NewsGuard Forms Board of Advisors for its News Literacy Programs
23 January 2020
Members include representatives from schools, libraries, universities, and other nonprofits in the U.S. and Europe.
Press Release - New York, 23 January 2020
[ PDF version ]
Looking ahead to an important year in the global fight against misinformation, NewsGuard has assembled a board of advisors for its News Literacy Program, which includes partnerships with nearly 700 public libraries around the globe. As NewsGuard and expands its news literacy efforts in 2020 and the years ahead, the board will advise NewsGuard on its development of educational programs and resources, as well as about its core products.
In recognition of the meaningful aid the board provides, NewsGuard has committed to donate $500 per board member to the school, library, or nonprofit of his or her choosing.
“At NewsGuard, we take pride in our staff’s journalistic expertise,” said Sarah Brandt, NewsGuard’s Vice President of News Literacy Programs. “By assembling this board of advisors for our news literacy initiatives, we are able to complement that journalistic experience with
expertise from the education sphere.”
The board consists of a highly-regarded group of individuals from diverse settings including libraries, schools, universities, and educational nonprofits.
The list of members is as follows:
- Belinha De Abreu — Global media literacy educator (U.S.)
- Ilona Kish — Director, Public Libraries 2030 (Europe)
- Sarah Morris — Head of Instruction and Engagement, Emory University (U.S.)
- Joel Shoemaker — Director, Illinois Prairie District Public Library (U.S.)
- Lucie Spicer — Head of Educational Technology, Shout Out UK (U.K.)
- Tony Tallent — Chief Program and Innovation Officer, Richland Library (U.S.)
- Giovanni Vespoli — Project Manager, Ministry of Education, University and Research, Safer Internet Center - Connected Generations (Italy)
- Giuseppe Vitiello — Director, The European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (Europe)
“This is a fast-paced, fake news world,” said Joel Shoemaker, Director of the Illinois Prairie District Public Library. “Screen time is essentially a constant and, unfortunately, people take advantage of that and promote nonsense. NewsGuard helps us curb some of that. It was important for us to implement as a tool for our patrons. I joined the board because it is important for me, personally, to help other institutions realize its value.”
“Shout Out UK believe that News Literacy is vital in the U.K. for young people to be able to identify and combat misinformation and disinformation in the online media landscape, social media, and print media, because this is the only way to ensure true democracy,” said Lucie Spicer, Head of Educational Technology, Shout Out UK. “Without these skills, young people do not know who to trust or what information is real, which leads to a severe lack of engagement by young people in the democratic processes.”
Through the program, which is free to public and school libraries through sponsorship support from Microsoft, libraries can install the NewsGuard browser extension on the computers and laptops available to patrons and students and can use its “Nutrition Label” reviews as a basis for media literacy workshops and discussions. NewsGuard is seeking additional sponsors for its News Literacy Programs in the U.S. and Europe.
Interested sponsors, or librarians interested in bringing NewsGuard to their library, may visit newsguardtech.com or contact
sarah.brandt@newsguardtech.com.
About NewsGuard:
Launched in March 2018 by media entrepreneur Steven Brill and former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz, NewsGuard provides credibility ratings and detailed “Nutrition Labels” for thousands of news and information websites.
NewsGuard rates all the news and information websites that account for 96% of online engagement in the U.S. and also operates in the U.K., Germany, France and Italy.
NewsGuard rates each site based on nine apolitical criteria of journalistic practice, including whether a site repeatedly publishes false content, whether it regularly corrects or clarifies errors, and whether it avoids deceptive headlines. It awards weighted points for each criterion and sums them up; a score of less than 60 earns a “red” rating, while 60 and above earns a “green” rating, which indicates it is generally reliable.
NewsGuard’s ratings and Nutrition Labels can be licensed by internet service providers, browsers, news aggregators, and social media and search platforms in order to make NewsGuard’s information about news websites available to their users. These ratings are made
available to consumers through its browser extension, which is available on Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox browsers, and on mobile devices through the Edge mobile browser for iOS and Android devices. Hundreds of libraries globally use NewsGuard’s free media literacy
browser extension on their public-access computers to give their patrons more context for the news they encounter online.
For more information, including to download the browser extension and review the ratings process, visit newsguardtech.com
Contacts:
NewsGuard:
Steven Brill, Co-CEO, steven.brill@newsguardtech.com, +1 212-332-6301
Gordon Crovitz, Co-CEO, gordon.crovitz@newsguardtech.com, +1 212-332-6407
Sarah Brandt, Vice President of News Literacy Program, sarah.brandt@newsguardtech.com
EBLIDA:
Giuseppe Vitiello, Director, g.vitiello@eblida.org; +39.3337392630
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