Letter to Congress Cites MRC Study to Slam Teachers Union Partnership with Biased NewsGuard

Nineteen groups demanded that Congress examine the Orwellian relationship between NewsGuard, a leftist website rating firm, and the anti-parent American Federation of Teachers.

A coalition of education and tech policy groups, led by Fight for Schools, warned in their letter to Congress: “Given the rise of political intolerance within academic institutions and censorship from the tech industry, we are alarmed by this partnership and its implications for core American values in our schools.” The letter stipulated that “we are calling on Congress to investigate this partnership, including its origins, its intentions, its applications, and the broader issue of biased and conflicted so-called ‘anti-misinformation’ tools used in classrooms.” The letter cited an MRC study on NewsGuard ratings, which found that on a zero-to-100 grading scale, outlets classified as “left” or “lean left” by media bias rater AllSides were rated 27 points higher on average than news organizations that AllSides classified as “right” or “lean right.”

According to an AFT press release, Jan. 25, the AFT stated that it will purchase NewsGuard licenses from its 1.7million member teachers. NewsGuard will be made free to millions of students and their parents through the partnership. MRC President Brent Bozell said in a statement supporting the coalition: “Two far-left organizations partnering to push their ideology on children across the country. This is just as bad as CRT and it needs to be stopped.”

Signatories to the letter included the following leaders: Conservative Partnership Institute Senior Director of Policy Rachel Bovard, Claremont Institute President Ryan Williams, American Principles Project President Terry Schilling and  American Federation for Children National Research Director Corey DeAngelis.

The letter also cited a study by the Nieman Journalism Lab to expose how biased NewsGuard’s ratings favored leftist outlets:

Most astonishingly, Occupy Democrats is ranked 3rd in terms of trust according to the Nieman Journalism Lab survey. [100/100] score. According to an article in LA Weekly, Occupy Democrats repeatedly publishes ‘unabashedly partisan news…free from the constraints of objectivity and, in some cases, facts.’ According to an analysis by Buzzfeed, nearly 20% of the stories posted by Occupy Democrats on Facebook in the lead up to the 2016 election were either partly or mostly false.”

The letter also noted how outlets that dismissed the Hunter Biden scandal involving his notorious laptop as disinformation — like Politico (100/100), NPR (100/100) and CBS News (95/100) —all received and maintained high scores from NewsGuard as well. NewsGuard CEO Steven Brill even called the Hunter Biden scandal a Russian “hoax” on October 15, 2020, during a CNBC interview. In the meantime, New York PostNewsGuard gave the news agency that broke Hunter Biden’s story, an average 69.5/100 ratings. 

The letter also outlined AFT’s extremist activism on COVID-19. AFT President and liberal activist Randi Weingarten “and her affiliate organizations fought to keep schools closed and misrepresented their position on school closures, CDC guidance, and the efficacy of the vaccine.” The letter underscored how dangerous it would be for American schools should AFT’s partnership with NewsGuard be allowed to operate without scrutiny:

Indisputable evidence suggests that the AFT has a political bent and supports the Democratic Party as well as allied causes. The American Federation of Teachers contributed 99.99% of its campaign funds to Democrats in the 2022 election cycle. The AFT is regarded as the most credible and trustworthy organization in journalism.

You can read the whole letter by clicking here

Fight for Schools: Letter to Congress, NewsGuard/AFT Partnership

Conservatives are being attacked. Contact ABC News (818) 460-7477, CBS News (212) 975-3247 and NBC News (212) 664-6192, and demand they cover the Fight For Schools Congressional letter blasting the AFT-NewsGuard’s leftist agenda to indoctrinate American children.