Teachers Unions Utilize ‘NewsGuard’ to Censor Education – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

While it is certainly good news that Congress is finally waking up to the dangers posed by the “Censorship Industrial Complex,” last week’s hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution didn’t sufficiently address one of its most insidious aspects. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), the Subcommittee Chair, did a good job of outlining the threat it presents news outlets that refuse to parrot corporate media propaganda. Unfortunately, neither Sen. Schmitt nor his excellent witnesses devoted anything like enough attention to the capture of our public education system by the censorship regime promoted by the nation’s two largest teachers unions.

This effort began with the advent of the internet and the increasing tendency of students to go online in search of information for homework projects. Ideologically driven “educators” were unable to assure the kids were shielded from wrongthink. The wide variety of viewpoints offered online about any subject created a need for “media literacy” and software that flagged “misinformation.” Consequentially, in 2022, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) announced an alliance with NewsGuard, which AFT president Randi Weingarten described thus:

It is a beacon of clarity to expose the dark depths of the internet and uplift those outlets committed to truth and honesty rather than falsehoods and fabrications. This historic deal will not only help us steer clear of increasingly fetid waters — it will provide a valuable lesson in media literacy and a discussion point for teachers in class on what can, and can’t, be trusted … Now, with the AFT arranging for all of its member-educators to have free access to NewsGuard — at a time when misinformation is such a growing threat to public health and our democracy.

Anyone unfamiliar with Weingarten’s political bent, the language she uses here reveals her as a leftist ideologue. Her claim that NewsGuard uplifts news outlets committed to truth and honesty fails the laugh test. As constitutional scholar and free speech advocate Jonathan Turley wrote in The Hill before last year’s election, “For any site criticizing the media or the Biden administration, the most chilling words today are ‘I’m from NewsGuard and I am here to rate you.’” This is utterly predictable considering that, until the Democrats lost last year’s election, it had received a large amount of funding from a wide variety of federal agencies.

According to data from InfluenceWatch, Newsguard ratings strongly suggest a bias toward corporate media outlets with a lot of Democrat-friendly content: “USA Today, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Tampa Bay Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal all received a perfect 100 score from NewsGuard.” Only the Wall Street Journal could be described as critical of Democrats. NPR also received 100, while the New York Post received a 75. NewsGuard rates news sites and assigns “nutrition labels” using absurdly subjective criteria:

• Does not repeatedly publish false or egregiously misleading content (22 points)
• Gathers and presents information responsibly (18 points)
• Has effective practices for correcting errors (12.5 points)
• Handles the difference between news and opinion responsibly (12.5 points)
• Avoids deceptive headlines (10 points)
• Website discloses ownership and financing (7.5 points)
• Clearly labels advertising (7.5 points)
• Reveals who’s in charge, including possible conflicts of interest (5 points)
• Provides names of content creators, with contact or biographical information (5 points)

For the AFT, however, NewsGuard’s leftward bias is a feature rather than a bug. Consequently, the AFT renewed its partnership in 2023 and continues to give its 1.7 million members (and millions of public school students) free access to the NewsGuard browser extension plus an AI tool called GPTZero. This AI product purports to “enable responsible AI use” and preserve the value of human content. It is an “AI identifier” that is presumably meant to help teachers differentiate between human and AI generated content. Considering the lousy job public schools have done teaching kids to write, this tool is clearly superfluous.

NEA Uses NewsGuard Through ‘Search Coach’ Software

The AFT is, of course, the second largest teachers union. The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest, boasting over 3 million members. The NEA has been more subtle with its NewsGuard relationship by availing itself of Microsoft’s free software offer for schools. This software features “Search Coach,” which purports to provide students guidance for discovering reliable sources. NewsGuard is embedded in this software and provides reliability ratings for student search results. This was being used in so many schools that it caught the attention of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who wrote to Microsoft last year:

U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently sent a letter to Microsoft Corporation seeking answers over the company’s “generous” financial support for NewsGuard’s “Media Literacy” programs, which force ideological conformity on children by censoring their exposure to conservative viewpoints. Instead of teaching children about “misinformation,” NewsGuard’s inconsistent and biased rating system is pushing an anti-conservative ideological agenda and distorting kids’ media literacy.

In response, Microsoft disavowed its affiliation with NewsGuard. Yet, as recently as this month, Search Coach was still offering students NewsGuard reliability ratings: “NewsGuard is a tool that shows trust ratings for over 7,500 news and information websites. It is embedded in Search Coach to provide ratings right on the students’ results page.” Created by journalists, NewsGuard is a tool for assessing website credibility and transparency.” It appears that Microsoft, to coin a phrase, is talking the talk but failing to walk the walk. Even if the tech giant eventually keeps its pledge, millions of students will be using NewsGuard for years.

Thus, the AFT and the NEA have long since embedded a dangerous censorship regime in the nation’s public school system and leftist cant in the heads of our children. We are already seeing the results of this on the campus of Columbia and other “elite” universities. Historically illiterate children are shrieking about the destruction of “our democracy” without enough genuine education to realize that they are the unwitting instruments of its real enemies. This is a far greater threat to the republic than a bungled chat on Signal.

READ MORE from David Catron:

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