{"id":2315225,"date":"2024-07-29T08:02:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T12:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/targeting-turley-again-proves-newsguard-is-a-powerful-scam\/"},"modified":"2024-07-29T09:51:56","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T13:51:56","slug":"targeting-turley-again-proves-newsguard-is-a-powerful-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/targeting-turley-again-proves-newsguard-is-a-powerful-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Targeting Turley Again Proves NewsGuard Is A Powerful Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftargeting-turley-again-proves-newsguard-is-a-powerful-scam%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2315225&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>NewsGuard, a company that evaluates media reliability, has faced criticism regarding its perceived biases, especially highlighted by George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley. In a recent column, Turley recounted that after he criticized NewsGuard for allegedly having a &#8220;pro-Democrat and left-wing bias,&#8221; the organization contacted him to review his blog, Res Ipsa. He expressed concerns about the timing and nature of their inquiries, which included strange questions about his blog&#8217;s title and an expectation for him to label his writings strictly as conservative or libertarian, despite his work encompassing various ideological perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>Turley criticized NewsGuard&#8217;s review process, arguing that it is influenced by staff from mainstream media and former government officials, creating an inherent bias that challenges their professed impartiality. He highlighted the lack of transparency in their article selection and suggested that their focus on conservative viewpoints points to systemic issues within the organization. Ultimately, Turley asserted that NewsGuard&#8217;s practices reflect not only a conflict of interest but also a misunderstanding of diverse media perspectives. <br \/> NewsGuard, a company that rates media reliability, has come under fire for its perceived biases, particularly regarding George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley. In a recent column for The Hill, Turley revealed that after criticizing NewsGuard for having a &#8220;pro-Democrat and left-wing bias,&#8221; he was contacted by the organization for a review of his blog, Res Ipsa. Turley expressed concerns over the questionable timing and nature of NewsGuard&#8217;s inquiries, which included bizarre questions about the title of his blog and a demand for him to label his writings as conservative or libertarian. He argued that his work encompasses a range of ideological views, reflecting his complex political stance.<\/p>\n<p>Turley highlighted the inadequacies of NewsGuard&#8217;s reviewer methodology, which, he asserts, relies heavily on personnel from mainstream media and former government officials. This, according to him, creates an inherent bias that undermines their claims of impartiality. He criticized NewsGuard&#8217;s lack of transparency in determining which articles to review and suggested that their selective scrutiny of conservative viewpoints is indicative of a greater systemic issue. Ultimately, Turley argues that NewsGuard&#8217;s actions demonstrate not only a conflict of interest but also a flawed understanding of diverse media perspectives.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>NewsGuard, the self-appointed arbiter of media reliability, appears poised to peddle some more of its own misinformation&mdash;this time about George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley.<\/p>\n<p>Turley exposed NewsGuard&rsquo;s apparent plans in a Saturday column for The Hill. In &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/civil-rights\/4795501-newsguard-censorship-conservative-speech\/\">The Most Chilling Words Today: I&rsquo;m from NewsGuard and I Am Here to Rate You<\/a>,&rdquo; the chaired professor of law detailed a recent communication he received from the ratings giant. Roughly a week after he had penned an earlier <a href=\"https:\/\/jonathanturley.org\/2024\/07\/15\/elon-musk-is-right-end-the-online-censorship-racket\/\">column<\/a> for The Hill in which he criticized NewsGuard as infected with a &ldquo;pro-Democrat and left-wing bias,&rdquo; the for-profit organization &ldquo;came knocking,&rdquo; Turley explained.<\/p>\n<p>NewGuard had decided to now review <a href=\"https:\/\/nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjonathanturley.org%2F2024%2F07%2F15%2Felon-musk-is-right-end-the-online-censorship-racket%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cdallott%40thehill.com%7C46c0c582e2a54ae521ef08dcada958e0%7C9e5488e2e83844f6886cc7608242767e%7C1%7C0%7C638576191408603239%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=605IxJuk8fdzC%2B13RElb0%2BWucajRNTneoelR6YV20Nc%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Res Ipsa<\/a>, the blog the law professor hosts at <a href=\"https:\/\/nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjonathanturley.org%2F2024%2F07%2F15%2Felon-musk-is-right-end-the-online-censorship-racket%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cdallott%40thehill.com%7C46c0c582e2a54ae521ef08dcada958e0%7C9e5488e2e83844f6886cc7608242767e%7C1%7C0%7C638576191408607706%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=hZ7J6MhrGwmQYq7pzWQDOvvBJJ40yEppced6iS38LbQ%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">jonathanturley.org<\/a>, Turley explained. That alone is curious, because many of the articles posted at Res Ipsa have been published by other NewsGuard-rated outlets, such as The Hill and the Wall Street Journal. Beyond that fact and the suspicious timing of NewsGuard&rsquo;s decision to evaluate the law professor&rsquo;s writings, the questions posed were &ldquo;bizarre,&rdquo; as Turley explained.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, why would he call his blog &ldquo;Res Ipsa Liquitur [sic] &ndash; the thing itself speaks.&rdquo; Could you explain the reason to this non-lawyer?&rdquo; &ldquo;Res ipsa loquitur is defined in the header as &lsquo;The thing itself speaks,&rsquo; which I think speaks for itself,&rdquo; Turley quipped.<\/p>\n<p>While one might laugh off that ridiculous, typo-infused question, NewsGuard&rsquo;s outreach to Turley included a much more concerning and, as the law professor stressed, &ldquo;illuminating&rdquo; inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I cannot find any information on the site that would signal to readers that the site&rsquo;s content reflects a conservative or libertarian perspective, as is evident in your articles.&nbsp;Why is this perspective not disclosed to give readers a sense of the site&rsquo;s point of view?&rdquo; The NewsGuard reviewer queried Professor Turley.<\/p>\n<p>As he noted in his The Hill op-ed on Saturday, Turley has &ldquo;historically been criticized as a liberal, conservative or a libertarian depending on the particular op-eds.&rdquo; &ldquo;I certainly admit to libertarian viewpoints,&rdquo; Turley continued, &ldquo;though I hold many traditional liberal views. For example, I have been outspoken for decades in favor same-sex marriage, environmental protection, free speech and other individual rights. I am a registered Democrat who has defended reporters, activists and academics on the left for years in both courts and columns.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Turley further stressed that his &ldquo;blog has thousands of postings that cut across the ideological spectrum.&rdquo; He has &ldquo;criticized Trump in the past,&rdquo; the George Washington University law professor added, while also refusing to &ldquo;suspend [his] legal judgment when cases touch on the interests of conservatives or Donald Trump.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s another indication NewsGuard deigns itself not only the arbiter of truth, but also of a law professor&rsquo;s political or policy-oriented views.<\/p>\n<p>NewsGuard&rsquo;s efforts to categorize Turley&rsquo;s diverse ideological views as conservative or libertarian&mdash;and then to expect him to inaccurately label himself for his readers&mdash;perfectly illustrates a structural deficiency in NewsGuard&rsquo;s business model: NewsGuard relies on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/about\/team\/\">employees<\/a> and a Board of Advisors hailing from the so-called &ldquo;mainstream media.&rdquo; NewsGuard&rsquo;s Board of Advisors, which serves as subject-matter experts for the for-profit enterprise, is also heavily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/our-advisory-board\/\">stacked <\/a>with former government officials.<\/p>\n<p>Together, then, those conducting or assisting in NewsGuard&rsquo;s reviews of new media outlets bring an establishment perspective and a siloed knowledge base to their work, leaving them particularly ill-suited to judging the reliability of the alternative press. That fundamental flaw supplants any claimed effort by NewsGuard to operate apolitically and without bias.<\/p>\n<p>There is an even more fundamental problem with NewsGuard&rsquo;s self-proclaimed unbiased ratings. It flows from the secretive methodology it uses to select articles for review. Here, another recent outreach by NewsGuard illustrates the deficiency&mdash;and this one appears purposeful.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, NewsGuard <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanmdav\/status\/1816517255871824265\/photo\/2\">contacted<\/a> The Federalist&rsquo;s CEO Sean Davis to inquire about Davis&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanmdav\/status\/1816517255871824265\">post<\/a> on X that followed President Joe Biden&rsquo;s sight-unseen announcement on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-acting-attorney-general-jeff-rosen-recently-wrote-an-essay-on-foreign-influence-in-us-elections-this-tells-us-a-little-about-his-knowledge-of-whats-going-on-today\/\" title=\"The New Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen Recently Wrote an Essay on Foreign Influence in US Elections \u2013 This Tells Us A Little About His Knowledge of What\u2019s Going On Today\">social media platform<\/a> that he would not run for re-election. &ldquo;Do we have any evidence Biden is even alive right now?&rdquo; Davis queried.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I just wanted to ask on what basis he made the aforementioned comment,&rdquo; a News Verification Reporter for NewsGuard noted, seeking &ldquo;clarity\/context&rdquo; for the post.<\/p>\n<p>Now why would NewsGuard select Davis&rsquo;s post among the millions made every day on X? Did NewsGuard make similar inquiries to other outlets that, rather than posing questions about the then-still unseen president, pushed Democrat talking points about former President Donald Trump?<\/p>\n<p>For instance, did NewsGuard ask Reuters about its Sunday <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Reuters\/status\/1817439846685938153\">post<\/a> on X of an out-of-context comment Trump made during a rally that &ldquo;in four years, you don&rsquo;t have to vote again&rdquo;? While saying it wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;clear what Donald Trump meant by his remarks,&rdquo; Reuters nonetheless framed the quote as support for Democrats&rsquo; accusation that Trump was &ldquo;a threat to democracy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Did NewsGuard ask Reuters what it meant by its post? Is NewsGuard analyzing all the outlets that misrepresented Trump&rsquo;s comments as evidence of dictatorial tendencies, as opposed to an entreaty for low-propensity voters to drag themselves to the polls this one time? What about outlets like Newsweek, which <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Newsweek\/status\/1816451871092965476\">reported <\/a>&ldquo;Donald Trump might not have been shot after all&rdquo;? Were they on the receiving end of NewsGuard&rsquo;s inquisitorial emails? If not, why not?<\/p>\n<p>For all its claims of transparency, NewsGuard has refused to explain how it decides how many articles to assess per outlet, or its process for deciding which content to review. The lack of a random and proportionate survey of the media allows NewsGuard to manipulate its ratings.<\/p>\n<p>Want to ensure The Washington Post or The New York Times receive favorable ratings? Avoid reviewing their articles about the Russia collusion hoax or Covid-19. NewsGuard can continue to guarantee favored outlets retain top reliability ratings by also ignoring the false and misleading coverage of the assignation attempt of Trump, which was framed at first as a fall by many outlets NewsGuard rates as reliable.<\/p>\n<p>Without transparency concerning how and why NewsGuard selects posts or articles for review, as well as information about the relative quantity of materials assessed by outlet, NewsGuard&rsquo;s ratings lack all credibility and are best branded GIGO&mdash;garbage in, garbage out.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist and legal analyst and serves as The Federalist&rsquo;s senior legal correspondent. Margot&rsquo;s work has been published at The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, the New Criterion, National Review Online, Townhall.com, the Daily Signal, USA Today, and the Detroit Free Press.     She is also a regular guest on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-alito-freakout-is-a-false-flag-operation-to-take-down-the-court\/\" title=\"Democrats are falsely targeting Alito to undermine the Court\">nationally syndicated radio programs<\/a> and on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize&mdash;the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-death-of-the-administrative-state-is-just-beginning\/\" title=\"The Decline of the Administrative State is Just Starting\">law school&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michael-sussmanns-lawyers-its-ok-if-he-lied-to-the-fbi\/\" title=\"Michael Sussmann\u2019s Lawyers: It\u2019s OK If He Lied To The FBI\">permanent law clerk<\/a> for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.      Cleveland is a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-media-lies-about-the-latest-special-counsel-revelations\/\" title=\"5 Media Lies About The Latest Special Counsel Revelations\">full-time university faculty member<\/a> and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. Cleveland is also of counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance.       Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland where you can read more about her greatest accomplishments&mdash;her dear husband and dear son. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NewsGuard, a company that evaluates media reliability, has faced criticism for perceived biases, especially concerning George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley. In a recent column for The Hill, Turley disclosed that after he criticized NewsGuard for exhibiting a &#8220;pro-Democrat and left-wing bias,&#8221; the organization reached out to review his blog, Res Ipsa. He raised concerns about the timing and nature of their inquiries, which included unusual questions about his blog&#8217;s title and requests for him to categorize his writings as conservative or libertarian. Turley argued that his work reflects a variety of ideological perspectives due to his nuanced political views.<\/p>\n<p>Turley pointed out flaws in NewsGuard&#8217;s review process, claiming it relies heavily on staff from mainstream media and former government officials. He believes this creates an inherent bias that contradicts their claims of neutrality. Additionally, he criticized NewsGuard&#8217;s lack of transparency regarding how they select articles for review and suggested their focus on conservative viewpoints indicates a broader systemic issue. Ultimately, Turley contends that NewsGuard\u2019s actions reveal both a conflict of interest and a misunderstanding of diverse media perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>In another piece published in The Hill titled \u201cThe Most Chilling Words Today: I\u2019m from NewsGuard and I Am Here to Rate You,\u201d Turley elaborated on how he received communication from NewsGuard shortly after criticizing them. He noted the organization&#8217;s decision to evaluate Res Ipsa was curious since many articles featured there have also appeared in other outlets rated by NewsGuard like The Hill and Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n<p>Turley found some questions posed by NewsGuard odd; one inquiry asked why he named his blog &#8220;Res Ipsa Liquitur&#8221; while another questioned why there was no indication on the site reflecting its conservative or libertarian stance despite such views being evident in his writing. He explained that throughout his career he&#8217;s been labeled variously as liberal or conservative depending on specific op-eds but maintains many traditional liberal beliefs alongside libertarian ones.<\/p>\n<p>This situation illustrates how NewsGuard attempts not only to assert authority over truth but also seeks to define the political affiliations of academics like Turley. Their efforts to pigeonhole him into strictly conservative or libertarian categories\u2014and expect him to label himself accordingly\u2014highlight deeper issues within their operational model: reliance on personnel with mainstream media backgrounds who may not fully grasp alternative press dynamics.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, significant flaws exist within how NewsGuard claims objectivity through its ratings system due to its opaque methodology for selecting articles for review\u2014a concern echoed during another recent interaction with Sean Davis from The Federalist regarding Biden\u2019s announcement about not seeking re-election.<\/p>\n<p>Questions arise regarding why certain posts are singled out among countless others daily while similar inquiries do not seem directed at outlets promoting Democratic narratives against Trump\u2014such as whether they questioned Reuters about framing Trump&#8217;s comments during a rally inaccurately.<\/p>\n<p>Without clear criteria governing article selection or information about how many pieces per outlet are assessed, critics argue that any credibility claimed by NewsGuard is undermined; this lack of transparency allows potential manipulation based solely on selective oversight rather than objective analysis\u2014leading many observers to dismiss them as unreliable sources altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist serving as senior legal correspondent for The Federalist with her work appearing across various prominent publications including The Wall Street Journal and National Review Online. She is active in radio programs and television networks like Fox while holding credentials from Notre Dame Law School where she earned top honors before working extensively within federal appellate courts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2315226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Jonathan-Turley.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[7380,9899,13718,36489,33295,36488],"class_list":["post-2315225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-misinformation","tag-disinformation","tag-newsguard","tag-journalism-ethics","tag-media-criticism","tag-targeting-turley"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Jonathan-Turley.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2315225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2315225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2315225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2315225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}