Sunlight Foundation

NewsTrust.net 3.0

Sunlight grantee NewsTrust.net helps citizens make informed decisions about our democracy by making it easier to find good journalism online. Each day the non-profit, non-partisan group features a selection of articles and opinion pieces that its members rate for fairness, accuracy, context and sourcing. NewsTrust has just launched a new version of its site that promises "a better user experience with enhanced review tools, more visual appeal and higher performance." And in true Web 2.0 fashion, the redesign was partially guided by suggestions from its members.

As their site states, "it now offers a number of innovative features, such as distinctive  'trust-o-meter' ratings, separate listings for news and opinion, new review forms for beginners and professionals, new rating criteria tracking both quality and popularity, faster story submissions, personal bookmarks and special comment sections."

And I want to congratulate Fabrice Florin, NewsTrust's founder and executive editor. Ashoka recently named him as one of their social entrepreneur fellows. Way to go!

NewsTrust Focuses on Congress

NewsTrust.net - an online social news rating site - is focusing in on Congress this week and is looking for users, new and current, to contribute stories that exemplify quality reporting on Congress. Over at the NewsTrust blog they've singled out some of the stories submitted so far, including a number of articles and blog posts on the Senate fight over telecom immunity in the FISA reauthorization bill. They are hosting this Congress feature through Sunday, so get over there and review some articles. Feel free to submit blog posts or articles, I just submitted this great Alaska Daily News article about Sen. Ted Stevens' use of the earmarking process to help enrich a former staffer and fisheries industry lobbyist.

(NewsTrust is a Sunlight grantee.)

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NewsTrust Gets MacArthur Foundation Grant

Congratulations to Sunlight grantee NewsTrust.net. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded the ‘Web 2.0' news review service a hefty multi-year grant. The goal of NewsTrust.net is to help citizens find and evaluate good journalism online. Fabrice Florin, a former executive at Apple and Macromedia, founded NewsTrust.net as a response to the explosion of web-based media outlets.

Media consolidation and growing distrust of mainstream media are creating "a range of problems for democracy," Florin said in a press release released today, "(including) information overload, misinformation, mistrust and civic apathy." NewsTrust.net provides tools that allow users to filter news, evaluate news stories and reporting, and share stories with other users. The site's focus is on the quality of reporting, not popularity. The whole idea is to help citizens stay informed and engaged in the democratic process. This is a very exciting moment for the good people there. Congrats to them!


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News You Can Trust

One of Sunlight’s early goals was try to figure out how to improve the quality of reporting about what goes on in Congress, and so we are very pleased to announce a new grant to NewsTrust.net -- an organization that has developed an online news rating service to help people identify quality journalism -- or "news you can trust." Their members rate the news online, based on journalistic quality, not just popularity.

Their (still beta) Web site and news feed feature the best and the worst news of the day, picked from hundreds of alternative and mainstream news sources. Sunlight’s grant will provide an opportunity for a specific look at the U.S. Congress. Specifically, through the coming year, NewsTrust.net will search for quality journalism about our elected representatives, with a focus on accountability, corruption and transparency in Congress.

We hope you’ll jump right in. Sign up to contribute stories, get involved in evaluating them.

Read a good story on the U.S. Congress lately? Please submit it here, so others may learn from your research.

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