SpinSpotter Debuts Service to Spot Media Bias and Inaccuracy Online

San Diego– Today at DEMOfall08, SpinSpotter unveiled a new online service designed to surface specific instances of bias and inaccuracy in any news story online. By installing a SpinSpotter toolbar called Spinoculars, users of the SpinSpotter service can easily see, share, and edit any clear sign of bias anywhere on the Web.

To develop an objective methodology for identifying media bias, SpinSpotter executives assembled a team of distinguished writers and journalists, including professors at some of the country’s top journalism schools. Their expert knowledge, along with the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics (http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp), were then combined with guided user input and sophisticated algorithms to identify each instance of bias and inaccuracy in online media, whether it is a reporter stating opinion as fact, an unattributed adjective, a paragraph lifted from a press release, or an expert source with a clear conflict of interest.

According to studies by the Pew Research Center, 67 percent of Americans say they want unbiased news, while 66 percent consider the press “one-sided”. And while more Americans (55 percent) trust the military to deliver an objective view of the war than trust the press’ war coverage (42 percent), only nine percent of journalists are concerned about the media’s credibility.

“SpinSpotter considers the press’ mission profound: to inform the public and keep power in check. But there is a major difference between working to inform and writing to persuade,” said Todd Herman, founder and chief product officer of SpinSpotter. “SpinSpotter makes news reporting transparent while empowering readers online to see, share, or edit spin — and ultimately avoid it. With Spinoculars installed, readers have an editorial seat at the table of every news page online.”

SpinSpotter CEO John Atcheson says the question of media bias is much too important to be taken lightly. “SpinSpotter will make it harder for people on both ends of the political spectrum to hurl vague accusations of bias. With SpinSpotter, we will finally be able to have rational discussions about bias in the media, informed by SpinSpotter’s rigorous analysis.”

Chris Shipley, product analyst and executive producer of the DEMO Conferences, believes SpinSpotter’s introduction is particularly timely. “As a former journalist, I can tell you that SpinSpotter brings much-needed transparency and accountability to online news media. With all eyes on the November election, it is particularly important for people to be able to tell when there might be a hidden agenda at work.”

The beta version of Spinoculars can be downloaded starting today at http://www.spinspotter.com.

About the Company

Based in Seattle, SpinSpotter is led by veteran technology executives and entrepreneurs who also happen to be self-confessed news junkies. Todd Herman, the founder, worked as a radio talk show host before launching his first start-up and then joining MSNBC.com and Microsoft, where he was an executive for several years. SpinSpotter CEO John Atcheson is a serial entrepreneur who also served as a senior executive at RealNetworks. The company employs people of all political and intellectual stripes: Herman is conservative, while Atcheson is liberal. Initial funding for SpinSpotter was provided by Epic Ventures and angel investors. For more information, visit http://www.spinspotter.com.

About DEMO

Produced by Network World Events and Executive Forums, the semi-annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMOfall conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow’s cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMOfall conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies. For more information, visit http://www.demo.com.

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