Which News App Is Best?
Can I Depend On A 'News App' To Be Unbiased?
Rip and Read
I spent hundreds of hours standing in front of news ‘teletype’ machines during decades of working in radio and television newsrooms. We usually had two machines typing away at the same time: one for Associated Press (AP) and the other for United Press International (UPI). The typing was so loud that many newsrooms placed them in small rooms with a door that would ‘soften’ the sound a little. I say ‘soften’ because you still needed to hear the ‘bells’ that would ring from the machine when a ‘bulletin story’ was coming across the ‘wire’ (as we called the machines).
Journalists had so much confidence in the accuracy of the ‘bulletin’ stories from AP and UPI that we would ‘rip’ the story off the machine and break into programming to ‘read’ the bulletin. I worked in some radio newsrooms where the AP and UPI wire machines were within a few feet of the anchor chair. The constant typing noise would be interrupted by the ringing bell, and I would tell listeners that we had just received a bulletin. I’d step over to the machines to check what was being printed. Keep in mind that I’m doing this during a live newscast. If the bulletin was of such a nature that it affected our listeners, I would ‘rip’ the wire story from machine and ‘read’ it live on air. That’s where the phrase ‘rip and read’ came from in radio. If the wire machines were some distance from the news anchor room, another member of the news staff would retrieve the ‘bulletin’ and bring it to me to read. We would always give credit to which news agency broke the story, but we didn’t question its accuracy. We believed AP and UPI to be ‘trustworthy’ news sources.
Unfortunately, the days of ‘rip and read’ are long gone. Journalism has become so biased that journalists have to (or at least should) question every story they receive from any source — that includes their own wire services and networks. I still see network news anchors break into news programming with a ‘news alert’ and read whatever another journalist wrote for them to read or what a producer told them in their earpiece. However, even then it’s good for the news ‘reader’ to credit the source and say something about their news team ‘checking into the details’ to confirm the story. I recommend that journalists be ‘very’ careful when reporting information they have not personally confirmed. Remember the journalistic process?
Gather
Confirm
Report
Too often today’s ‘24-hour news cycle’ pushes journalists to skip the ‘confirmation’ stage and go straight from getting information to reporting information. That’s where serious mistakes are being made throughout modern journalism — in countries across the world.
News You Can Trust?
So, who can journalists and news consumers trust for daily news? Many computers, tablets, and ‘smart phones’ have news ‘apps’ already installed by the manufacturer. Can you trust that the information from those apps is accurate and unbiased? How about news apps from your devices’ ‘App Store?’ What news apps could you add to your computer, tablet, or phone that would deliver accurate and objective news to you throughout the day?
Even though I retired from television news 15 years ago, I still love knowing what’s going on in the world. Even when I started a second career as a corporate communication’s director, I still had the ‘need to know’ what was going on in the world. I still read through about 20-25 news websites every morning and watch and listen to several newscasts throughout the day. I look at dozens of ‘headlines’ every morning in emails and ‘news apps.’ Many of the headlines are misleading. You discover that once you read the story ‘behind’ the headline.
Unfortunately, many studies have shown that the percentage of Americans who follow the news is shrinking each year. Many of those who do ‘check in’ read only the headlines. Headlines are usually written by an editor rather than the reporter who covered and wrote the story. I think that’s one reason headlines are often different than the stories. Plus, the bias of editors often comes through the headlines they write, similarly to how the bias of reporters comes through the stories they write.
I also like having a few apps on my phone that will notify me about ‘breaking news.’ I’ve found that even biased news sites tend to get the basics of a news bulletin almost right. The challenge is to confirm the information that follows the breaking headline. That’s where things can quickly become ‘one-sided’ rather than being ‘both-sided’ or ‘all-sided.’ No more ‘rip and read.’
Which ‘News Apps’ Can I Trust?
The big question for all of us is — ‘which news apps can I trust?’ It seems like most every news organization leans to the right or left. The days of a ‘neutral’ press and media seem to be in the past. The advent of AI media (news written by artificial intelligence) is growing rapidly, which also brings accuracy and objectivity into question. Who or ‘what’ programmed the media AI?
I loaded the NewsNation app several months ago and am seeing how that works. It gives me a quick look at top news of the day and also notifies me about breaking stories.
I’ve noticed more news apps promoting themselves as ‘unbiased’ news sources. One example is 1440.com. It promotes itself as —
The most impactful stories of the day, distilled to deepen your understanding of the world and save you time. By humans, for humans.
Feed your curiosity & expand your knowledge.
We send Monday through Saturday at 5 am ET, covering all the day’s top news and info—sports, science, culture, politics, business, and more—summed up in five minutes. Edited to be unbiased as humanly possible.
Sounds good, but how can you be sure? Maybe you take the word of a friend or family member. If you trust the person who tells you a news source is trustworthy, that makes it easier to take the app for a ‘spin.’
Daily ‘News’ Email Briefs
I receive many daily ‘news’ briefs by email and find most of them biased in one direction or another. They definitely ‘lean left or right,’ which makes the information suspect until you do you own research on any story that interests you.
If you search the App Store on your phone or computer, you’ll find scores of apps for news .. all touting to be ‘trustworthy’ sources of news and information. I research each app before downloading to try it. Researching takes a little time, but it can save you from wasting time with biased news.
One news app that takes a slightly different approach is ‘Ground News.’ Its motto is — ‘Daily News for Free Thinkers.’ The difference in its approach is by rating each story ‘Left,’ ‘Center,’ or ‘Right’ with percentage points and number of sources checked. Once you click on the link to the story, you’ll see links to the individual source stories, a Coverage Details box, and a Bias Distribution box. Ground News claims to access news from more than 50-thousand sources and present stories that other news sources aren’t reporting.
Ground News uses ‘aggregation technology’ that searches web content, then places it in one location for users. The technology has been around for more than 20 years, but it’s important to remember that humans are involved in the technology, programming, and processing of search findings. Even as this type of technology can ‘rate’ news sources as left, center, or right, journalists and news consumers can do the same thing. We can rate the ‘news aggregator’ as well. Try it out for a test run and see what you think. If it helps, great. If not, delete the app and keep looking.
Another news-rating system I’m looking into is called NewsGuard. The reason I’m ‘looking into it’ is to learn more about the ‘team of journalists and experienced editors’ who rate news websites.
NewsGuard employs a team of journalists and experienced editors to produce reliability ratings and scores for news and information websites based on nine journalistic criteria. The criteria assess basic practices of credibility and transparency. Based on a site’s performance on these nine apolitical criteria, which are each weighted differently with the points for all adding up to 100, it is assigned a 0-100 score, also expressed as 0% to 100%, and a rating level indicating the degree to which it adheres to the weighted criteria. The accompanying Nutrition Label, accessible by clicking through from the listed score, then explains how NewsGuard arrived at its assessment. NewsGuard
NewsGuard’s team may be among some of the best journalists in the business — curious, skeptical, objective, and accurate — but how can you be sure? Check them out carefully. NewsGuard has been around for several years, so you’ll find a lot of information about the people behind the organization and how they work. NewsGuard is also on Substack, so that’s another way to check out what they’re doing.
Another thing to look into is whether the news app is human or AI generated — and who or what is behind it. Here are a couple of reports about the NewsBreak ‘app’ —
NewsBreak is one of the most downloaded news apps in the U.S. with more than 50 million monthly users. However, according to a Reuters report, the company is spreading misinformation through artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content. The report also highlights that NewsBreak has roots in China, with its technology being maintained in Beijing and receiving funding from a Chinese company that allegedly works for the country’s military. Fox News
Here’s a portion of the Reuters report on the NewsBreak app —
Last Christmas Eve, NewsBreak, a free app with roots in China that is the most downloaded news app in the United States, published an alarming piece about a small town shooting. It was headlined "Christmas Day Tragedy Strikes Bridgeton, New Jersey Amid Rising Gun Violence in Small Towns."
The problem was, no such shooting took place. The Bridgeton, New Jersey police department posted a statement on Facebook on December 27 dismissing the article - produced using AI technology - as "entirely false". Reuters
NewsBreak is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has offices in China. It removed the article four days after publication, but the question is how did ‘false news’ get on their news app in the first place?
Many experts in the areas of journalism and artificial intelligence estimate that 90 percent of all online content (including news) could be AI generated by next year (2025). That should cause all of us to become even more diligent in checking out every story we see, hear, or read. Is it real or not? Is the information accurate? Is the reporting objective? Can I trust my eyes and ears? Those are some of the questions we’ll have to answer as AI becomes more prevalent in our society and culture.
Social Media News?
Millions of people get their ‘news’ from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. According to Pew Research — “Today, half of U.S. adults get news at least sometimes from social media.”
Those who get news on social media name a variety of things that they like about it, including convenience, speed and the element of social interaction. But some social media news consumers also express concerns about news there being inaccurate, low quality and politically biased. The share who say inaccuracy is the aspect they dislike most has increased from 31% to 40% in the past five years. Pew Research
Do you view information on social media sites as ‘unbiased’ and ‘trustworthy’ news? I don’t. Rarely do I find anything that doesn’t ‘lean’ to one side or the other. Once someone shares their ‘news,’ the comment sections are filled with biased remarks from both sides. I don’t recommend social media for ‘unbiased’ news and information. Do your own research. Find the truth. It’s out there.
In Conclusion
I am no longer a ‘spring chicken’ when it comes to news. I’m one of the ‘early boomers’ — born right after the end of World War II. I grew up in the 1950s and early 60s. I’m ‘old school’ when it comes to journalism and glad of it. I think that modern journalism has lost its way — veering to the left or right. Journalism needs to ‘return’ to the center where it belongs.
That’s why I started this Substack newsletter a few years ago. When journalists lean to the right or the left, the way back is to do the hard work of ‘real journalism’ and return to the ‘center’ of unbiased and accurate reporting. Will that be hard for biased journalists? Absolutely, but they can do it if they care about being ‘real journalists.’ Will your journalist friends turn on you? Some will, but what kind of a friend would want you to be biased and inaccurate in your reporting? If they care more about your ‘agreeing’ with their beliefs over the ‘truth,’ why would you want them as friends? Why should you care what they think if your professional goal in life is to gather the facts, confirm the facts, and report the facts?
Caution
When it comes to depending on news ‘apps’ as reliable sources for information, be cautious. There’s a lot of mis-information and dis-information out there. Lots of bias. Lots of half-truths and even bald-face lies being presented as NEWS. Be aware and beware.
If you want to get a news app on your phone, tablet, or computer, do some research to see which way it leans. Hopefully, you can find something that reports the truth ‘from the center.’ Good luck in your search.
Next Newsletter
I’ll look at news coverage from ‘Both Sides Now’ in the next Real Journalism newsletter.
Comments and Questions Welcome
I hope these thoughts are helpful to you. Please share your comments and questions and I’ll respond as quickly as I can. If you like what we’re doing in this newsletter, please let your friends know about it so they can subscribe.
Newsletter Purpose
The purpose of this newsletter is to help people who work in the fields of journalism, media, and communications find ways to do their jobs that are personally fulfilling and helpful to others. I also want to help news consumers know how to find news sources they can trust.
