Monday, March 21, 2022

MRC, Allies Warn Governors About Biased NewsGuard’s Pact with Teachers Union

MRC, Allies Warn Governors About Biased NewsGuard’s Pact with Teachers Union

March 3rd, 2022 12:22 PM

The Media Research Center and more than 40 other conservative leaders warned governors about the left-wing bias of ratings firm NewsGuard.

The joint letter, signed by MRC founder and President Brent Bozell and dozens of other free speech advocates, sounded the alarm both on NewsGuard’s leftist bias and the ratings firm’s dangerous and growing influence in the educational arena. NewsGuard recently partnered with the American Federation of Teachers to bring its online “credibility” ratings and other resources to teachers and school children.

But the MRC consistently found NewsGuard to be biased in favor of leftist news outlets. NewsGuard even rated several Communist Chinese state-run media outlets higher than several American outlets and pro-life U.S. websites. The ratings firm also claims to help identify “misinformation,” but its biases show it isn’t objective.

Below is the full letter to state governors about NewsGuard:

 

“Dear Governor,

 

NewsGuard, a so-called online “credibility” arbiter, is threatening the quality and integrity of the education system in your state. And in every state.

NewsGuard has recently partnered with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to censor points of view they disagree with in the classroom. Specifically, NewsGuard is actively working with the AFT to bring its agenda-driven rating system to classrooms across the country. Why? To stymie students from partaking in an open exploration of news and views from across the political spectrum. 

NewsGuard claims to objectively rate the validity and accuracy of websites and news sources. But it does nothing of the sort. In fact, as we have pointed out in a recent study, NewsGuard is yet another one-sided, leftist organization dedicated to silencing conservative voices and other viewpoints it disagrees with. Specifically, in our study we  “found that outlets rated ‘left’ or ‘lean left’ by AllSides received an average NewsGuard score of 93/100. Sites considered ‘right’ or ‘lean right’ by AllSides had an average NewsGuard rating of 66/100.  

As we have outlined in our report: “School children depend on the internet for homework help. NewsGuard is now stepping in to ‘filter’ online sources for so-called ‘misinformation.’ The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union is buying NewsGuard licenses for its 1.7 million member teachers, according to an AFT press release. The partnership will make NewsGuard available to tens of millions of students and their families for free. The NewsGuard partnership will foist the company's ‘real-time “traffic light” news ratings and detailed “Nutrition Label” reviews, via a licensed copy of NewsGuard’s browser extension’ on students using news stories for research.``

We are calling on you to stop this ideological assault on education and freedom of speech. There should be no partnership among such ideologically driven outside organizations and state-sponsored educational establishments. Such partnerships are clear conflicts of interest with an open and honest educational system. 

If, according to NewsGuard, a website does not meet its biased criteria for accuracy, NewsGuard gives that website a worse rating — on a scale of 1-100. The purpose of NewsGuard’s rating system is clear … to silence voices with which it disagrees. Examples of NewsGuard’s bias include:

  • HuffPost, which published an attack piece on then-conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh following his death headlined “Rush Limbaugh, Bigoted King of Talk Radio, Dies at 70,” scored a “87.5” by NewsGuard.
  • The Federalist, posted in the “right” AllSides list, was scored the worst with a ridiculous “12.5” on NewsGuard. A predominant reason for the abysmal rating, according to NewsGuard, was that The Federalist questioned the efficacy of mask mandates for COVID-19, even though liberal CNBC (not on the AllSides list, but has a “95” NewsGuard rating) cited a study showing that cloth masks were only 37 percent effective at filtering out virus particles.
  • Abortion giant Planned Parenthood, who performed 9 million abortions as of July 2021, recieved a positive 75/100 rating.  Yet, NewsGuard gave pro-life LifeNews and Live Action websites negative red “credibility” ratings of 30/100. NewsGuard specifically downgraded Live Action for reportedly exposing corruption in Planned Parenthood. The rating firm gave LifeSiteNews a 17.5/100.

And now NewsGuard is bringing this leftist, censorship agenda to secondary and post-secondary schools throughout the country — through a partnership with a far-left teacher’s union.

This agenda must be stopped dead in its tracks. 

As education is a key priority of any state, we are urging you, as your state’s chief executive, to call out NewsGuard for its ideologically driven agenda. We are also asking you to take immediate steps to prevent NewsGuard from inserting itself into the classrooms and schools of your state

As organizations representing millions of Americans all across the country, including your state, we are calling on you to immediately and publicly take a stand and prevent the agenda driven NewsGuard from insinuating itself into the classrooms in your state. 

We look forward to your response.

 

Sincerely,

 

L. Brent Bozell III

Founder and President

Media Research Center

 

Saulius “Saul” Anuzis

President

60 Plus Association

 

Ted Baehr, Th.D., HHD, J.D.

Chairman 

Christian Film and Television Commision

 

Gary L. Bauer

President

American Values

 

Ryan Bomberger

Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer

The Radiance Foundation

 

Dan Bongino

The Dan Bongino Show

 

Merrilee Boyack 

President

Strengthen Utah Families

 

Floyd Brown

Publisher

The Western Journal

 

Mrs. Susan Carleson Currer

Chairman and CEO

The Carleson Center for Welfare Reform

 

Senator Jim DeMint

Chairman

Conservative Partnership Institute

 

William A. Donohue

President

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

 

Erick-Woods Erickson

Host of the Erick Erickson Show

 

Steven Ertelt

Editor

LifeNews.com

 

Mark J. Fitzgibbons

President of Corporate Affairs

American Target Advertising, Inc. 

 

Lady Brigitte Gabriel

Founder & Chairman

Act for America

 

Gualberto Garcia Jones

Vice President

LifeSiteNews.com

 

Paul J. Gessing 

President

Rio Grande Foundation

 

Kristi Hamrick

Chief Media and Policy Strategist and Spokesperson

Students for Life of America/Students for Life Action

 

Aaron Harison

President

Free Beacon

 

Kristan Hawkins

President 

Students for Life Action/Students for Life of America

 

Heather R. Higgins

CEO

Independent Women’s Voice

 

Colleen Holcomb

President

Eagle Forum

 

Phil Kerpen

President

American Commitment

 

Amy Kremer

Chairwoman

Women for America First

 

David Kupelian

Vice President and Managing Editor

WND

 

Jim Lakely

Vice President and Director of Communications

The Heartland Institute

 

George Landrith

President

Frontiers of Freedom

 

Carrie Lukas

President

Independent Women’s Forum

 

Richard Manning

President

Americans for Limited Government

 

James L. Martin

Founder and Chairman

60 Plus Association

 

Rod D. Martin

Founder and CEO

The Martin Organization

 

Cleta Mitchell, Esq. 

Senior Legal Fellow

Conservative Partnership Institute

 

Phelim McAleer

Ann & Phelim Media

 

Michael P. McDonald

Communications Director

The Catholic League

 

Ann McElhinney

Ann & Phelim Media

 

C. Preston Noell III

President

Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

 

Emmanuel Rincon

Editor-at-Large

El American

 

Austin Ruse

President

Center for Family and Human Rights

 

Terry Schilling

President

American Principles Project

 

Jon Schweppe

Director of Policy & Government Affairs

American Principles Project

 

Craig Shirley

Chairman and CEO

Shirley & McVicker Public Affairs

 

Sharon Slater

President

Family Watch International

 

Sean Spicer

Former White House Press Secretary

 

Mathew D. Staver, Esq., B.C.S.

Founder and Chairman

Liberty Council

 

Governor Scott Walker

President

Young America’s Foundation

 

Lieutenant Colonel Allen B. West (U.S. Army, Retired)

Member, 112th U.S. Congress

Former Chairman, Republican Party of Texas

 

Aaron Withe

CEO

Freedom Foundation”

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