New anti-fake news tool labels Daily Mail as “proceed with caution”.
NewsGuard is the latest offering from the Internet in the on-going battle to fight fake or spoof news on the Internet, and to hold websites accountable for the stories that they publish.
It comes in the form of a browser extension, and is installed (though not enabled) by default on Microsoft’s Edge’s mobile browser, though is available for other popular browsers including Google Chrome and Edge’s desktop brower. When installed, an icon in the user’s browser will either turn green – meaning the site can be trusted – or red, meaning the site has failed a trustworthiness test.
It’s only been around since 2018, but it’s already made a name for itself after flagging one of the UK’s most popular tabloid outlets, The Daily Mail, claiming it “repeatedly publishes false information” and uses “deceptive headlines“. It’s credibility rating, according to NewsGuard, is only one out of five.
The Daily Mail website, Mail Online, is one of the most visited media websites in the country, though it is frequently considered to be significantly right leaning in the UK political spectrum.
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The flag is likely to raise a lot of eyebrows, and certainly demonstrates that the people behind NewsGuard are not messing around. Steve Brill, NewsGuard’s co-founder, told The Guardian “We spell out fairly clearly in the label exactly how many times we have attempted to contact them. The analyst that wrote this writeup got someone on the phone who, as soon he heard who she was and where she was calling from, hung up. We would love to hear if they have a complaint or if they change anything.”
Despite being automatically installed on the Microsoft Edge browser, Brill was adamant that any complaints or queries concerning NewsGuard’s decisions should be directed at his company, and not Microsoft. “They can blame us. And we’re happy to be blamed. Unlike the platforms we’re happy to be accountable… We want people to game our system. We are totally transparent. We are not an algorithm.”
When visiting The Daily Mail, site visitors using NewsGuard are greeted with the following message after the click the red NewsGuard icon –
Proceed with caution. This website generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability.
At the time of writing, the Daily Mail failed on six of the nine criteria presented by the NewsGuard extension. These are –
– Does not repeatedly publish false content
– Gathers and presents information responsibly
– Handles the difference between news and opinion responsibly
– Avoids deceptive headlines
– Reveals who’s in charge, including any possible conflicts of interest
– The site provides names of content creators, along with either content or biographical information
NewsGuard did, however, acknowledge that The Daily Mail regularly corrects errors, discloses advertising and ownership.
NewsGuard’s determination after we visited in the site.
The UK aside, it is likely that NewsGuard will have its work cut out in the US, whose political climate is as divisive as it has been in modern history, and with President Trump regularly deriding specific media outlets as “fake news” and “the enemy of the people”; something that was propelled again into the spotlight after Special Council Robert Mueller’s office dispelled a recent Buzzfeed News article concerning the on-going Russia collusion investigation as inaccurate.
It is worth noting however, that both CNN – which is generally considered left leaning – and Fox News – which is generally considered right leaning, have at the time of writing both been given a pass green light rating (though FOX News was given a cross for not disclosing ownership, financing and revealing any conflicts of interest.)
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NewsGuard is comprised mainly of journalists, with Brill being the founder of The American Lawyer, and Gordon Crovitz formerly of the Wall Street Journal.
According to The Guardian, a spokesperson for The Daily Mail said of the NewsGuard rating “We have only very recently become aware of the NewsGuard startup and are in discussions with them to have this egregiously erroneous classification resolved as soon as possible.”