. Lee, Edmund (January 16, 2019). "Veterans of the News Business Are Now Fighting Fakes". The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  6. Li, Kenneth (February 1, 2019). "NewsGuard's 'real news' seal of approval helps spark change in fake news era". Reuters. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  7. Waterson, Jim (April 24, 2019). "Untrustworthy news sites could be flagged automatically in UK". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  8. Mayhew, Freddy (January 9, 2020). "News website rating tool Newsguard to start charging for service". Press Gazette. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  9. Perlow, Jason. "NewsGuard drops its paywall to combat coronavirus misinformation". ZDNet. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  10. Lapowski, Issie (August 23, 2018). "NewsGuard Wants to Fight Fake News With Humans, Not Algorithms". Wired.com. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  11. Morgan, David (March 5, 2018). "New venture aims to combat "fake news" on social media with warning labels". CBS News. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  12. Atkinson, Claire (August 24, 2018). "NewsGuard gives Fox News a thumbs up, Breitbart a thumbs down". NBC News. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  13. Perlow, Jason. "NewsGuard becomes free for all Microsoft Edge users". ZDNet. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  14. "Contract to NewsGuard Technologies, Inc". USASpending.gov.
  15. "Newsguard Technologies Contracts (DoD)". MuckRock. June 9, 2022.
  16. Maurer, Jacob (February 22, 2019). "A certifier for media credibility?". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  17. "NewsGuard's "news trust" ratings rolled out to Europe". European Journalism Observatory. June 6, 2019. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019.
  18. "Startups battle the spread of fake news during the pandemic | PitchBook". pitchbook.com. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  19. "AFT Partners with NewsGuard to Combat Misinformation Online". American Federation of Teachers. January 25, 2022.
  20. "Daily Mail demands browser warning U-turn". BBC News. January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  21. "Fox News 'fails to adhere to basic journalistic standards', says credibility rater Newsguard". Press Gazette. July 21, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  22. Walker, James. "We were wrong': US news rating tool boosts Mail Online trust ranking after talks with unnamed Daily Mail exec". Press Gazette. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  23. "STUDY: NewsGuard Ratings System Heavily Skews in Favor of Left-Wing Outlets". Allsides. December 31, 2021.
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