Tell us what you think: any suggestions?

Andrew Lawrence - Aug 12, 2008 9:24 am (#284 Total: 285)


I could not submit my latest (and greatest!) article because your submission form would not accept the url I entered. The url I entered was perfectly good as it is MY OWN website! Sorry I wasted my time signing up and trying to submit.

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Michael Bugeja - Aug 26, 2008 4:49 am (#285 Total: 285)


I value NewsTrust.net as an exciting, new, innovative and much-needed resource in an uncertain media age. To my mind, it remains one of the best online tools to build trust on interactive platforms. One of the disappointments, however, has been how few members have clicked "right" as a political viewpoint. Visit member profiles and conduct your own experiment. Most are left, a few are center, and several did not provide an answer to political affiliation. (In the interest of transparency, NewsTrust.net might provide this data for the membership.)

I clicked "right" on my political view, but my character differs from stereotypes of conversatives. I do not mean to speak for them, but many, including me, believe in God, don't go to worship, and embrace science (including evolutionary theory); we may be registered Republicans but many have not decided on whom to vote for in December; often we cannot tolerate fiscal waste, especially in education (and particularly in technology), as it disenfranchises the next generation, making a college education an elitist pursuit; we tend to believe in a strong defense to safeguard our liberties, and often are outraged when the GOP limits them in this country, which only bolsters our strong dislike of government; and we support the redistribution of work (creating more jobs) more than the redistribution of wealth. As a journalist and educator, I admit that these are biases, and I try to be aware of them every time I write a review for NewsTrust.net or attach my byline to an article, chapter or book. One more way to adjust for biases, I have learned using NewsTrust.net, is to review a broad range of articles from publications across the political spectrum and evaluate them according to the research protocol developed here that ensures trustworthy journalism. I have found it is important to fill out as much of the review form as possible and provide links to counter-arguments. Finally, I also have promoted NewsTrust.net to political conversatives and those with right-leaning viewpoints to show how fair many NewsTrust.net members are in reviewing articles. In the end, though, I also believe that our biases do influence how we see the world, and so I think it is important to balance the membership, for without a broader political base, Fabrice Florin's beautiful idea--a site to uphold principles of journalism--will not achieve the success that it deserves and that we need now more than ever in the news media.