More than 40 conservative leaders and the Media Research Center warned governors of the biases of NewsGuard ratings company 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.
However, the MRC found NewsGuard biased towards leftist news outlets. NewsGuard also rated some Communist Chinese state-run media outlets more highly than many American outlets. The ratings firm also claims to help identify “misinformation,” but its biases show it isn’t objective.
Here is the complete letter addressed to governors of each state about NewsGuard.
“Dear Governor,
NewsGuard, a so-called online “credibility” arbiter, is threatening the quality and integrity of the education system in your state. Every state.
NewsGuard recently joined forces with AFT to ban teachers from expressing opinions they don’t agree with. NewsGuard and the AFT are working together to promote their agenda-driven rating system in classrooms all across the country. Why? It is to prevent students from engaging in open discussion of views and news from all political perspectives.
NewsGuard asserts that it can objectively assess the accuracy and validity of news sites and sources. It does not do this. NewsGuard is, in fact, another leftist, biased organization that seeks to silence conservative voices. Specifically, in our study we “found that outlets rated ‘left’ or ‘lean left’ by AllSidesAverage NewsGuard Score of 93/100. Sites considered ‘right’ or ‘lean right’ by AllSides had an average NewsGuard rating of 66/100”.
Our report outlines: “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 TeachersNewsGuard licenses will be purchased by (AFT), union to support its 1.7million members teachers. According to an AFT press release. NewsGuard will be made free to students and their families through the partnership. 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 call on you not to allow this ideologic assault against education and freedoms of expression. It is wrong to form a partnership between such ideologically driven organizations outside the state and educational institutions that are sponsored by the state. These partnerships create clear conflicts of interests with an honest and open 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.
- Planned Parenthood, the abortion giant, received a positive 75/100 ratings. It performed more than 9,000,000 abortions between July 2021 and July 2021. Yet, NewsGuard gave pro-life LifeNews and Live Action websites negative red “credibility” ratings of 30/100. NewsGuard specifically downgraded Live Action because it allegedly exposed corruption in Planned Parenthood. LifeSiteNews received a rating of 17.5/100 from the rating company.
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 needs to be stopped immediately.
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. You are asked to make sure NewsGuard is not allowed to enter your school’s classrooms or schools.
We are calling upon organizations that represent millions of Americans across America, including your state to take an immediate and public stand against NewsGuard’s agenda-driven infiltration into your school classrooms.
Your response is highly appreciated.
Sincerely,
L. Brent Bozell III
President and founder
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
As Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder
Radiance Foundation
Dan Bongino
Dan Bongino Show
Merrilee Boack
President
Utah Families Need Strengthening
Floyd Brown
Publisher
The Western Journal
Mrs. Susan Carleson Currer
Chairperson 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
Chief Editor
Red State
Steven Ertelt
Editor
LifeNews.com
Mark J. Fitzgibbons
Chief 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
Spokesperson and chief media and policy strategist
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
The 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
Director of Communications and Vice President
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
Chairman and Founder
60 Plus Association
Rod D. Martin
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Martin Organization
Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
Senior Legal Fellow
Conservative Partnership Institute
Phelim McAleer
Ann & Phelim Media
Michael P. McDonald
Communications Director
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
Chairperson and CEO
Shirley & McVicker Public Affairs
Sharon Slater
President
Family Watch International
Sean Spicer
Ex-White House Press Secretary
Mathew D. Staver, Esq., B.C.S.
Chairman and Founder
Liberty Council
Governor Scott Walker
President
Young America’s Foundation
Lieutenant Colonel Allen B. West (Retired U.S. Army),
Members, 112th U.S. Congress
Former chairman, Republican Party of Texas
Aaron Withe
The CEO
Freedom Foundation”
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