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https://www.theepochtimes.com/teachers-union-promotes-anti-misinformation-tool-sparking-left-wing-bias-concerns_4240376.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-01-27-3&utm_medium=email&est=CFeEFInRW9JhY2XCNSVlm6pFPymiCu0mMhpmrKx0jAYXly34%2BYOXMQNRIKC3ZIf%2F

Teachers’ Union Promotes ‘Anti-Misinformation’ Tool, Sparking Left-Wing Bias Concerns

In a new partnership announced this week, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said it will purchase licensed copies of NewsGuard’s “anti-misinformation” browser extension for the union’s 1.7 million members, who will then be able to share it with tens of millions of students they serve. This “news media literacy” tool critics say has a significant left-wing bias.

According to NewsGuard, the company employs a team of “trained journalists and experienced editors” to hand review and rate each site based on nine criteria of journalistic practice, such as whether the site repeatedly publishes false content, whether it regularly corrects or clarifies errors, whether it avoids deceptive headlines, and whether it discloses who owns and is financing the website.

A recent study by conservative media watchdog Media Research Center (MRC), however, suggests that NewsGuard has an “extraordinary” political bias that makes left-wing news outlets more likely to get a better rating. The study found that outlets rated “left” or “lean left” by AllSides received an average NewsGuard score of 93, while sites considered “right” or “lean right” by AllSides had an average NewsGuard rating of 66.

The MRC noted that Jacobin, a magazine that styles itself as the “leading voice of the American left” and champions ideas such as the nationalization of supermarkets, receives a score of 92.5 by NewsGuard. The Nation, another socialist magazine that defends the looting and vandalism committed during the widespread riots in the summer of 2020, also has a 92.5 NewsGuard score. The Atlantic even secures a perfect 100 despite its dubious report claiming that President Donald Trump called fallen American soldiers in Normandy beaches “losers” and “suckers,” the authenticity of which many have doubted.

By contrast, NewsGuard gives The Federalist an abysmal score of 12.5, which, according to MRC, has a lot to do with the conservative magazine’s questioning of the efficacy of COVID-19 mask mandates.