“Ownership and control are perennial issues in the media garden. This is unavoidable when Australia has one of the most oligopolistic media sectors in the world”(Cunningham 2014 p.85).
Like most of Gen Z, I consume a lot of my news on social media. And while some could argue this lets us escape the highly concentrated pool of media broadcasters in Australia- “[…] News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media, Seven West Media and APN News and Media accounted for more than 90 per cent of the revenue in the industry in the 2015-16 financial year”(Lidberg 2019 p.15) I can’t help but fear that we are at risk of something far more insidious: the algorithm.
It is often the stories or media analysis that we don’t hear that shape a misinformed opinion. When we let algorithms filter the articles in our feed based on what we’re most likely to agree with, it adds a layer of media bias to the one that already exists in our print and broadcast news channels. “Echo chambers emerge due to algorithms prioritizing content that corresponds to a user’s preexisting ideas and interests”(Putri et al., 2024). With this in mind, and a desire to break free from my echo chamber, I’ve begun using Ground News.
Ownership and Control
Grounds News is a service that aims to fact-check, point out “blind spots” and media bias, and collate and post articles from various credible news sources. Co-founded in 2018 by siblings Harleen Kaur and Sukh Singh, a former NASA engineer and award-winning app developer, respectively, Ground News is based in Canada and funded by a ‘small team of media industry outsiders.’
“We are not funded by a media company, big tech, government affiliations nor institutional investors – we are supported by our subscribers and a small group of individual investors who care about the problem personally.”(About, Ground News, 2026)
Trustworthiness
Ground News has multiple precautions in place to ensure a balanced approach when fact-checking and resharing articles on its platform. Each article features a rating for bias, factuality, and ownership.
“The bias and factuality ratings are determined using three independent news monitoring organizations: AllSides, Ad Fontes Media, and Media Bias Fact Check.” (Methodology, Ground News, 2026) The organisation labels stories as “Left Blindspots” if they meet these conditions:
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- Fewer than 10 Left-leaning sources reporting
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- Right-leaning coverage is greater than or equal to 33%
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- Left-leaning coverage is less than or equal to (R/L% – 33) x (30/37)
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- Blindspots can not have more than 35% Low factuality coverage
(Methodology, Ground News, 2026)
The fact that Ground News doesn’t report stories itself and uses multiple organisations to fact-check its content is assuring for the informed audience. However, the names of the ‘small team of media outsider’ investors are not disclosed anywhere online, which diminishes its trustworthiness notably. Like algorithms, Ground News’ investors have the potential to promote what serves their agenda, and omit what doesn’t. But their methodology, primary goal, and 915,000 Instagram followers would suggest they’re a pretty good pick for those of us who want to burst our ideological bubbles.
References
Cunningham, S & Turnbull, S 2014, ‘The Media and Communications in Australia (4th Edition)’, Routledge, viewed 24 March 2026, p.85, <https://uow.leganto.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/readinglist/citation/14620794990006666/file/viewer>.
Lidberg, J 2019, ‘Media ownership concentration in Australia.’ AQ: Australian Quarterly, vol. 90, no. 1, 2019, viewed 25 March 2026, p.15, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/26563019>.
Putri, S et al. 2024, ‘Echo Chambers and algorithmic bias: The homogenization of online culture in a smart society.’ SHS Web of Conferences, vol. 202, 2024, viewed 25 March 2026, p.4, <https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202420205001.>
2026, Ground News, Snapwise Inc, viewed 27th of March 2026, <https://ground.news/rating-system> <https://ground.news/about>