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Think Freely.Ground News isn’t a news source bound by the political leanings of our writers or parent company. Ground News isn’t a news aggregator, throwing hundreds of headlines at you that barely skim the surface. Ground News isn’t a fact-checker, because we believe in empowerment, not enablement. We are a guide for news readers. Neutral in assessment, efficient in consumption, all in service of empowering you to make educated decisions for yourself.
On a mission to well inform the world, we make it easy for readers to think freely about the issues of our times.
On a mission to well inform the world, we make it easy for readers to think freely about the issues of our times.
Vision
Our vision is positive coexistence where cooperative, civil debate is the norm, media is accountable, and critical thought is the baseline of our news, media, and information consumption.
Principles
1. Comprehension not Consumption
Our job is to keep you informed, not to make you addicted to our platform. We’re not dependent on ad-dollars so there’s no incentive to send you down the rabbit hole. That means we’re not afraid to show you the opposing viewpoints. People choose Ground News because we offer diverse perspectives.
2. Subscription not Ads
The ad-based business model is the source of a lot of problems in the news industry. Clickbait, sensationalism, filter bubbles – they’re all driven by the incessant demand for your attention. Ground News doesn’t serve any ads. If you see an ad on our platform, it comes from the news publishers’ site, and we do not make any revenue from them. We ask readers who see value in our platform to pay a subscription fee starting as low as 83 cents a month.
3. Pragmatic not Partisan
We do not censor news sources as long as they are covering the facts of a story. That said, if you strip away enough context, any piece of truth can become a piece of misinformation. Our solution is not to be the arbiters of truth but to help readers analyze news coverage through direct comparison, which highlights how outlets equivocate or exaggerate. We can only do that if we include a wide selection of news sources.
4. Local and Global
Local news is incredibly important. In many ways, it has the most direct impact on our lives, yet local newsrooms are suffering the most under changing business models. We want to help reverse this trend by supporting the distribution of local news. If available, we always put local news sources first. We also highlight local news from around the world, which gives an on-the-ground perspective that might be missing from national coverage. This provides a more nuanced understanding of geopolitical issues by showing how the same news story is covered across the globe.
Our job is to keep you informed, not to make you addicted to our platform. We’re not dependent on ad-dollars so there’s no incentive to send you down the rabbit hole. That means we’re not afraid to show you the opposing viewpoints. People choose Ground News because we offer diverse perspectives.
2. Subscription not Ads
The ad-based business model is the source of a lot of problems in the news industry. Clickbait, sensationalism, filter bubbles – they’re all driven by the incessant demand for your attention. Ground News doesn’t serve any ads. If you see an ad on our platform, it comes from the news publishers’ site, and we do not make any revenue from them. We ask readers who see value in our platform to pay a subscription fee starting as low as 83 cents a month.
3. Pragmatic not Partisan
We do not censor news sources as long as they are covering the facts of a story. That said, if you strip away enough context, any piece of truth can become a piece of misinformation. Our solution is not to be the arbiters of truth but to help readers analyze news coverage through direct comparison, which highlights how outlets equivocate or exaggerate. We can only do that if we include a wide selection of news sources.
4. Local and Global
Local news is incredibly important. In many ways, it has the most direct impact on our lives, yet local newsrooms are suffering the most under changing business models. We want to help reverse this trend by supporting the distribution of local news. If available, we always put local news sources first. We also highlight local news from around the world, which gives an on-the-ground perspective that might be missing from national coverage. This provides a more nuanced understanding of geopolitical issues by showing how the same news story is covered across the globe.
Why?
Technology is revolutionizing the way news is shared and who gets to share it. It creates space for diverse ideas, but it also amplifies polarizing views. There is a sense that the common ground on which we stood has been shaken. These challenges aren’t new, but they have been accelerated by a few key factors.
1. The repeal of the fairness doctrine. This FCC policy required the holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced.
2. Unlike the days of print, online distribution allows news organizations to specialize and still maintain a wide reach. Some news publishers realize they can’t appease the entire landscape of news readers. Instead, they embrace a position on the Bias Spectrum that appeals to specific news consumers as opposed to offering clear information from diverse perspectives.
3. Social media intensifies the problem with manipulative algorithms. These platforms are designed to devour your attention. The longer they keep you on their feed, the more they can maximize advertising dollars. And because it feels good to have your bias confirmed, these algorithms send you down a rabbit hole instead of providing you with information you might disagree with.
We created Ground News to address these challenges, to make easier to compare diverse perspectives so you can Think Freely again.
1. The repeal of the fairness doctrine. This FCC policy required the holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced.
2. Unlike the days of print, online distribution allows news organizations to specialize and still maintain a wide reach. Some news publishers realize they can’t appease the entire landscape of news readers. Instead, they embrace a position on the Bias Spectrum that appeals to specific news consumers as opposed to offering clear information from diverse perspectives.
3. Social media intensifies the problem with manipulative algorithms. These platforms are designed to devour your attention. The longer they keep you on their feed, the more they can maximize advertising dollars. And because it feels good to have your bias confirmed, these algorithms send you down a rabbit hole instead of providing you with information you might disagree with.
We created Ground News to address these challenges, to make easier to compare diverse perspectives so you can Think Freely again.
Who?
We are a small team of independent media outsiders based in Waterloo, Canada, who is concerned about the future of news. We are not funded by a media company, big tech or institutional investors. We are supported by our subscribers and a small group of individual investors who care about the problem personally.
Here is our CEO Harleen’s journey from being a NASA engineer to creating Ground News.
Here is our CEO Harleen’s journey from being a NASA engineer to creating Ground News.
How?
By threading multiple perspectives from thousands of publications through one, reliable information platform, Ground frees people from algorithmic restraints, illuminates blindspots and makes media’s implicit biases explicit. It offers people the confidence to trust themselves and the time to put their knowledge to use. It’s our belief that well-informed people will choose to do the right thing - nudging need not apply. That’s why, in the name of more cooperative forward progress for all, Ground is on a mission to well inform the world. The world’s first Information Utility, Ground delivers your news, their news, all of our news so we can think freely - again.
