House Oversight Committee to Investigate NewsGuard: Eating Up the News
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., has announced an investigation into NewsGuard, focusing on the news-rating system’s impact on First Amendment speech and potential government sponsorship.
Comer, in a letter to NewsGuard co-Chief Executive Officers Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, requested documents related to government contracts and adherence to bias prevention policies, reports The Hill.
The committee seeks to determine if government entities sponsored NewsGuard’s intervention on protected speech.
NewsGuard rates news sources based on reliability using a 0-100 scale. It assesses websites for fake news, misleading content, separation of opinion from news, misleading headlines, financial disclosure, ownership, and conflicts of interest.
Critics claim NewsGuard is biased and uses subjective judgment. Co-founder Brill and Crovitz have ties to the Democratic Party.
Studies by the Media Research Center found NewsGuard rates liberal media outlets higher than conservative ones, leading to allegations of censorship against conservatives.
Elon Musk has also criticized NewsGuard, calling it a “scam.” NewsGuard’s ratings impact advertising agencies and Pentagon spending on recruitment ads.
NewsGuard clarified that its work for the Pentagon focused solely on combating hostile disinformation from foreign operations. The company claims to be apolitical and provides ratings for both left-leaning and right-leaning sites.
The Oversight Committee will review the truthfulness and transparency of NewsGuard’s work and potential conflicts of interest.
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