Glean.info Launches First Fake News Media Monitoring Service

By PRNewswire On Jul 9, 2018

The Service Also Monitors Online Fact-Checking Services to Identify Stories That the Services Are Correcting

Glean.info, a worldwide media monitoring and measurement service owned by CyberAlert LLC, introduced the first fake news monitoring service. The service collects content from more than 2,000 online news sources that are known to publish false, outlandish, extremist, extremely slanted or satiric information. The service also monitors online fact-checking services to identify stories that the services are correcting.

The Glean.info Fake News Media Monitoring Service delivers timely email alerts to its clients when a potentially image-damaging story in a fake news site mentions the subscribers’ keywords. Typically, clients monitor corporate and brand names or their personal names.

William Comcowich

“This is a vital service companies, non-profit organizations and well-known individuals need to protect their reputations,” said William Comcowich, founder and CEO of CyberAlert LLC, parent company of Glean.info. “Businesses, nonprofit organizations, entertainers, athletes, politicians and other well-known people never know when a fake news story might accuse them of criminal, immoral or bizarre behavior. One fake news story can produce enormous damage to a reputation and brand image, especially if it goes viral on social media.”

Most fake news stories on social media originate on the fake news sites that the Glean.info service monitors, Comcowich explained. Unlike traditional media monitoring and press clipping services where clients hope to get many media mentions, clients hope to get no fake news clips – no stories with false or hateful information.

More communications experts now urge PR departments to implement robust media monitoring to quickly rebut fake news. “Public relations is on the front line in helping organizations tackle fake news,” says PR veteran Stephen Waddington.

Also Read: Fight Fake News in Journalism: Media Intelligence, Your Best Ammunition

Types of Fake News Sites

Every day, unscrupulous characters publish thousands of made-up stories online about companies and celebrities. They include anti-corporate activists, stock short sellers, disgruntled customers, political or social radicals, hate-mongers, hired hands of competitors, and even unethical publicity agents. Some fake news sites espouse extreme political views. Others publish fake news to attract website traffic and gain advertising income. Still others create satirical articles that can be misinterpreted as fact and cause the same problems as fake news. The fake news sites often mimic the appearance of legitimate mainstream publications.

Complements Traditional Media Intelligence

Clients choose up to five (5) corporate, brand or personal names to be monitored. They can also monitor keywords or phrases for issues. Subscribers to the fake news monitoring service can request that Glean.info add specific fake news sites that they want monitored.

The retail price for the service is $99 a month. An introductory offer of $49 a month runs until July 30. There’s no free trial offer.

The fake news monitoring service is designed as an adjunct and complementary service to traditional media monitoring services. The service does not include the archive of clips or the PR measurement dashboard that Glean.info includes with its traditional news and social media monitoring services.