VettNews offers corrections management tool to RTDNA members

The New York-based startup, Vett Inc. is offering its VettNews Cx product to up to 12 RTDNA newsrooms during 2021 for free and then for a discounted rate in future years. Cx is a workflow automation tool that improves the corrections management and reader feedback process for news publishers. 

The public trust in the news media is at a historic low, although local news outlets appear to fare somewhat better. Pew Research found 68 percent of Americans say they lack confidence in news organizations’ willingness to admit when they have made a mistake. In a Knight Foundation report in 2018, nearly 90 percent of citizens said their trust in news organizations depends on newsrooms’ commitment to accuracy and willingness to openly correct mistakes. A more recent study by Knight and Gallup shows that while 81 percent of Americans believe the news media is critical or very important to democracy, a majority of news consumers are worried the news media is biased or pushing an agenda.

The corrections process has often been a missed opportunity for journalists to engage with viewers, listeners and readers until now. 

In response to this dilemma, the journalists and technologists at Vett Inc. built a simple, effective tool to help new news organizations improve their process of correcting mistakes and to involve the public in doing so. This tool aims to help improve audience loyalty and trust, which are vital factors for those who depend in journalists for vital information.

“Accuracy and transparency are core tenets of the RTDNA Code of Ethics. and critical principles necessary to build trust with the public,” said Dan Shelley, RTDNA executive director. “We are pleased to partner with VettNews Cx in order to help give journalists an additional tool to demonstrate that they are, in fact, responsibly serving their communities.” 

The VettNews Cx tool is currently funded by a Knight Foundation grant and is currently in test use at more than a dozen college and professional news outlets including the student newspapers at West Virginia University, Bethel University in Minnesota and at Poynter.org and The Tampa Bay Times.

“We are pleased to work with RTDNA members, who are increasingly publishing text-based stories on their web sites,” said Paul Glader, co-founder of Vett Inc. “We believe our product offers another method for news organizations to demonstrate their standards and ethics in this new digital era." 

The VettNews team installs a block of code that places a button at the bottom of every article to invite reader feedback on factual accuracy, spelling mistakes, context and bias. The feedback flows into the Cx dashboard, which allows newsrooms to improve the speed, order and efficiency of the correction and feedback process. It also has potential to reduce newsroom liability by documenting and professionalizing response to complaints. The product has tools built-in to improve the communication with readers in this process. 

Interested newsroom managers can see an explanation and demonstration of VettNews Cx from the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in 2020 here.

Vett Inc. is a Delaware C-Corp that is led by journalists and technologists including Paul Glader, a former reporter at The Wall Street Journal and journalism professor at The King’s College in NYC. Vett is a Swedish word that means “savvy.” The team at Vett Inc. / VettNews have received funding and mentorship from the NYC Media Lab Combine accelerator, the Knight Foundation and other support and partnership from Trusting News, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Feliciano Center at Montclair State University.   

Washington, D.C.-based RTDNA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to broadcast and digital journalism. Founded as a grassroots organization in 1946, RTDNA’s mission is to promote and protect responsible journalism. RTDNA defends the First Amendment rights of electronic journalists throughout the country, honors outstanding work in the profession through the Edward R. Murrow Awards and provides members with training to encourage ethical standards, newsroom leadership and industry innovation.