NewsGuard: The confused journalists who are coming for your children
In 2018, an organization called NewsGuard was created for the purpose of combating “misinformation” and “disinformation”, both in the mainstream and social media.
“Fighting misinformation with journalism – not algorithms,” reads one of NewsGuard’s taglines. The organization promotes itself as truth tellers who put out the fires of fake news, and pride themselves on using human judges instead of unbiased technology.
NewsGuard’s method is not far off from the standard “fact-check” formula. In their own words:
“NewsGuard employs a team of trained journalists and experienced editors to review and rate news and information websites based on nine journalistic criteria," the site claims.
"The criteria assess basic practices of credibility and transparency. Based on a site’s performance on these nine criteria, it is assigned a Red or Green rating and 0-100 trust score, indicating its credibility.”
Ironically, despite NewsGuard claiming to be committed to combating false news, it proves to be anything but.
If there were any doubt, NewsGuard has been promoted by none other than CNN as “the Librarian of the Internet.”
As if we needed further illustration, a study conducted by the Media Research Company (MRC) shows that NewsGuard rates leftist news outlets 27 points higher, on average, than right-leaning media outlets.
But perhaps the biggest irony lies with NewsGuard’s co-founder, Steven Brill. Brill has extensive experience in the media world and has made waves in the past with his investigative reporting skills.
In February 2013, Brill wrote a cover story for Time magazine titled Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us. In the report, Brill revealed how hospitals manipulate the medical system to maximize revenue, and how medical bills have less to do with the actual care provided than we think.
Two years later, Brill wrote a book on the same subject titled America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System. He also released a documentary on Big Pharma company Johnson & Johnson. The documentary exposed how J&J marketed Resperdal to children and the elderly while concealing the side effects. J&J made billions of dollars in profit from the drug.
Now, however, it seems Brill has done an about-face as NewsGuard runs heavy interference for Big Pharma and the COVID-19 vaccine in particular.
In fact, NewsGuard has a dedicated section to pushing the COVID-19 narrative in which the vaccine is the only cure. It’s called the Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center and it includes a section on the “Top Ten COVID-19 Vaccine Myths”, which it then tries to rebut.
To cite one example, the first listed myth is, “The mRNA vaccines being developed for COVID-19 will alter human DNA.” NewsGuard, of course, dedicates two paragraphs trying to claim this is false.
However, a study from Lund University shows that the COVID-19 vaccine does indeed create new DNA after attaching to the host’s liver cells.
This same organization and its confused journalists are coming for schoolchildren.
In January, Axios posted a news article that NewsGuard will become the news-of-choice for schools around the country as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the second large teachers union in the U.S., buys 1.7 million licenses.
"We are constantly trying to help our students, particularly our middle, high school and postsecondary students, separate fact from fiction, as we help them develop their critical-thinking and analytical skills," said AFT president Randi Weingarten.
In 2011, NewsGuard co-founder Steven Brill blasted Weingarten for protecting incompetent teachers. He also slammed Weingarten for fighting necessary reforms and merit-based pay.
Weingarten has notoriously pushed for schools continuing to mask children. In January, Weingarten referred to parents who disagree with mask mandates for children and Critical Race Theory brainwashing as racists.
