NewsGuard, a four-year-old startup company that checks the web and rates the reliability of the information provided sources, states it’s trustworthy enough to turn a profit, per CNN.
In 2021, NewsGuard more than doubled its revenue in 2021 versus the year due to the licensing agreements with advertisers and other companies that use its ratings.
“To the degree that we can empower people with more information about which sources are trustworthy and to the degree that we can help advertisers stop subsidizing misinformation on the internet, we think we can make a real contribution to the news environment and to increasing trust in sources that deserve trust,” co-CEO Gordon Crovitz said.
The company is now growing into new regions, such as rating individual television shows and new markets, including Canada.
“We think it’s important that we did this as a for-profit business that can be viable, that doesn’t have to depend on, you know, the kindness of strangers,” co-CEO Steven Brill said. “My own view is that that’s the path that journalism needs to take — to figure out business models that work.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
