The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into a news-rating system known as NewsGuard, which ranks news outlets based on trustworthiness. The focus of the probe is on whether NewsGuard’s contracts with federal agencies influence the news it tries to suppress. Oversight Chair James Comer is concerned about NewsGuard’s impact on free speech and its potential role in censorship campaigns.
Comer has requested documents from NewsGuard’s CEOs, Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, regarding the group’s business relationships with government entities, adherence to bias policies, conflict of interest management, and actions that delegitimize accurate information. The Committee is particularly interested in NewsGuard’s Department of Defense contract and its involvement in censorship campaigns.
NewsGuard has received nearly a million dollars in federal funding, with most coming from the Department of Defense. The group also won a prize for participating in a State Department-sponsored tech challenge on COVID-19 misinformation. Advertisers use NewsGuard to target niche audiences and avoid networks spreading misinformation.
Comer raised concerns about NewsGuard’s commitment to political neutrality, citing the social media activities of editorial employees. He questioned the criteria used by NewsGuard, which gives poor ratings to conservative outlets like OAN, Newsmax, and Fox, while grading networks like MSNBC and CNN highly.
NewsGuard employs journalists and editors to rate news sources based on journalistic criteria. Comer has requested various documents from NewsGuard, including contracts with government entities and disciplinary actions related to bias violations.
The deadline for submitting these documents is June 27, 2024. The investigation aims to determine if federal entities are involved in restricting free speech and to ensure transparency in NewsGuard’s operations. Comer emphasized the importance of upholding the principles of truthfulness and transparency in media rating systems.