NewsTrust.net (Your Guide to Good Journalism) and The Huffington Post's OffTheBus have joined forces on a ground-breaking citizen journalism project. Everyone is invited to participate. From the NewsTrust blog:
Think of this 'news hunt' as a scavenger hunt for good journalism on John McCain. All week, from Monday, June 2nd, through Sunday, June 8th, we will collectively review hundreds of news articles and opinions about the candidate, using the NewsTrust review tools. Together, we will rate the news based on quality, not just popularity -- by evaluating each article's fairness, sourcing, context and other core principles of good journalism. This focus on quality information and news literacy can help us all make more informed decisions as citizens, as well as re-build the trust that has been lost between the news media and the public.
For the past two nights, I have read and reviewed a few articles. Using the media literacy review tool which pops up next to the article has helped guide me to evaluate the articles. Bias in journalism exists, and this tool helps identify it. The more people get involved in this, the more media-literate people there will be — a key component of a healthy democracy and society.
This testimonial about NT highlights some key features about this beta site:
"It's hard to think of another site quite like NewsTrust ... The fact that they are a non-profit whose only agenda is gathering quality news is probably the secret to their success -- in terms of integrity and objectivity, I can't think of a source I'd trust more." — Christopher Mims - Scientific American
This short tutorial provides a basic overview of how NT works:
NewsTrust could really benefit from additional participation from writers and bloggers (hint, hint).
