NewsTrust

Presented by:

Fabrice Florin Executive Director

NewsTrust

(415) 388-6688 fab@newstrust.net www.newstrust.net

Your Guide to Good Journalism

What is NewsTrust?

•  a social news network focused on good journalism

•  we help people find quality news and information

•  we rate the news based on quality -- not popularity

•  we’re nonprofit and offer these free public services:   quality news feeds

  news literacy tools   civic engagement network

Our Team Managers: • Fabrice Florin - Executive Director (formerly with Apple, Macromedia) • David Fox - Technology Director (formerly with Lucasfilm Games)

Staff: (partial) • Kaizar Campwala - Associate Editor • Adam Florin - Web Engineer • Derek Hawkins - Assistant Editor • Subramanya Sastry - Web Engineer

Editors: (partial) • Michael Bugeja - Iowa State University • David Cohn – Spot.Us • Dan Kennedy - Northeastern • Mike La Bonte - and 14 more …

Board Members: • Terry Gamble - Ayrshire Foundation • Henry ‘Hap’ Perry - GenSpring • Kim Spencer - Link TV • Fabrice Florin - NewsTrust

Advisors: (partial) • Doug Carlston – Public Radio Intl. • Mike Dixon - Google News • Dan Gillmor - Arizona State University •  Jim Kennedy - Associated Press • Bill Mitchell - Poynter Institute • Evelyn Messinger - Citizens Network • Betsy Morgan - Huffington Post • Craig Newmark - Craigslist • Howard Rheingold - Stanford University •  Jay Rosen – New York University

Our Partners

Foundations/Donors: MacArthur Foundation Ashoka Google, Inc. Sunlight Foundation Tides Foundation Ayrshire Foundation Craig Newmark Doug Carlston Mitch Kapor Hap Perry and other private donors

Here are some of our first partners and backers.

Media Partners: PBS (News Hour / P.O.V., etc.) Washington Post Scientific American Huffington Post InstaPundit Council on Foreign Relations Global Voices Link TV Mother Jones New America Media PolitiFact

Educational Partners: Stanford University University of Nevada Arizona State University Northeastern University Poynter Institute University of Santa-Clara

Widget Partners:

AFP (Agence France Presse) Slate (Doonesbury.com) Yahoo News and many others

Our Challenge

The Case for News Literacy

A Hybrid News Filter

Our Web Site - Home Page

Quick Review Form - Politico

Review Form

Full Review Form - WashPost

Full Review Form

Review Button

Story Page - Reviews

Source Profile

Member Profile

Member Profile

Our Community

Our community of reviewers is widespread, educated, and mature. Early adopters share liberal views. Half of our members are experienced journalists and three-quarters have college degrees.

Age: Adults 18-34 Adults 35-49 Adults 50+

27% 27% 46%

Journalism: 5+ years 1-4 years No experience

22% 28% 50%

Politics: Left Center Right

62% 27% 11%

Education: Post-graduate College High school

42% 33% 25%

Source: Google Analytics/MySQL - Jan. 2009

Trust Network Our community is organized in different groups, based on trust and experience. As members gain trust in our network, their validation levels rise and their ratings are weighted accordingly.

Staff

Editors

Hosts

Reviewers

Members

Visitors

staff

editors

hosts

reviewers

members

visitors

8

22

239

5,294

10,264

103,633

5

4

3

2

1

-

Source: Google Analytics/NewsTrust - May. 2009

Group Size: Validation Level:

News Quality Ratings Citizens using our tools rate journalistic quality with consistent accuracy.

good journalism >> << bad journalism

Original version

Degraded version

Original version

Degraded version

2009 Partnerships

Partner Features: •  News Hunts – community engagement •  Widgets – most trusted news & information •  Buttons – quality feedback from reviewers

News Hunts:

•  Bush Legacy - with Washington Post

•  War in Gaza - with Link TV and Yahoo News

•  Money - with Consumers Union and Stanford

•  Education - with Ashoka Foundation

•  Black Experience - with PBS, Tavis Smiley, USC

•  Education Reform - with PBS, NOW

A Typical News Hunt

Here is one way in which NewsTrust collaborates with our media and educational partners:

•  Featured topic: Obama’s First 100 Days

•  Media partner: PolitiFact

•  Educational partner: University of Nevada

•  Our goal: to find great journalism about Obama

•  Our work: all week, our members submit and review stories

•  Results: we share our top stories and findings for a week

News Hunt PBS - Home Page

PBS NewsHour On-Air Promo

News Hunt Welcome Page

Small Widget

HuffPo News Hunt - Home Page

Call to Action

Add value to your site Mockup

Widget

Review Button

Widgets (Slate)

Large Widget

www.newstrust.net/widgets/

Widgets (Yahoo)

www.newstrust.net/widgets/

RSS Feed

NewsTrust in Education Here are some of the educational activities provided by NewsTrust and our partners.

Group Presentation & Discussion

(Stanford)

Online Research & Reviews (U. Nevada)

Team Findings & Blog Posts

(Arizona State U.)

Why Partner with NewsTrust?

•  help build a public appreciation for good journalism

•  promote quality news and opinion to a broad community

•  surface the best news coverage on your site

•  encourage civil social interaction and tolerance

•  develop news literacy skills and civic engagement

•  enhance user experience, increase customer loyalty

Collaborating with NewsTrust serves these goals:

New Services and Tools

•  Facebook/Twitter Integration

•  Member/Source Widgets

•  News & Opinion Listings

•  Mainstream & Independent

•  Email & RSS Feeds

•  Review Buttons

•  Smart Bookmarklets

New Home Page Mockup #2 (2009)

New Toolbar

Smart Feeds

• newsworthy links from around the web

• from greatest minds in 'link journalism’

• Clay Shirky, Jay Rosen + hundreds more

• high quality news stories round-the-clock

• aggregate expertise from other networks

• a smart way to filter Twitter, Digg, etc.

• helps citizens find timely, diverse information

Groups

• recommendations from friends & like minds

• political, demographic & affinity groups

• special groups for sources & partners

• group pages show their top rated stories

• compare group ratings with each other

• compare your own rating with different groups

• helps increase diversity in our networks

My News

• a personal feed of good journalism

• stories that match your interests

• filter by source, topic or reviewer

• add custom filters to your feed

• share your news with your friends

• helps citizens get more informed

NewsTrust Anywhere Coming Soon

Mockup

Rating Widget Listing

Widget

The NewsTrust Difference

•  NewsTrust fills a real need through:

-  quality news feeds

-  news literacy tools

-  civic engagement network

•  we help citizens make more informed decisions

•  we add value for our partners and their customers

•  when citizens and journalists collaborate, everybody wins

How you can help

•  Sign up as a member: newstrust.net/signup/

•  Check our review tips: newstrust.net/help/reviewer/

•  Spread the word: newstrust.net/about/

•  Get our widgets: newstrust.net/widgets/

•  Add our buttons: newstrust.net/buttons/

•  Sign up as a partner: newstrust.net/partners/