Beehive News is the world’s only news rating platform that assesses each published news article individually rather than evaluating the publication as a whole, and it is the only platform doing so at scale and in real time. It is an ambitious project with a clear mission: to make rigorously crafted and responsible information easily available to readers and financially sustainable to publishers. Beehive News is also a community: our members are active collaborators, and share that purpose. As a news rating platform, Beehive News offers a unique way to read and compare the latest news, top stories and trending topics from award-winning publishers in the United Kingdom and the world – all in one place. It is a revolutionary way to think about news, grouping together all articles covering the same stories and providing in-depth ratings for each article based on potential biases, fact-base, completeness and quality of writing. 

Beehive News Ltd is an independent organisation registered with the Companies House of England and Wales, under registration number 13450907. It has been established with the sole mission of serving as a news rating platform, classified under the Nature of Business (SIC) 63990 for ‘information services activities’.

Newspapers are made of a multitude of professionals – reporters, columnists, researchers, editors and publishers. We don’t believe in simply labelling them and generalising everything they publish. Even the most reputable newspapers occasionally publish subpar articles, while less renowned outlets often have some hardworking journalists producing high-quality work. Similarly, if you align politically with the left, for example, you might typically avoid newspapers perceived as more right-leaning – but you could find specific articles from those outlets insightful. And vice versa. Publication-level ratings can also be problematic because they can’t be easily verified by readers, and risk becoming a matter of belief. Beehive News wants to give you access to the best journalism available, from all parts of the political spectrum, rewarding excellence and encouraging publications to strive for better. We believe this is the only way to reverse the extreme polarisation and misinformation crisis affecting our world, and to restore common ground for elevated debates. To achieve this, we’ve developed a platform powered by a robust and innovative technology, and complemented by a Smart User Rating system. It’s the only platform in the world where you’ll find ratings at the news article level, helping you discover and appreciate great journalism wherever and whenever it happens.

The team of researchers and strategists behind Beehive News spent years studying the signs of misinformation and developing exclusive technology to assess each news article individually – and we’re the only platform in the world doing that. Most news articles don’t cover standalone facts, but instead present theories connecting different facts to draw conclusions. And most ‘fake news’ published by newspapers isn’t properly fake either. When misinformation occurs in the media, it typically consists of limited but verifiable facts that lack the full context or that are connected through imperfect logic and causality. Unlike other tools, Beehive News effectively fights misinformation because it’s the only one asking the right question: not ‘Is this the truth?’ (an often philosophical and subjective question, with a hard-to-prove and ever-changing answers), but rather ‘How much can I trust this?’ Instead of merely labelling content as right or wrong, Beehive News evaluates the quality of reporting. Beehive’s AI-powered algorithms effectively favour, for example, news articles that present contextualised facts and numbers, demonstrate causality, cite appropriate primary sources, avoid emotionally charged content, and provide the different sides of a story, empowering you to make your own conclusions. The algorithms behind this technology are fair, objective and unbiased, almost mathematically assessing the articles’ structure against a rigorous checklist. Because that methodology is focused on the process, as long as the information is responsibly crafted, the viewpoints in it cannot influence the ratings.

But you shouldn’t trust anyone blindly. Beehive News is committed to transparency, and we also want to encourage critical thinking. That’s why we provide the reasons behind every one of our thousands of daily in-depth ratings, allowing you to decide for yourself. And if this wasn’t enough, Beehive’s algorithm-driven ratings are complemented by our unique Smart User Rating system, where well-informed readers can directly challenge those assessments, making it the most complete tool on the market. If you disagree with any of our assessments, have comments, or would like further details, feel free to write to us at info@beehive.news, we usually reply within 24 hours.

Our rigorous methodology is divided into two parts: the ratings and the auditing process.

Our ratings are based on a detailed checklist of criteria to assess whether a news article adheres to the highest journalistic standards and industry best practices. There are three overarching rating categories: bias & fact-base, completeness and quality of writing. To ensure our methodology is objective and unbiased, we focus primarily on the process and the form rather than the content itself. More than standalone facts, news articles consist of theories connecting facts. Consider scientific theories that we accept today: even if we haven’t personally verified those conclusions, we trust them because they follow certain best practices – for example, whether they were logically verified, peer-reviewed, and accounted for challenges and opposing views. We apply the same approach to news. When evaluating an article’s one-sidedness, for example, we don’t judge what the different sides of the story are; instead, we assess whether a news article has sufficiently presented and explored opposing or mutually incompatible viewpoints, whatever those viewpoints are. Algorithms are planned and coded in such manner that the article’s content (e.g. what the viewpoints are, or what the sources are) is less relevant than the article’s approach (e.g. whether it present opposing viewpoints, and the sources are appropriate primary sources). This ensures the results are entirely logical and almost mathematical, free from the influence of potential personal or political biases of the humans behind the algorithms.

The auditing process for these ratings follows an equally rigorous standard. Each day, a randomly selected sample of publicly relevant news articles is chosen, and their ratings are audited. The Rating Auditing team then verifies whether the system’s output objectively and adequately addresses the points on our checklist. This is done by evaluating the accuracy and sophistication of the assessment, not its verdict. For example, if our system states that an article uses an overly emotional tone, we check whether it provides a clear explanation and appropriate examples of what is considered overly emotional, regardless of whether or not the team personally agrees with those conclusions. The Ratings Auditing team cannot create exceptions, make excuses, or manipulate outcomes – including based on political positions, viewpoints, or the identity of the publisher. They also lack the tools, technological access, or even the expertise to modify outputs, ensuring complete impartiality.

We at Beehive News have a ‘regenerative’ mindset, rooted in the belief that the world is built around reciprocal relationships. Renowned regenerative thinkers, like the experimental cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, who has taught at Harvard, Stanford and MIT, argues that we can only overcome our innate confirmation bias and achieve rationality as a group. According to this view, we are more rational collectively than any of us can be individually. Building on this idea, Beehive News complements its unique technology with the collective views of our users to deliver sophisticated and trustworthy ratings. But it goes beyond that – the more articles you read and the more balanced they are, the more weight your ratings carry on the platform. This means that, if a large number of well-informed readers ever disagrees with one of our assessments, they can use the user rating feature to directly challenge that assessment. We also use advanced detection systems to flag users who seek to benefit or harm an article based on the publisher’s identity or the author’s political alignment. This ensures that every voice is heard responsibly and that sharper, more thoughtful viewpoints are brought to the forefront. At Beehive News, we invite anyone to join our community and share their perspectives, but we also believe that this freedom needs to be carried out with responsibility.

Our mission at Beehive is ambitious. Creating and maintaining this project has a cost, and we are committed to staying completely independent and neutral. That is why, to get unlimited access to all our in-depth ratings, we ask for a minimal contribution fee of 99 pence per month – less than one pound, and less than what many people spend daily on a cup of coffee or on a newspaper at the newstand. By choosing to contribute, you gain access to the only article-level rating platform in the world, thousands of daily ratings on articles with no paywalls and protection against all forms of bias. More than that, your support helps us reward those who produce high-quality information. We know the journalism industry is struggling, and we want to offer a way to sponsor rigorous journalism while creating accountability in the news industry. By promoting highly rated articles and redirecting users to publishers’ content, we enable them to directly monetise journalistic excellence while discouraging misinformation. This means that, when you join our community, you’re not just a reader – you become an active contributor of a world with better, more reliable information.

Rest assured: All payments on Beehive are securely processed either through your choice of Apple’s payment engine (Apple Pay) or Google’s payment engine. None of your payment information is seen, collected or stored by Beehive News

Beehive News offers complementary subscriptions to professors working with media literacy, students facing financial difficulties, and to members of vulnerable or marginalised communities. If you believe you qualify, please write to us at info@beehive.news. We usually reply within 24 hours.

You do. And every other member of our community. By choosing to contribute as little as 99 pence a month, Beehive News members fund the community and uphold its unrestricted independence and neutrality. To help publishers improve the overall quality of their content, Beehive News may also provide them with information about their performance, and may do so for a fee. Apart from such services and user subscriptions, Beehive News is a self-funded independent organisation with no outside investors.

At its start, the Beehive News project had the help of many individuals – strategy consultants, independent journalists, software engineers, lawyers and philanthropists from across the political spectrum – who donated their time to make it possible. Those individuals dreamt of a world where story telling isn’t a tool for control and manipulation, but rather a means to discuss ideas, expand knowledge and build a fairer society. None of them were affiliated with or acting on behalf of media conglomerates, the State, politicians or political parties, nor do they have any commercial, financial or institutional relationship with those. More importantly, they had and have no influence over the output of Beehive News ratings, which are carried out exclusively through our unique assessment technology and Smart User Ratings. If you’re also interested in more directly supporting the Beehive News project, write to us at info@beehive.news.

The strategy and structure behind Beehive News ratings were developed by a diverse team of strategy consultants, independent journalists, software engineers, lawyers, and philanthropists from across the political spectrum – many of whom volunteered their time and expertise. Together, they created an objective, almost mathematical checklist designed to be applied consistently to all news articles, regardless of their viewpoint. None are affiliated with or acting on behalf of media conglomerates, the State, politicians or political parties, nor do they have any commercial, financial or institutional relationship with them.

To ensure the daily quality, accuracy, methodological rigour and ongoing improvement of our ratings, Beehive News relies on two senior Rating Auditors to oversee the rating process. While they help audit and refine the comprehensive criteria applied equally to all news articles assessed by Beehive News, they have no influence over the outcomes of this process. These impartial, non-UK professionals bring proven and reputable expertise in misinformation and behavioural psychology. They also maintain no political affiliations and have no connections to any of the publications assessed on the platform. Considering the parallel role of the Ratings Auditing team to that of editorial teams of fact-checkers, Beehive News voluntarily adheres to the codes of practice such as those of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), the European Comission’s Recommendations (EU) 2022/1634 on Editorial Independence. and the Beehive News Charter.

The roles of Senior Rating Auditors are currently held by Rafael Cossi, a member of the Society of Editors, and Adrian Bono, who holds a Master’s degree in Fact-checking, Debunking, and Data Journalism.

Beehive News promotes newspapers and articles from across the political spectrum and applies the exact same rigorous criteria and high standards to all news articles assessed on the platform, using the same technology and the same thorough checklist. Rather than selecting specific articles to rate, Beehive News evaluates all available articles published by the publications on its platform. Our sole commitment is to high-quality content, and we believe that any opinion is valid – provided it is responsible, adheres to journalistic best practices, and is supported by data. Growth comes from embracing challenge and disagreement, which is why disagreement lies at the heart of the Beehive News ethos. We strive to remain neutral, to give a voice to all sides of any story and to promote elevated debate. None of our ratings are influenced by the team; they are generated through objective, almost mathematical algorithms, and complemented by our Smart User Rating system. We also monitor the political diversity of our users and how they engage with the platform’s content to ensure a balanced and unbiased environment for everyone. Furthermore, none of the staff or wider team at Beehive News are affiliated with or acting on behalf of media conglomerates, the State, politicians, or political parties. Nor do they have any commercial, financial, or institutional relationships with them. Additionally, they do not engage in advocacy or take policy positions on issues that Beehive News assesses, ensuring our work is not perceived as potentially biased.

Ultimately, it is up to our members community to decide whether we meet our goals. We encourage our users to evaluate both our individual assessments and our overall ratings. To facilitate this, we group all articles covering the same story side by side, enabling you to easily compare assessments on articles written by different publishers, with different perspectives and political alignments.

At Beehive News, we recognise that good newspapers may sometimes produce subpar articles, and bad newspapers may sometimes write well-crafted – highlighting the critical importance of article-level ratings. However, we also acknowledge that some newspapers demonstrate a stronger institutional commitment to factuality and objectivity than others. For this reason, we monitor the performance of newspapers using renowned independent fact checkers such as Media Bias Fact Check, Check Your Fact, and Poynter. This helps us determine which publications we want – or don’t want – to promote. Once on the platform, we continue to monitor the overall performance of their articles, and newspapers that constantly receive poor ratings risk being removed. We aim to make high-quality information accessible and democratic, which is why we only promote newspapers that provide at least a portion of their content without paywalls, reducing barriers for readers. Currently, Beehive News rates high-circulation UK-based newspapers such as the BBC, the Independent, the Guardian, Sky News, and the Daily Mail. To minimise regional bias, Beehive News also rates Al Jazeera, covering the Middle East, Haaretz, from Israel, the Hindu, from India, and the Sixth Tone, from China. As part of our efforts to amplify independent voices, we also partner with The Oxford Student, from the University of Oxford, Perspectives, from the University of Warwick, Bath Magazine, from the University of Bath. We’re just getting started, and actively working on adding more sources to the platform. If you’re you missing any specific newspapers on Beehive News, write us at info@beehive.news, or leave your feedback through the feedback feature of our app.

Beehive News is entirely independent from publishers, including those assessed on our platform. As part of our commitment to rebuilding trust in the news industry, we proactively and periodically reach out to publishers to discuss our assessments, explain their performance, and explore ways to achieve higher journalistic excellence. We are also open to feedback and can use their input to review and refine our assessments. If you work for one of those publications and you believe any of our assessments is unfair or incomplete, please write to us at info@beehive.news.  Any reviews and amendments will be published in our Complaints & Corrections section.

Beehive News rating technology was developed over years of studying the signs of misinformation in the media and how to systematically identify them. This effort resulted in the world’s only article-level rating platform, capable of assessing thousands of daily articles in real time. While we believe in the robustness and rigor of this process, we at Beehive News are also committed to transparency and accountability. This includes addressing valid corrections and complaints in a timely and responsible manner. If you believe any of our assessments is unfair or incomplete, please write to us at info@beehive.news.

We will consider all complaints, except those that (i) are solely opinion-driven, without additional evidence, data, or credible sources to support claims of inaccuracy or incompleteness in our assessments; (ii) are unsubstantiated, lacking specific details or failing to highlight concrete issues with our methodologies, criteria, or conclusions; (iii) are unrelated to the content, methods, or practices of Beehive News, such as grievances against publishers, and therefore fall outside our scope ; or (iv) are repeated submissions of similar complaints that have already been addressed or resolved. However, if there are valid grounds to conclude that an assessment needs to be reviewed or amended, those reviews and amendments will be published in our Complaints & Corrections section. To date, none of Beehive News’ assessments have been contested by either publishers or members of the Beehive News user community.

Beehive News is dedicated to dignifying citizens, and empowering them to develop their own critical filters when assessing information – not just to verify facts, but to recognise other forms of bias and misinformation in the media. Given the significant time and resources required, effectively fighting misinformation cannot be achieved by individuals alone; it demands the collective effort of independent organisations. Beehive News plays a disruptive role as the world’s only news rating tool that assesses news at the article level and at scale. Beyond this, we aim to equip audiences with the skills to independently identify signs of misinformation, both within and outside the platform, reducing dependence on third-party tools. We share those learnings and other media literacy resources in our Insights section.

The organisation of Beehive News comprises of five departments: Strategy & Growth, Media & Partnerships, Technology Engineering, Marketing & Design, and Ratings Auditing. Since content curation and assessments are conducted through the platform’s unique technology and complemented by the Smart User Rating system – with no interference from the team – and all available articles published by the included publications are assessed, Beehive News operates without an Editorial team. Beehive News performance, the accuracy of its ratings and the ability to curate and expose relevant issues of public interest are, however, continuously monitored and refined by the Ratings Auditing team. Considering the parallel role of the Ratings Auditing team to that of editorial teams of fact-checkers, Beehive News voluntarily adheres to the codes of practice such as those of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and the European Comission’s Recommendations (EU) 2022/1634 on Editorial Independence. The Beehive News team, including the Ratings Auditing team, also follows the principles, guidelines and safeguards of the Beehive News Charter. 

The five departments are led or co-led by five senior members of the team:

• Rafael Cossi is Head of Strategy & Growth and Co-Head of Ratings Auditing
• Adrian Bono is Head of Media & Partnerships and Co-Head of Ratings Auditing
• Valentino Vukadinovic is Head of Technology Engineering
• Pedro Scatolim is Co-Head of Marketing & Design
• Nika Zagar is Co-Head of Marketing & Design