User:Zritter/sandbox

NewsLens is an online experimental platform and news aggregator website that allows users to read, rate, and share news stories from popular U.S. media outlets across the political spectrum. The development of NewsLens emerged due to a desire to expand the methodological tools available to advance scientific research on trust, media, and democracy. In partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Gallup (company) first invited Gallup Panel members to participate in NewsLens in 2018.

History
In 2017, the Knight Foundation partnered with Gallup to study issues covering trust, media, and democracy. A critical component to understand the online information environment and its role in shaping Americans' opinions and behaviors is availability of user data from social media companies, like Facebook and Twitter. These data enable researchers to draw ecologically valid results on relevant policy issues like the spread of fake news stories. Following the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, several social media companies limited the availability of user data to academic researchers over privacy concerns. In the case of Facebook, this decision led to a 20 month delay in releasing data to asses social media's impact on elections and democracy.

This reliance of the academic community on social media companies prompted Gallup and the Knight Foundation to create an online experimental platform that allows researchers to study important questions at the intersection of trust, media, and democracy. Inspired by the notion of citizen science, NewsLens invites Americans to read stories from across the political spectrum on a news aggregator platform. Newslens users provide informed consent to record their actions, including what articles they read, rated, liked, and shared. The first research cycle concluded in the fall of 2018 with initial results covered in the New York Times. In line with the objective to advance knowledge on trust, media, and democracy, the Knight Foundation publicly released the data set after a thorough de-identification process to ensure user anonymity.

In April 2020, Newslens will be available to the general public.