News Corp to launch a news aggregation service called 'Knewz'

[David Matthews]

Why it matters: Many conservatives have long charged Google and Facebook with unfairly demoting conservative news outlets. News Corp aims to fix that by launching its own news aggregation service that promises to highlight stories regardless of political bent.

Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp is reportedly launching a news aggregation website called "Knewz.com". According to The Wall Street Journal (which is owned by News Corp), this site (and associated mobile app) will be a way to challenge other aggregation sites like Google News and address publisher concerns about Google and Facebook.

While on the surface this appears as a way to provide competition to Google and Facebook, it also appears that this is motivated by concerns that Google and Facebook have not treated all news sources as equal. Particularly that conservative outlets seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to displaying news. Per the WSJ:

"The project aims to give exposure to smaller outlets that News Corp executives believe are often demoted in Google’s search results and Facebook Inc’s social feed, the people said."

The charge of bias against conservative news and thought has been an ongoing battle, particularly when it comes to Google and social media sites. President Trump and other prominent conservatives have long castigated Google for what they perceive as rigged reporting. However, the Economist did a year-long study in which it found no evidence of conservative bias in Google News. In fact, Google tended to prefer more reputable, less ideological news sources.

....results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

As far as what Knewz will actually offer, the site will include national and local outlets, digital publications, and magazines. There will apparently be hundreds of directly-linked sources with Knewz taking no cut of the advertising revenue. News will be curated using a mixture of algorithms and human curation with equal weight being given to free and paywalled articles.

News Corp will probably have no problem convincing publications to sign on to Knewz given their clout in the news industry. Being able to keep 100% of the advertising revenue could be very attractive for some outlets. Also, from a competition point of view, having another competitor in the news aggregation space is needed.

The primary issue that Knewz will face is not recruiting publications, but readers. People use Google and Facebook every day and naturally see news stories as they browse the sites. It may be hard to convince people to check a dedicated news app when they can simply get all of their news from social media or a simple Google search.

For now, this venture is more of an "exploration" and isn't guaranteed to actually launch according to a spokesperson. The actual Knewz site does exist but only displays a placeholder.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81574-news-corp-launch-news-aggregation-service-called-knewz.html

 

[VitalyT]

Knewz = skewed news.

 

[psycros]

"People use Google and Facebook every day and naturally see news stories as they browse the sites. It may be hard to convince people to check a dedicated news app when they can simply get all of their news from social media or a simple Google search."

Nobody goes to a SITE to get that news, they get it from apps..apps just like Knewz. It will be VERY popular and probably force Google and FB to even up their coverage a little. Even the New York Times has written about the blatant left-leaning bias of America's newsrooms and that started decades before Trump first considered running for office. By most objective assessments it really kicked into high gear during Bill Clinton's first term. Having lived through that dark era of *real*, undeniable scandals that left the country less safe, less prosperous and less respected (and laid the groundwork for the financial collapse of 15 year later), I can absolutely agree.

 

[p51d007]

More the merrier. I'm about 80% conservative, 15% Constitutionalist, and 5% liberal.
I visit mostly conservative leaning sites, but I also visit sites that have a hard left wing
slant. If you get your "news" from one place, to me, it kind of closes your mind off to
other ideas.

 

[Kashim]

Just what we need, more "fair & balanced" reporting from the people who brought you Fox News!

Note: Fox News finally dropped their "fair & balanced" slogan in 2017 after using it for 21 years! I guess they finally realized the irony.

 

[PEnnn]

Yeah, now we can rely on a new septic tank by the Murdoch empire to tell us the "real" news....because the whole world is wrong but Fox and the Orange Chief are right.

As if we need more reasons to make the US the butt of all jokes.

 

[wiyosaya]

A year long study shows no evidence of bias by google and this https://cyber.harvard.edu/publications/2017/08/mediacloud shows evidence of bias and embellishments by conservative outlets WRT the 2016 elections. It also shows evidence of fair and balanced reporting by liberal outlets for the 2016 elections.

I bet we are in for more embellishments and biased news from Knewz and feckless leader will love it.

 

[Uncle Al]

Sadly, about the only "balanced" news I hear or see any longer is on PBS or NPR and they are beginning to sway a bit in one direction (basically for the sake of survival). I was most disappointed when CBS put aside the ideals of Edward R. Murrow and allowed advertisers to get into the newsroom and sway their reporting.
Nowadays you must look at the top 5 and decide for yourself who to believe; of course, since FOX hired Saray Huckabee Sanders you can be guaranteed of a "lie a minute" or more but the more the merrier!

 

[Jazib]

I think there will be no added benefit as big news publisher are already getting lot of traffic from Google News while small news blogs like techobserver.net cannot get benefit from it and nobody have time to read news from a specific app.

 

[BadThad]

"People use Google and Facebook every day and naturally see news stories as they browse the sites."

And therein lies the problem! The liberal biased garbage that pollutes the internet is nothing but OPINION and leftist propaganda.

 

[Kashim]

"People use Google and Facebook every day and naturally see news stories as they browse the sites."

And therein lies the problem! The liberal biased garbage that pollutes the internet is nothing but OPINION and leftist propaganda.

Yes, Fox News and Breitbart is where the truth lies! Everything else is "leftist propaganda".

[End Sarcasm]

 

[EquityVeritas]

The Economist does a study that proves no bias against conservatives? Since they're quite biased themselves, it would be interesting to know the criteria and methodology of that study. It's also interesting that left-leaning academics and professionals have criticized Google and other tech giants for their inherent left-leaning bias incorporated into their algorithms.
https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/types-of-media-bias/
https://www.allsides.com/news-source/economist