Aiming to break down echo chambers and combat polarization, a new platform launching today enables users to easily compare how sources from across the political spectrum and from around the world are covering the same news event.
At a time when many people find themselves overwhelmed and under-informed as they piece together patchwork information from social media and conflicting news sources, the Ground News Pro mobile app offers visualization and comparison tools that quickly provides users with the objective information they need to analyze, understand, and draw their own conclusion about a developing news story. Launching two weeks before the first votes are cast in the U.S. presidential race, it is the world's first news source comparison platform, drawing from more than 40,000 news sources worldwide and featuring an average of 30,000 news stories per day.
Unlike traditional news aggregators, which utilize crowd-sourcing and algorithms that tend to reward sensational stories designed to draw clicks, Ground News Pro puts a priority on helping users understand the news based on critical data like media bias, geographic location, and time. Each media outlet is categorized based on bias data provided by Media Bias/Fact Check, AllSides.com, and The Media Bias Chart, three third-party nonprofits dedicated to monitoring and rating news sources along the political spectrum.
"Just a few years ago, you could read three newspapers or watch three cable networks and make sense of the news on your own because you knew the political leanings of the media outlets," said Harleen Kaur, the co-founder and CEO of Ground News. "But the boom in online news sources and the rise in clickbait and deliberately deceptive news is making it harder than ever to grasp what is truly happening."
For any news story, users can scroll left and right to see headlines and how a story is being covered, as well as whether diverging narratives are emerging based on the bias of the outlets. A side-by-side comparison chart also allows users to quickly see if a story is receiving balanced coverage or if it is only being covered by left-leaning or right-leaning media, which can lead to increased political polarization. Kaur said this one-sided coverage could be a warning sign that the story is either being sensationalized to draw clicks or that is being overlooked by media on one side of the political spectrum.
A former NASA engineer, Kaur said she co-founded Ground News Pro as a media industry outsider who could bring an objective approach to solving the problems of bias and misinformation. Ground News Pro is independently funded by individuals who share Kaur's interest in solving these problems and it has not sold any equity to media companies or institutional investors. Kaur added: "Our goal is to break down echo chambers and empower consumers with the tools they need to think critically about a news story. We want to help people arrive at the truth themselves without being unduly influenced by one news source or perspective."
Other highlights of Ground News Pro include:
Geographic location: Users can see a story has been adapted to fit a geopolitical agenda by spinning a globe to compare coverage from around the world. They can also view coverage categorized by local, national, and international media
Publication date and time: Where a story originated and whether it was published by a reputable news source is critical. Ground News Pro lets users see how a story changes and evolves over time with a video that marks where and when a story was published on the globe.
Ground News Pro is available for $0.99/month or $9.99/year through the App Store and Google Play Store's subscription services.
A mobile and web-based version of Ground News is available for free. Read this for more information.
A free Basic version of Ground News has been in the App Store and Google Play Store for over a year and has received over 4,000 4.5 star ratings and reviews.
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