NewsTrust Member Awards - First Winners

Today, we're pleased to announce the first winners of the NewsTrust Member Awards!

This new monthly program rewards members of the NewsTrust community who make exceptional contributions to our cause (see our original blog announcement).

For the month of October, we're delighted to feature six outstanding reviewers for their leadership in fulfilling our mission, and for their achievements in a variety of categories, such as Top Rated or Most Active Reviewer (see below).

Meet the Winner
s
Here are our Member Award winners for October 2009:

• Top Rated Reviewer - Chris Finnie

• Most Thorough Reviewer - Richard Riehl

• Most Active Reviewer - Dwight Rousu

• Top Rated Post - Patricia Blochowiak

• Most Reviewed Post - Cynthia Gilbert

• Trusted Member of the Month - Jo Bobenhouse Smith

Congratulations to our first round of Member Awards winners! It's a true pleasure to honor your enlightening contributions to our site -- and to the NewsTrust mission. Your participation is an inspiration to us all. 

Here's a breakdown of each winner's contributions this month -- and how they were selected for their award.

Highest Rated Reviewer

The October award for Highest Rated Reviewer goes to Chris Finnie. Chris earned high ratings on her insightful and witty reviews of stories from the Washington Post, New York Times, MinnPost and others. She has once again shown herself to be one fo the most respected members of our community.

The Highest Rated Reviewer award goes to the member whose story reviews have the highest average rating for the month. The member must have completed ten or more reviews and received at least ten ratings from other trusted members.

Most Thorough Reviewer

Richard Riehl took the time and care to answer as many as 20 questions in many of his story reviews, earning him October's Most Thorough Reviewer award. Richard used our review form to the max and added his notes and comments on important stories from the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Beast and more.

The reviewer whose reviews are the most thorough -- filling out most or all fields of the review form -- wins the Most In-Depth Reviewer award for the month. We calculate this by finding the average number of answers a reviewer provides; the reviewer must have done ten or more story reviews to qualify.



Most Active Reviewer

The Most Active Reviewer award goes to NewsTrust NewsHound Dwight Rousu, who reviewed 135 stories in the month of October. That's an average of more than 4 story reviews per day. On top of that, Dwight often had a quip to go along with his ratings.

The Most Active Reviewer is a simple but key award that goes to the reviewer who posted the most story reviews for the month.

Highest Rated Post

Patricia Blochowiak is the winner of the October award for Highest Rated Post, for posting "More is Less," a top-rated podcast from NPR's This American Life, that investigated forces behind rising health care costs. The story garnered an overall rating of 4.6 from NewsTrust members.

The award for Highest Rated Post goes to the member who posted the story that got the most favorable reviews from other trusted members. To qualify, the story must have at least five reviews.



Most Reviewed Post

October's winner for Most Reviewed Post is Cynthia Gilbert, who posted "Tricky o's 'doctored' photo" from the New York Post. Seventeen NewsTrust members reviewed the news report, which got an overall rating of 2.1 (Cynthia gave it a 1.3), earning it a spot as one of the featured stories during our Bad Journalism News Hunt. 



The member who posts the story with the most reviews earns this award for the month. Candidates must have received five or more favorable reviews from trusted members to win this prize. 



Trusted Member of the Month 

Our Trusted Member of the Month is Jo Bobenhouse Smith, whose frequent reviews and thoughtful notes helped our ratings of some of October's most important news items. Since signing up in October, Jo has reviewed well over 100 stories -- thank you for your wonderful contributions, Jo!

The Trusted Member award goes to the member who, through his or her reviews and other activity on the site, best embodies the NewsTrust spirit in the eyes of the editors. Candidates must have done ten or more reviews, and their validation must have increased to a three or more in the past month.

As a small token of our appreciation, we are sending each of this month's winners this NewsTrust mug:

Win a Member Award 

If you are a regular NewsTrust reviewer, you too could win one of our monthly awards. Here are some of the ways you can qualify for a member award and increase your own member level:

• Review often
Our top rated reviewers review and post stories regularly and thoroughly. Try to review at least a couple times per week and answer as many questions as you can. To review stories on our site, click 'Review' next to any story title; a good place to start is our home page.

• Focus on the journalism 
Here at NewsTrust, we try to rate stories based on the quality of the journalism, not whether we agree with the views presented in these stories. For tips on how to review on our site, check our review guide. 

• Fill your profile 
Take a moment to update your member profile, so other members can get to know you. The more you share about yourself, the higher your member level, and the more your ratings count. Be sure to add a picture if you can. 


How Member Awards Work

At the end of each month, NewsTrust editors tally the results for each award and announce the winners in a blog post and email newsletter. Winners can only win one award per year. If they qualify for two awards in the same month, they're awarded the "higher" prize. 

NewsTrust staff and directors cannot not qualify for these awards. Member awards will be given through the end of the year, for reviews posted in November and December. Tell us what you think of this new community program. Drop a comment here on the blog -- or email us directly at editors-at-newstrust.net.

Support our Work
This week, we're calling on you to support our work by making a personal donation to NewsTrust. For the past three years, we've provided our free public service thanks to the MacArthur Foundation, the Ashoka Foundation, the Ayrshire Foundation, the Sunlight Foundation, Hap Perry, Mitch Kapor, Craig Newmark and many other generous donors. But the economic crisis has changed everything, and foundation grants or large donations have become very scarce.

So we're turning to valued members like you to support our cause. Our continued growth depends on you. If you find our service useful, please donate today, so we can continue to help citizens find quality news --
and make informed decisions. Your contribution will fund site improvements, new tools, community outreach, news literacy programs and much more. We're independent and nonprofit, which means anything you give goes directly to our cause -- and it's tax-deductible.

Help us promote good, reliable journalism -- make a donation to NewsTrust today!

by Derek Hawkins, Kaizar Campwala and Fabrice Florin

Help Expose Bad Journalism

This week, help us promote good journalism by exposing the bad.

Bad Journalism News Hunt
From Monday through Sunday, we'll be hosting a News Hunt for Bad Journalism, to highlight journalism with serious flaws -- news reports and opinions that are inaccurate, biased, irresponsible or superficial. For this special News Hunt, we will be joined by journalism students from Santa Clara University, led by professor Sally Lehrman. 

Each day this week, we'll feature different examples of bad journalism from a variety of sources across the political spectrum, and ask you to rate them, so we can identify the worst stories at the end of the week. Here's how we're breaking it down:

• Monday - News Reports
• Tuesday - Opinions
• Wednesday - Pundits from the Right
• Thursday - Pundits from the Left
• Friday - Media Watchdogs 
• Saturday - Fact-Checkers

(note that this blog post was updated throughout the week with new stories for review -- see below)

News Literacy Guides
Since this News Hunt for Bad Journalism is a departure from our normal routine, we encourage you to consult our News Literacy Guides for helpful tips. First, read these articles from two of our esteemed advisors, who are both journalism professors:

• "Crap Detection 101" by Howard Rheingold (Stanford University)
• "Think Like a Journalist" by Michael Bugeja (Iowa State University)

Also check out NewsTrust's Quick Review Guide on how to review a story. These articles and tutorials will help you ask the right questions and quickly identify bias, misinformation, weak sourcing, shallowness and other problems in reporting.

News Comparisons
How do you rate the stories below? Throughout this week, we've compared questionable stories from several categories. 

News Reports

• Obama team continues efforts to isolate Fox News - Fox News

• Tricky o's 'doctored' photo - New York Post

• Racial tension on Martha's Vineyard simmers as Barack Obama arrives - Daily Telegraph

Opinions

• Excuses wearing thin for Obama, media pals - Chicago Sun-Times

• Lack of universal health care is a mass killer - The Progressive

• Why Fox News is un-American - Newsweek

Pundits from the Right

• What's Obama gonna give me? - Glenn Beck (Fox News)

• America 2009: Banana Republic - Rush Limbaugh (Rush Limbaugh Show)

• Does Kevin Jennings support NAMBLA? - Sean Hannity (Fox News)

Pundits from the Left

• Conservative infighting dismantles GOP - Keith Olbermann (Countdown)

• Republicans hit new low - Randi Rhodes (Randi Rhodes Show)

• Keeping the pressure on Reid - Rachel Maddow (The Rachel Maddow Show)

Media Watchdogs

• Neutralizing the opposition - Washington Post - by Howard Kurtz

• Attack on White House criticism of Fox follows years of GOP assaults on media - Media Matters

• Obama bashed Bush Administration for criticizing NBC in 2008 - NewsBusters - by Noel Sheppard

Fact-Checkers

• Health care reform: A summary of recent distortions - PolitiFact

• Heather Graham Teaches Us About Polls - FactCheck

Join our News Hunt this week,to help us expose more stories that fail to uphold the journalistic standards that citizens rely on. To keep track of our scores, check our Least Trusted Stories page (listing our lowest-rated stories so far), as well as our Bad Journalism page (featuring recent stories for review).

And if you come across another example of bad journalism, please post it on our site (be sure to tag it "Bad Journalism" under "Topics," so it will be listed in our News Hunt pages).

Make A Donation
If you believe in our cause, please consider making a donation to NewsTrust. Your contribution will help promote good journalism -- and pay for quality news feeds, new tools, site improvements, community outreach and educational programs. We're nonprofit and funded through grants and donations from members like you. Can you show your support today with a one-time, tax-deductible donation?

-- by Fabrice Florin, Derek Hawkins and Kaizar Campwala

Health Care News Hunt - Final Results

On Tuesday we wrapped up a 10-day Health Care News Hunt with the Huffington Post and its Eyes and Ears team. For an overview of this collaboration, check our HuffPost partner Matt Palevsky's first blog post, as well as our own project update.

With the help of our hosts, Kristin Gorski and Patricia Blochowiak, as well as 95 new members from the Huffington Post, we posted about 146 health care stories, 51 of which received a NewsTrust rating.  Recent stories on this topic can be found on our Health Care page.

Here are the final results of our Health Care News Hunt.

Top Rated Stories on Health Care
Here are some of our top rated stories for this News Hunt:

• More is Less - This American Life / NPR (podcast, 1 hour)
• In Netherlands, Insurers Compete Over Quality of Care - NewsHour / PBS (video)
• Going Out of Business? - FactCheck (News Analysis)
• A Texas-Sized Health Care Failure - New York Times (Opinion) (see reviews)
• The Lie Machine - Rolling Stone (Special Report)
• "Don't Get Sick": The Truth About GOP Health Plans? - Huffington Post (News Analysis)

For a full listing of health care stories reviewed in this News Hunt, check our top rated stories, as well as the list of all stories posted in the past 10 days.

We focused on different types of stories throughout this News Hunt: mainstream news on Monday, opinions on Tuesday, TV news on Wednesday, fact-checkers on Thursday, comedy news on Friday, worst journalism on Saturday, and breaking news in the final days.  Here are our findings for each category.

News Reports - The Public Option
We began our News Hunt last Monday, October 5th, by comparing news reports on debate in Congress over whether to include a government-run insurance plan -- a "public option" -- in a final health care reform bill. Most news stories we reviewed focused on how Congress would merge a bill that contains a public option provision with one that doesn't. Our top stories came from the Great Falls Tribune, the Hill, and Salon (read our original analysis here).

Opinions - The Public Option
The following Tuesday we compared three opinions that took different views on the controversial public insurance measure. A Republican state senator from Maryland argued against it in the Baltimore Sun; the founder of a failed insurance exchange firm wrote in the New York Times that without a public option reform would be ineffectual; and a blogger from Think Progress said political maneuvering is the Democrats' best hope for slipping the controversial measure past Republicans. Our community posted more than 20 reviews on these stories and found Cappy McGarr's op-ed in the Times to be most insightful (read our full results here).

TV News on Health Care
On Wednesday we featured TV news on health care. Our top rated video came from PBS's NewsHour, which examined the health care system in the Netherlands and the overhaul that took place there in 2006. The special report garnered high ratings from a dozen reviewers, who were  impressed by its detail and diversity of sourcing. Fox News and MSNBC ran news reports on the public option, which our community dismissed as too partisan.

Fact-Checkers on Health Care
Since arguments over how to reform the nation's health care system boiled over with misinformation and accusation this summer, we've gone out of our way to feature those news outlets that scrutinize claims from all sides. On Thursday we focused on news analysis from fact-checkers and found that matters had calmed down significantly since August's death panel rumors dominated coverage.

FactCheck.org debunked a new health care ad from Americans for Prosperity that purported Medicare will be bankrupt in eight years. "Yikes," FactCheck wrote:

"Quite a scary claim to make about a program that encompasses 16 percent of the federal budget and benefits 45 million Americans. But the word "bankrupt" is far too strong to accurately describe Medicare’s problems. ... We don’t mean to say that the projections about the future of the HI trust fund shouldn’t be taken seriously, or that Medicare in general isn’t facing long-term funding issues. But it’s not going to be “bankrupt in eight years.”

We also featured the indefatigable PolitiFact's excellent roundup of high-profile statements about health care, as rated on their Pulitzer Prize-winning Trust-O-Meter. Nine pages of vetted public statements earned a high rating from NewsTrust -- and we'll be checking back as a reform bill makes its way through Congress.

Comedy News on Health Care
We closed out  our week with a comparison of three Daily Show clips on the health care debate -- two from August and one from September -- to see how leading news comedian and media critic Jon Stewart had covered this topic. In his most recent clip, Stewart knocked Democrats in Congress for failing to include a public option in the Finance Committee's bill, despite holding a super majority in the Senate.

Bad Journalism on Health Care
Over the weekend, we compared our dogs of the week -- the lowest-rated stories we found on health care. "What we would have told Obama" from Fox News, "Tricky 'O's doctored photo" from the New York Post, and a news analysis from NewsBusters each received a rating of 2.0 or lower from our community.

Breaking News: Insurance Industry Report
This Monday, October 12th, ahead of the Finance Committee's vote, the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) released a report commissioned by the top health insurance industry trade group that said reform proposals in Congress would increase costs for American families.  The report was cited in most stories we reviewed on the Finance Committee's vote -- and drew swift condemnation from the White House, Congressional Democrats and many observers. We rounded up reactions from prominent health care bloggers. 

Ezra Klein, of the Washington Post, was extremely critical, comparing the report to similar studies conducted by PWC on behalf of tobacco companies:

"[I]f the PWC's report doesn't offer much in the way of trustworthy policy analysis, it is an interesting looking at the changing politics of the issue. In short, the insurance industry is getting scared. After many months of quiet constructiveness, they're launching a broadside on the week of the Senate Finance Committee's vote. The White House, which had a pleasant meeting with the industry's leadership last week, was shocked by the report, and so too was the Senate Finance Committee. The era of cooperation seems to be over, and they weren't given much advance warning. But the report might have another impact, too: The evident anger and fear of the insurance industry might do a bit to reassure liberals that this plan is worth supporting, after all."

The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn noted several omissions and inconsistencies in the PWC report, and in an update said the insurance industry's conflict of interest was all too clear. And Kevin Drum, of Mother Jones, said a weakening of the penalty in the Baucus Bill for not purchasing health insurance probably motivated the report.

Breaking News: Senate Finance Committee Votes
Our News Hunt ended this Tuesday with breaking news coverage of the highly anticipated vote on the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill. Nicknamed the "Baucus Bill" after Sen. Max Baucus, the Democratic committee chairman, the legislation won approval yesterday with 13 Democratic votes and one Republican vote from Maine Senator Olympia Snowe. 

The Politico portrayed the vote as a milestone for both Baucus and President Obama, who has repeatedly called health care his top domestic priority. And since the committee was widely expected to approve the bill along party lines, several publications featured the defection of Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe as a key aspect of the story -- but some news outlets were split over just how her vote was secured.

"The vote moves President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling the nation’s health care system one step closer to reality," the Politico wrote, adding:

"Baucus’s hand was strengthened markedly when Snowe became the only Senate Republicans to vote for health reform —- ending weeks of speculation about whether any Republicans would sign onto the Democratic reform bill."

But according to the LA Times, Snowe's vote was less an achievement for Baucus than for the White House, "which had heavily courted Snowe, and it allowed overhaul advocates to claim that there was a vestige of GOP support for the measure." Bloomberg echoed this notion in its story on the vote:

"That marked the first time a Republican in either the Democratic-controlled Senate or House has supported the revamp legislation, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. ... Baucus had spent months courting Snowe and other Republicans, making his committee the last of five congressional panels to complete its version of the legislation."

Thanks to our Partners and Hosts

We'd like to thank our partners at the Huffington Post and Eyes and Ears for making this a lively and successful News Hunt! It was a pleasure to work with HuffPost Citizen Journalism Editor Matt Palevsky, as well as HuffPost Politics editors Dan Froomkin and Rachel Weiner, and all 95 Huffington Post members, who made invaluable contributions to our search for great journalism on health care. Kudos as well to our gracious hosts Kristin Gorski and Patricia Blochowiak, who led our community in this effort, reviewing dozens of stories and posting some true journalistic gems on this important issue. Last but not least, we're deeply grateful to our wonderful NewsTrust reviewers. Your collective recommendations have helped thousands of citizens find health care journalism that is informative, substantive and meaningful to their lives. Many thanks to you all for your hard work and great insights!

As Congress continues to negotiate a health care reform bill, we'll be tracking the best (and the worst) coverage from across the political spectrum on NewsTrust. Check our Health Care and U.S. Congress topic pages to weigh in on the latest news and opinion on this landmark debate -- and if you find a great story on health care, be sure to post it on NewsTrust for review!

- by Derek Hawkins and Fabrice Florin, with Kaizar Campwala

Health Care News Hunt Update

On Monday we kicked off a week-long partnership with the Huffington Post and its Eyes and Ears team in to find great journalism about health care reform. For this Health Care News Hunt, our communities have teamed up to review news coverage of the ongoing health care debate, as Congressional leaders negotiate how to merge competing versions of a reform bill. 

We'd also like to give a warm welcome to the eighty new members who have signed up for this News Hunt from Huffington Post so far. Thanks for joining forces with us for this important cause! For tips on how to review on NewsTrust, read our quick guide. And if you haven't already, check our HuffPost partner Matt Palevsky's excellent blog post about our goals for this project.  

Here's an update on what we found so far, as well as as an invitation to review new stories today, with a focus on TV news coverage of this important issue.

First Results
Most of the news and opinions we've reviewed so far have dealt with the behind-the-scenes politics of passing reforms, as the bill enters the final stages of creation. This is a far cry from what we found in our last Health Care News Hunt in August, when coverage was dominated by raucous town hall meetings and false claims about "death panels."

Yesterday, in our weekly Sparring Opinions feature, we asked NewsTrust members to review two op-eds and a blog post on whether Congress should include a provision for a government-run insurance program -- a "public option" -- in the bill it will put to a vote in coming weeks. A Republican state senator from Maryland argued against it in the Baltimore Sun; the founder of a failed insurance exchange firm wrote in the New York Times that without a public option reform would be ineffectual; and a blogger from Think Progress said political maneuvering is the Democrats' best hope for slipping the controversial measure past Republicans.

Based on 24 reviews between the three stories, our members rated Cappy McGarr's op-ed in the New York Times, "A Texas-sized health care failure," highest. Founder of the now-defunct Texas Purchasing Alliance, McGarr wrote that personal experience convinced him health insurance exchanges -- a prominent alternative to the public option -- don't create enough competition to cut costs. "It would be smarter for Congress to revisit the idea of creating a public plan that could provide an attractive choice for consumers and real competition for private insurers, to give them the incentive to offer good coverage at affordable prices," he concluded.

Kristin Gorski, co-host of this week's Health Care News Hunt, called McGarr's story "compelling" and "clearly written," and Patricia Berrini gave it high marks for the author's expertise on the issue.

Igor Volsky's blog post from Think Progress also received a positive rating, though several members, like Kiku Botura, questioned the logic of waiting to add a public insurance option to the bill until late in deliberations. Our community dismissed the Baltimore Sun op-ed from Maryland State Senator Andy Harris for being light on factual evidence and rejecting the public option without explanation.

On Monday we opened our News Hunt by comparing news and analysis on the public option from mainstream sources. News centered on Montana Senator Max Baucus, who, as chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has emerged as the key player in crafting a health care reform bill.

The Great Falls Tribune, a daily newspaper from Baucus's home state, wrote that Baucus had upset Montana progressives when he voted against including a public option in his committee's bill.

"Baucus said "there's a lot to like" about a public option — a government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers — but in the end Baucus said he didn't see how a health care reform bill containing such a provision could pass the full Senate.

"My job is to put together a bill that will become law," Baucus told the committee before voting "no" on two public-option amendments on Tuesday. "In the Senate, that means my job is to put together a bill that gets 60 votes. Now I can count, and no one has been able to show me how they can get to 60 votes with a public option in the bill."

... Baucus says he supports the public option, having drafted a version of a public-option plan in his white paper released last November. But Baucus' critics say he has done little to try to make the public option a reality."

The Hill reported Baucus's decision pitted him against other Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, who have vowed to deliver on a public option.

"Having deferred the issue to Baucus this summer, Reid signaled on Thursday that he is prepared to join Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who both pushed a public option amendment that failed in a committee vote last Tuesday.

“We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk," Reid said in a conference call with constituents on Thursday, as reported by the Las Vegas Sun. “I believe the public option is so vitally important to create a level playing field and prevent the insurance companies from taking advantage of us.”

On the same day, [Iowa Sen. Tom ] Harkin gave The Des Moines Register the same message, suggesting clearly that he will side with Reid against Baucus."

In a similar story, the Washington Post suggested negotiations could continue through November without the full support of Senate Democrats like Rockefeller and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, both of whom have said the current versions of reform bills are deficient.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times and Salon both spoke with Congressional and White House aides who say that the Obama Administration has been privately working to shore up Senate support for the public option ahead of a vote.

Today's Comparison: TV News on Health Care
All week long we'll be searching for quality news and opinion on health care reform and the bill making its way through Congress now. 

Today we're focusing on how TV news networks are covering this issue (see our recommended stories below); on Thursday we'll feature fact-checkers, and on Friday we'll feature comedy news.

How are TV news networks covering the debate on health care reform? Which outlets are providing the best coverage, reporting on the issues with substance and balance? Try comparing these three TV news segments:

• In the Netherlands, insurers compete over quality of care - PBS NewsHour

• Breaking the bank? - Fox News

• House behind a public option - MSNBC

Join our News Hunt with the Huffington Post and Eyes & Ears -- visit our Health Care page and review or post a story today. 

-- by Derek Hawkins, with Fabrice Florin and Kaizar Campwala

Sparring Opinions: Iran's Nuclear Program

Western leaders are reassessing their approach to Iran after recent disclosures about a secret nuclear facility and new missile tests. How should they address Iran's nuclear ambitions at this week's diplomatic talks in Geneva? How should President Obama approach Iran's leadership?

In today's Sparring Opinions we're comparing two op-eds that discuss these questions.

Scott Ritter, a prominent UN weapons inspector, argues in the Guardian that Iran's disclosure of the facility in Qom should not be met with tough language from Western leaders. Iran's move, he writes, should mark a step toward non-proliferation:

"the emergence of the existence of the Qom enrichment facility could very well mark the initiation of a period of even greater transparency on the part of Iran, leading to its full adoption and implementation of the IAEA additional protocol ... Calls for "crippling" sanctions on Iran by Obama and Brown are certainly not the most productive policy options available to these two world leaders. Both have indicated a desire to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Iran's action, in declaring the existence of the Qom facility, has created a window of opportunity for doing just that, and should be fully exploited within the framework of IAEA negotiations and inspections, and not more bluster and threats form the leaders of the western world."

Former National Security Council staffers Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, writing in the New York Times, agree that sanctions would be counterproductive, but call for intervention from the Obama Administration and international community that curbs weapons development and serves Iran's needs:

"the administration should seek a strategic realignment with Iran as thoroughgoing as that effected by Nixon with China. This would require Washington to take steps, up front, to assure Tehran that rapprochement would serve Iran’s strategic needs.

On that basis, America and Iran would forge a comprehensive framework for security as well as economic cooperation — something that Washington has never allowed the five-plus-one group to propose. Within that framework, the international community would work with Iran to develop its civil nuclear program, including fuel cycle activities on Iranian soil, in a transparent manner rather than demanding that Tehran prove a negative — that it’s not developing weapons. A cooperative approach would not demonize Iran for political relationships with Hamas and Hezbollah, but would elicit Tehran’s commitment to work toward peaceful resolutions of regional conflicts"

Tell us which of these Sparring Opinions you find most insightful -- and add your reviews to these two stories:

• Keeping Iran honest - The Guardian

• How to press the advantage with Iran - New York Times

-- Derek Hawkins

Our New Site Just Launched

We just launched a new version of the NewsTrust website to make it easier for you to find good journalism online.

We created this new site to provide a better user experience for new visitors and experienced members alike, through features like a new toolbar and simpler review form, more visual appeal and and a streamlined site layout.

What's New
Here are some of the new features in this 4.0 release:

New Look

• new site layout shows more variety, less clutter, colorful graphics, wider pages and larger text
• simpler navigation bar features subjects we cover most often, with a search tool to find more
• streamlined home page is more visual, with different sections for a wider range of stories  
• news comparisons show how different news sources are covering our featured topic
• top stories grid shows recent news and opinion, updated 24/7, as well as editor picks
• new story listings are organized by subject, with sections for opinion and today's feeds
• new site footer at the bottom of every page helps you find pages you need more quickly

New Tools

• new toolbar lets you review stories more quickly (replacing our old popup windows)
• short review form makes it easier for new members to review (only 3 questions)
• guest reviews let visitors rate stories without signing up first (like a free trial)
• 'post a story' tool lets you submit new stories faster (and auto-fills story info)
• smart feeds show recommendations from trusted sources and insightful thinkers online
• quick guide provides helpful tips on how to review a story and build news literacy skills
• activity streams list all your recent reviews and posts on your member profile
• edit tools let trusted members (with a level of 3 or more) edit story and source info

... and much, much more

Go check out all these new features on our new site and let us know what you think. Be sure to click on a story title and try our new toolbar and short review form, as well as post a story, to see all the bells and whistles. (UPDATE: see our visual guide on how to use the new toolbar)

We're particularly excited about our new 'Smart Feeds' service, which surfaces news stories recommended by some of the most insightful thinkers online - as well as our most trusted sources and social news sites (see earlier blog post). Together, these 'smart feeds' harness the collective intelligence of thousands of professionals and citizens -- who extend the NewsTrust community to create a filtered list of quality news and opinion, round the clock. Check out today's feeds on our new site.

We hope that these new services and enhanced user experience will help you get more informed, and attract more people to join our cause in coming months.

NewsTrust's new home page, with news comparisons and top stories grid.

Thanks to our Team
Many thanks to our worldclass web development team: Adam Florin, David Fox, Subramanya Sastry and Caleb Waldorf created a much improved user interface and web platform in just a few months. Many thanks as well to Market Publique designers Jonathan Berger and Polly Barden for their invaluable contributions to the new look of the site.

This core team was supported by our dedicated staff members, who worked beyond the call of duty to make this launch possible: Kaizar Campwala, Derek Hawkins and Joey Baker -- as well asEzra Fox and Bryan Purse. They've all done wonders to improve the quality of our service -- and we're very lucky to have them on our team. Thank you for your insights, your leadership and your commitment to our cause!

Thanks to our Community
Our new site was designed with the help of our community, through a variety of surveys, emails and phone conferences this year. We're very grateful to all our members, advisors, partners and friends who took the time to propose new ideas, check our early designs, test our site and share their invaluable feedback.

We've already received great responses about this new release. Here are just a few examples of what folks are telling us:

I love the look of the site--instantly! Very good, strong first impression. Colors well chosen ... This new website seems to me to be a great leap forward. - Robert W. Fuller

I like every aspect of what I have found. The reviewing system is much less cluttered and probably will be better served with the present simplicity. - Jerry Firman

The site is much improved and getting to be downright fun to use. The vast range of sources really makes NewsTrust a must-check place for researching news stories. - Evelyn Messinger

I LOVE! The review toolbar/overlay!!! Great job, very well designed. - Joe Kraynik

Wow -- the new site looks great. It has taken leaps forward in overall design and content. It is definitely more user-friendly in a visual and organizational sense. Bravo! - Kristin Gorski

I love the new look!  Good use of enhanced width. So much easier to read. I appreciate your simplifying the upper nav bar. - Roger Macdonald

We're very grateful for all this wonderful feedback from our community, and are glad we were able to address so many of your recommendations this week. What didn't make it in this release will definitely be considered for the next release.

Please share your comments and suggestions at the bottom of this page - or email us. What do you like most? what do you like least? how can we improve this new site? We love bugs! If you find any technical issues, please report them here.

Thanks again to all our supporters for your generous contributions to our cause. Together, we've created a compelling example of how citizens and journalists can join forces online to filter quality information through social news networks.

We hope our new site will make it easier for all of us to find and share good journalism together -- and make more informed decisions as citizens.

Enjoy!

Fabrice Florin
Executive Director, NewsTrust

Top Stories on Health Care Reform

Euthanasia. Rationing. Socialism.

As the health care debate boiled over last week, reporting on the competing claims from opponents and advocates of reform overwhelmed news coverage across the country, and even made it overseas. While some publications did little more than record the daily developments, others took a hard-nosed look at the facts behind both sides' arguments. Our community spent the week reviewing these stories, finding those that attempted to clear the air of myth and misinformation to be the most effective.

Our top story came from PolitiFact, which gave Sarah Palin a "Pants on Fire" (NT reviews) rating for writing on her Facebook page that seniors and the disabled will have to "stand in front of Obama's 'death panel," where bureaucrats will decide if they are worthy of health care. "We agree with Palin that such a system would be evil," PolitiFact said, after scrutinizing the 1000-plus pages of the Democratic health care bill. "But it's definitely not what President Barack Obama or any other Democrat has proposed."

Palin's claim didn't survive NewsTrust's vetting, either. We compared a Daily Beast op-ed (NT reviews) and a Washington Post interview (NT reviews) with Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, and found that, in Sen. Isakson's words, the "death panel" remark was "nuts."

Several major British sources defended their own country's health care system last week against conservative criticisms of it being "socialist" and "Orwellian." The Guardian reported (NT reviews) on the controversy:

"Top-ranking Republicans have joined bloggers and well-funded free market organisations in scorning the NHS for its waiting lists and for 'rationing' the availability of expensive treatments.

As myths and half-truths circulate, British diplomats in the US are treading a delicate line in correcting falsehoods while trying to stay out of a vicious domestic dogfight over the future of American health policy."

The Independent, meanwhile, took the opportunity to cover (NT reviews) the LA Forum in Inglewood, Calif., where thousands of Americans went to receive free dental and medical exams last week. The forum, the Independent wrote, reflected the "brutal truth" about U.S. health care:

"In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an 'evil and Orwellian' example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system ...

In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted."

The BBC asked (NT reviews) if the protests outside the town halls across the country were "grassroots" or "astroturf," and the Christian Science Monitor offered an informative "Health Reform 101" (NT reviews) that gave a cursory overview of the provisions in the health reform bills.

One of our top rated opinions took a skeptical view of health insurance reform as it now stands. The Wall Street Journal rejected (NT reviews) current proposals that insurers "cover anyone at any time and at nearly uniform rates:"

"ObamaCare would impose on all 50 states rules that have already proven to be failures in numerous states. Because these mandates would raise the cost of insurance, ObamaCare would then turn around and subsidize individuals to buy the insurance that the politicians made more expensive. Only in government could such irrationality be sold as 'reform.'"

This week: Afghanistan with Worldfocus
This week, NewsTrust is joining forces with WNET’s Worldfocus and its viewers to find quality news and opinion on Afghanistan.

As Afghanistan prepares for its second ever presidential election, we’re looking for good journalism about this troubled nation, and how its many challenges also impact its neighbors and the international community.

To join our Afghanistan News Hunt, review a story on our Afghanistan page.

-- Derek Hawkins, with Fabrice Florin, Kaizar Campwala and Joey Baker

Sparring Opinions: Afghanistan Strategy

Thursday will mark the second-ever presidential election in Afghanistan, raising questions over how to stabilize the country and foster a more effective government. In this week's Sparring Opinions, we're comparing two op-eds on this issue.

Greg Mills, a former NATO commander in Afghanistan, writes in the Christian Science Monitor that Western governments need to develop a more "holistic" approach -- one that combines diplomacy, funding for local projects and economic development -- to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a failed state. "Instead of responding with a redoubled effort, how about a healthy dose of humility, a recognition that success will depend on internal Afghan actions rather than external Western ones?"

Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan contend in the Weekly Standard that President Obama must send more U.S. troops and military resources to Afghanistan if he is to avoid mistakes his predecessor made in Iraq. "Our own assessment ... is that more forces will be needed, and very soon. The administration's body-language (and, in the case of the National Security Advisor's comments last month, explicit statements) suggest that any such request will be received skeptically if not with hostility."

Which of these Sparring Opinions do you think makes the better case? Weigh in by adding your reviews for these two stories:

• What the West needs in Afghanistan: humility - Christian Science Monitor

• Déjà vu all over again - The Weekly Standard

For more news and opinion on this important topic, join our Afghanistan News Hunt -- and help find the best journalism on this troubled country.

-- Derek Hawkins

No, Obama is not going to euthanize your grandmother

Yesterday, we ran the first installment of our new Sparring Opinions feature, in which we compare two opinions that take different views on the same topic.

Our first Sparring Opinions were about so-called "death panels" - a proposal to allow Medicare to reimburse end-of-life planning sessions, as part of a health care reform bill being debated in Congress.

We compared a Daily Beast op-ed (NT reviews) by Lee Siegel that said conservative claims about health care "death panels" held water, and a Washington Post interview (NT reviews) with Republican Senator Johnny Isakson who supports this bill and said such claims were bogus.

Based on 19 reviews so far, our community's verdict is clear: on the issue of end-of-life treatment, NewsTrust recommends Ezra Klein's interview with Senator Isakson.

Robert B. Elliott rated the interview very highly. "[Klein] asks the same thing several ways to highlight the information," he wrote in his review. "He makes sure the reader understands that this gentleman is a Republican."

Lynn R. Willis went even further: "Please send a copy of this piece to Lee Siegel ('Obama's Euthanasia Mistake') and Sarah Palin."

NewsTrust stalwart Chris Finnie rejected the arguments raised in Siegel's piece:

"Siegel has conflated two separate provisions in the bill and turned them into a complete fabrication. One is an efficacy review of commonly used procedures. This could be valuable information to physicians as they make recommendations to their patients. The other is payment for a counseling session. That's it. Really."

Disagree with our recommendation? We welcome your comments. Weigh in by adding your review to these stories.

• Obama's euthanasia mistake - The Daily Beast

• Is the government going to euthanize your grandmother? - The Washington Post

-- Derek Hawkins and the NewsTrust team

Pakistan News Hunt - Final Results

On Sunday we wrapped up a two-week News Hunt on Pakistan with the Huffington Post and its Eyes & Ears team, and the results were eye-opening. Over a hundred Huffington Post members joined the NewsTrust community to search for the best journalism on Pakistan -- looking at a wide range of issues, from the country's struggle against extremism to its regional politics.

It was not an easy task. Although several major events rocked the Pakistani social, political and ethnic landscape, coverage of this topic was relatively limited in Western news media throughout most of our News Hunt. But by focusing our attention on Pakistani blogs and newspapers, as well as the international press, we were able to compare the country's feet-on-the-ground coverage with stories from U.S., British, Indian and other publications around the globe. (Check out our previous blog posts from week one and week two of this News Hunt).

In total, we submitted 169 stories on Pakistan, 68 of which received a NewsTrust rating (with three or more reviews). Of these, 52 were news stories and 16 were opinions (see our full listing of top rated stories).

In the two weeks that we devoted to Pakistan, four news events dominated stories we reviewed: the reported assassination of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud; the attacks on Christians in Gojra; the Pakistani Supreme Court's ruling against former President Pervez Musharraf; and the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Pakistanis to Swat Valley. All four of these events, which had far reaching impacts on Pakistani politics, civil society and religious affairs, were reflected in our top stoires.

Mehsud Reported Killed
The reported killing of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud by U.S. drone planes on Aug. 5th was widely covered, but some disputed his death. In the last few days of our News Hunt, news media were still unsure. The New York Times, quoting several anonymous sources, wrote that (NT reviews) Pakistani and U.S. officials were "increasingly convinced" of his death, but said it could be weeks before they received confirmation. ProPakistan rounded up (NT reviews) news stories on the assassination and offered some background on Mehsud, saying his death would be a "coup for Washington." As of today, several publications continued to report uncertainty on this event.

Mehsud's death drew swift reaction from Pakistani blogs. Kalsoom Lakhani of Changing Up Pakistan wrote (NT reviews) that while, if confirmed, it would have a "marginal effect" on the Taliban, it "still represents a pretty hefty symbolic victory for Pakistan. In a war of perceptions, such a fact is significant." Sana Saleem rejoiced (NT reviews) on Mystified Justice. "Baitullah Mehsud’s death can be considered a significant blow but not a definite one," she wrote. "Now that Baitullah is no more the end seems more realistic and attainable."

• Taliban leader reportedly killed in strike - New York Times
• Separated at birth - Dawn
• Baitullah Mehsud killed in drone strike - Pro-Pakistan

Attacks on Gojra Christians
The city of Gojra, Pakistan, was left smoldering at the beginning of the month, when thousands of Muslims attacked a Christian neighborhood after hearing rumors that a Qu'ran had been defiled. The mob killed seven Christians, injured others and destroyed hundreds of houses in a wave of violence that lasted about eight hours. The attacks were condemned within Pakistan and around the world as Pakistani Christians shut down schools and businesses in mourning. Some of our highest rated stories involved the attacks -- our community found that several Pakistani and some U.S. sources covered the tragedy well.

• Fear and shame of Gojra - Daily Times (Pakistan)
• Condemning Gojra Riots - Global Voices
• Today, I too am a minority - Dawn
• Hate engulfs Christian minority in Pakistan - New York Times

Mixed verdict on Musharraf
In the same week as the Gojra attacks, Pakistan's high court delivered a long-awaited ruling against former President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned this time last year, facing an impeachment. The Supreme Court ruled that Musharraf's 2007 emergency powers decree -- in which Musharraf suspended the constitution -- was illegal and unconstitutional. Contrary to some expectations, the court decided not to pursue a treason trial against Musharraf, who remains in exile in London, facing possible arrest for related charges if he returns to Pakistan.

• Lessons from the lawyers' movement - Washington Post
• Supreme Court strikes down Nov 3 emergency - Dawn
• Why is Iftikhar Chaudry backing off? - Five Rupees

Return to Swat Valley
We kicked off our News Hunt by comparing stories on the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Pakistanis to Swat Valley. Months of fighting between the Taliban and Pakistani military had driven an estimated two million or more Pakistanis from the region in what some called the largest human migration in recent history. Having quelled the violence and scattered and killed many Taliban members, the military began escorting Pakistani citizens back home. But reports on overall stability in Swat -- and the military's ability to maintain it -- were by and large contradictory. Our top rated stories on this issue suggested that stability was temporary at best -- and at worst, an illusion.

• Taliban resume attacks in Swat Valley - Wall Street Journal
• Redefining success - Changing Up Pakistan
• As Swat exiles journey home, gunfire suggests problems may not be over - Guardian

More Pakistan Stories
News and opinion on other Pakistan issues also made our list of top stories. Dawn posted eight stories last week that received a NewsTrust rating of 3.5 or higher, including our top rated story of this News Hunt. In "The Taliban and Music" (NT reviews), Zubeida Mustafa, the paper's assistant editor, wrote about how the Taliban has both violently repressed music and used it as a propaganda tool. The Washington Post covered (NT reviews) how violence had impacted Pakistani business and sparked debate over whether to accept economic aid from the United States. India's Frontline ran a special report that assessed (NT reviews) U.S. influence in regional politics -- "quiet diplomacy" on the part of the Obama Administration was proving the most effective approach, it said.

Here is a full listing of our top rated stories from this News Hunt. And check our previous blog posts from this News Hunt here and here.


Thanks to Huffington Post
We'd like to give a huge thanks to our partners at Huffington Post's Eyes & Ears and the hundreds of Huffington Post members who signed up with NewsTrust and joined us in this News Hunt. Matt Palevsky and Hanna Ingber Win (editor of the HuffPost's World section) were a true pleasure to work with.

Matt was kind enough to share what he thought of this News Hunt:

"The process of allowing the best journalism to percolate up from NewsTrust's distributive rating method holds clear value for readers.  A less expected value is the pleasure that participants in our Pakistan News Hunt derived from rating articles.  A number of participants have said that the process of reading articles through NewsTurst helped them think more critically about the news they consumed.

The value to journalism that NewsTrust provides is not only in the results of its rating system, but also in the form of reading that it invites participants to adopt.  We all know that reading online lends itself to skimming and multi-tasking.  NewsTrust serves to slow people down and forces readers to closely consider the information they consume.  For online news, that can only be a good thing."  

We're very grateful for these thoughtful observations, which help clarify the true mission of our service: to encourage a new 'form of reading' that makes us all more discerning news consumers.

Thanks again to everyone at the Huffington Post who participated in this News Hunt. Your insights and commitment to this cause are invaluable - and it's a real delight to be working with world-class partners like you.

Thanks to our host: Emma Asomba
Our host for week two of our Pakistan News Hunt was Emma Asomba, who recently joined NewsTrust through the Huffington Post. Emma, a specialist in research and policy analysis, reviewed dozens of stories on Pakistan during this investigation and made some outstanding contributions to this project.

When we asked for his impressions on our News Hunt, Emma remarked that reading and reviewing a range of Western and Pakistani publications gave him a broader perspective on the role of the United States in Pakistan and its impact on the country's politics, economics and civil society. "Instead of staying put on the international mindset," he said, "injecting some Pakistani accounts brought to the open the local context, its realities with all the interfaces between fact-checking, critical analyses and what it takes for a dose of pragmatism to balance biases and independence in reporting (of course from both aisles of the spectrum). Pakistani bloggers, Emma said, also made helpful contributions to the public dialog on Pakistan. "From my standpoint, it was very informative because many uncovered facts (from the international scene) came up to the surface," he said.

Check out Emma's story reviews from last week for more on the diversity of coverage he reviewed and the "smoking pieces" he rated highest. Thanks again for your superb contributions, Emma, and welcome to NewsTrust!

Last but not least, thanks to our growing community of reviewers for their wonderful contributions to this collaborative quest for quality news and information. The more you review on NewsTrust, the more we learn from each other - and the smarter we get as a community. Keep it up!

Next Week: Afghanistan News Hunt
Join next week's Afghanistan News Hunt with WNET's Worldfocus. As Afghanistan prepares for its second ever presidential election on August 20, we will compare stories from around the world on this troubled state and how its many challenges impact the world community. Hope you'll join us!

-- Derek Hawkins, with Fabrice Florin, Kaizar Campwala and Joey Baker