About the NewsFrames Project

Launched in 2016, Phase I of NewsFrames was a two-year initiative from Global Voices aimed at:

• Fostering discussion on citizen media reporting, and understanding trends in media framing
• Building online tools for collaborative media analysis
• Developing the workflows, community and support required for journalists with no experience of data analysis to access those tools

The initiative was aimed at answering the following questions:

• How and why are certain stories covered?
• What part does media bias play?
• What does it mean to write news with accuracy and objectivity?

NewsFrames has been an opportunity to take seriously the challenges of diverse cultures, ethics, and truth in reporting — through the lens of data — all while having a lot of fun and joy in between.

NewsFrames Results

• A community of at least 91 volunteers participated in the NewsFrames project
• There were 88 investigations and stories published on the site
• These stories were translated by the Global Voices Lingua community into multiple languages
• Creation of the NewsFrames platform, which incorporated methods and tools to allow people to collaborate on investigations that analyzed data about representation in the media
• The Reframed Story series under the Rising Frames collaboration expanded to seven in-person workshops that were held in collaboration with local organizations and partners in five countries in Latin America.”
• The Reframed Stories Project asks people to respond to dominant themes and issues that appear in news coverage about their communities. These stories are reflections by people who are frequently represented by others in the media.

NewsFrames Activities and Roles

• NewsFrames was led by Connie Moon Sehat, and a team of researchers, facilitators and editors

Volunteers also played a key role in NewsFrames, performing:

• Research and data analysis
• Reporting
• Translation
• Software testing
• Teaching and training

NewsFrames: Platform Features

The NewsFrames platform brings together checklists and tools journalists can use when working on stories, to facilitate collaboration, as well as generate data for media analysis.

Features of the NewFrames platform include a collaborative writing space for teams, using the features of Etherpad, and media analysis tools:

• Media Cloud
• Bias Prism
• Meme Mapper
• Customizable checklists that enable teams to repeat processes and become more methodical.

The NewsFrames platform can be accessed at www.newsframes.org. Code for Version 1.x of the NewsFrames Platform, along with its open source license, can be found on GitHub.

Language localization of the NewsFrames user interface was accomplished via Transifex, and is currently in French and Spanish.

Partner organizations

NewsFrames collaborated with a variety of organizations around the world, including:

• Google Digital News Initiative (
• Media Cloud (
• MIT Center for Civic Media
• Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society
• Meedan (
• Credibility Coalition (
• First Draft News & CrossCheck (
• El Churo (

Events

NewsFrames presented its work and findings at a number of international events, including:

• RightsCon Toronto 2018
• International Journalism Festival (IJF18)
• MozFest 2017 (London)
• Misinfocon London

How to Start Your Own Investigation

While the NewsFrames project is on “pause” as of May 31, 2018, it is still possible to use the NewsFrames platform to conduct an investigation. Refer to the short Getting Started With NewsFrames guide, and contact Eddie Avila or Ivan Sigal for more information.