Two individuals may receive the news daily but have an entirely different image of the same event. Much of this depends on which news source they choose to rely on as the same facts may be interpreted as a victory, a defeat or even a scandal depending on the writer of the article. What this produces is a society where not only opinions diverge but different versions of events as well.
The selling point of this platform isn’t that Ground News offers someone the “right” perspective. It makes no bones about that it is not offering “the truth,” but is providing aggregated information from third-party sources to show the big picture. In this case, the bias bar, Blindspot, and rating of sources are all instruments to reveal the whole spectrum, not a judgment of who is right.
Highlights
- Ground News is an independent news comparison platform based out of Kitchener, Ontario, and founded in 2018 to enable users to get coverage across the political spectrum.
- This company is not writing any news on its own and also doesn’t promise to deliver the “truth” but instead gathers other people’s reporting to form a full perspective on each story.
- The bias rating is being done with the help of three independent media monitoring platforms: AllSides, Ad Fontes Media, and Media Bias Fact Check instead of Ground News’s opinions.
- This service is available as a website and through iOS, Android applications, and also browser extension and there is a free plan and three paid plans.
- For each article, you’ll see the Left-Center-Right bias bar with the numbers of sources on each side so the bias of coverage will be obvious at first glance.
- With the help of Blindspot functionality, you’ll get articles where one side of the political spectrum is widely covered, while the other ignores.
- All the sources have their political leaning, factuality, and even ownership tags – like “Media Conglomerate” or “Individual.”
- The single big story can gather hundreds of sources into the Full Coverage view.
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Ground News Review
Unique Features
Comparison of bias through parallel presentation
Ground News’s essential feature is the Full Coverage tab, where a particular news piece is presented along with all other media that report it, arranged according to their political orientation. A Left-Center-Right tab illustrates how many publications are aligned with each group, and thus, with 109 sources reporting the same news piece, it becomes obvious what side prevails in its presentation. The differences may be quite remarkable. In regard to new logging policies of the US federal government, for instance, the Los Angeles Times reported it with the headline “rolls back forest protections in an effort to rev up logging,” whereas Zero Hedge interpreted the same policies in the light of wildfire danger and pests.
The Blindspot feature
Factuality rating of all sources
Clarity on ownership
Ground News marks the ownership of the outlets as well, with tags like “Media Conglomerate” and “Individual.” The fact that two differently-branded outlets are owned by the same parent company, or the stories are covered mainly by few conglomerates, adds another dimension not brought to light by any other news apps.
Independent sourcing for bias ratings
Ground News gets its lean ratings from three independent media monitoring organizations such as AllSides, Ad Fontes Media, and Media Bias Fact Check. These independent raters ensure that Ground News is not solely responsible for placing the source on the particular side since independence is an essential element of Ground News’ claim not to have its own agenda.
Personal bias information
As for subscribers, the system records personal habits and displays the leaning of the sources that the user prefers to read, thereby looking into his/her own biases as well. It is possible to track how a user’s preferences develop from a political perspective, being left or right-leaning.
How Ground News Actually Functions
The process begins with the headline of the story. A reader accesses a story that isn’t one story, but rather the full coverage with the bias bar at the top and all sources included beneath, sorted from left to right.
From this point, the comparison tool does the work. A particular event as interpreted through a left-leaning newspaper, a news agency in the middle, and then a right-leaning website will illustrate how language can differ even as facts remain the same. In the case of the story about the reduction of limits on emissions by coal plants, NBC News stated that this would ease restrictions on “mercury and other toxins,” while Fox News emphasized this was an act that would allow for restoration of “American dominance.”
But there are a couple of factors that moderate the experience. Some articles are still locked behind their original pay walls, and thus, all Ground News does is present the framing and summarization of them without access to the entire article. Remember, it’s the comparison, not an open-source library of articles.
What is the Price of Ground News?
Ground News provides both a free plan and three paid plans which are charged annually, and there is a 7-day trial for two paid plans.
Pro Plan: $9.99 per year
- This plan is the basic plan for comparing articles from different sources.
- Full access to coverage tools.
Premium Plan: $39.99 per year (Most Popular)
- This plan is designed for conducting more research into the difference in narratives.
- Expanded access to bias, factuality, and historical information.
Vantage Plan: $99.99 per year
- Unlimited Blindspot feed.
- Complete ratings of political bias, factuality, and ownership for thousands of sources.
Ground News Review: Customer Opinion
Ground News enjoys considerable popularity with an active following and is ranked highly on both Apple App Store and Google Play – users tend to appreciate its quick identification of one-sided reporting. Also, Ground News is increasingly recommended by teachers, researchers and creators who appreciate seeing the source distribution in one place.
The positive feedback is focused on that very instant when a user realizes how different coverage could be from what was seen in other feeds or finds out about some story which has never been featured in the news that one normally consumes. The realization itself is the whole point of the application for those looking for unbiased news.
The criticism is also worth mentioning. In particular, some people consider that labels of bias tend to over-simplify the complex outlet into one label, while others expect additional features from the application itself, not subscription-only content. A review of the latest comments in the app store will give a better idea of the matter.
Is Ground News an Authentic Company?
Does Ground News Work?
If you are interested in learning not only about an event that happened but also how differently it is covered, then Ground News may become your number one tool. Thanks to the side-by-side comparison and the Blindspot section, one cannot get the information presented on the topic like nowhere else before. If you are tired of getting the one-sided information, or a researcher wants to know how some piece of news went through the world, or just a regular reader who does not want to be manipulated by the media, Ground News is valuable and accessible.
It is important to acknowledge the drawbacks that the website has. First, bias and factuality ratings are subjective estimations despite being provided by the third-party organizations. Second, it is difficult to make sense of the whole publication using one-word lean tag. In addition, many of the most effective services, the whole Blindspot feed and the source ratings, are provided for the paid subscription. Moreover, many articles remain unavailable because they are protected by paywall.
All in all, Ground News definitely deserves its spot for the right person. The one who would use it to broaden his perspective and not be fed an opinion is likely to benefit from it, while both free and affordable Pro subscription plans allow one to test out the waters first.
Where Can I Access Ground News?
Ground News can be found at ground.news, with both an iOS and Android app as well as a browser extension that will show the news comparison as the reader goes through it. Signing up for an account either on the website or the mobile app will get you right into the free tier, and allow you to try out a paid version on a trial basis. The easiest method to implement this comparison would be via the browser extension.
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