Freedom Advocacy Network

Meeting recording:

Notes:

https://newscord.org/ – Main website

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.newscord.newscord&hl=en-US – Android

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/newscord/id6738632019 – Apple

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/newscord-companion/kpphbdpdglljopfehpgomebbdcdoafkd – Chrome Web Browser Extension

https://www.instagram.com/newscord_org/ – Instagram

• Now working on social features through the Newscord app
• Creating a reddit style discussion forum related to news stories
• Users will be able to follow each other and journalists
• Working on rewarding journalists for engagement with Newscord
• Working on building holistic and aggregated views of the media
  • E.g. what percentage uses passive voice vs active? How often do they say “Israel killed” instead of “x were killed”
• Guardian, BBC, CNN, dedicate double the words to Israeli victims vs Palestinians despite 33x more Palestinians killed
• Guardian, Skynews, BBC, AlJazeera –
  • Going through human validation to make sure that analysis is accurate
  • Will release a report in the near future
• Newscord will transparently release the metrics and dashboards where anyone can analyze the data
• Also working on off-shoots of the app – with many opportunities to expose western media
• Will facilitate complaints forms process to the major outlets
• Currently a team of 5 committed people, fleeting crew of volunteers
• Nima himself is funding – and is also the technical founder – and a developer himself
• The original focus is on Palestine but the app is applicable to all news
• Not pushing the donation for the app to hard – being conscious about how they will ask people for help for running the service/app
• Camille: May be community entrepreneurs could advertise?
• Gardy: Are you aware of Ground News?
  • We are very different – Ground is Left and Right
  • We focus more regionally – East vs West
  • Newscord is more comprehensive platform
• Salman: How can we support your mission?
  • Tell people about Newscord
  • Looking for solid content creators
  • Looking for content writers
  • Feedback on the app/platform
• Camille:
  • Do you retain all articles?
  • Yes
• Salman: Do you want people writing for Newscord?
  • Still thinking about it
  • Looking to see how the social features go
  • Hoping that journalists will write content and get rewarded for it
  • Looking for social media content creators and writers
  • Newscord will be focused on accuracy and timesensitive
  • Being an independent journalist is really difficult financially
• Elicia: Can substack like option be used?
  • Substack is a great product – it would be a great option to learn from
• Samantha: There is no shared reality at all. Is there a way to have people be in live stream to fact check live?
  • Nima: I think it’s a great idea. 
• Salman: what is your tech stack like?
  • Starting to migrate away from GCP to CloudFlare
  • Supabase used for authentication
  • Mostly serverless
  • Website is react
• Gardy: I have been educating myself one what the Israeli media has been saying. They are VERY GOOD at what they do. They got their scripts, sound bites, etc. I’ll shy away from calling it indoctrination. What can we learn from what they are doing that we can apply?
  • Nima: What do you think we should do?
  • Gardy:
    • For many of their initiatives you need a lot of money – which we don’t have
    • They say the same things, on point, over and over
    • Somebody sends the talking points and everyone sticks to it
    • May be we just need more presence on our side
    • Pro-israel messaging has weaknesses and those weaknesses need to be disseminated
  • Nima: They got the Hasbara on lock
  • https://wordsofjustice.org/
  • This tool allows you to reply to Zionists quickly
  • https://pal-chat.net/ – is also a great resource
• Manal: Are you seeing the musicians starting to speak up? We are seeing that speaking up for Palestine is elevating them. Are they genuine?
  • Nima: I had not heard of these artists before – I am not speculating – I am grateful and happy
  • Superman film seems to be centered on Palestine and Israel – and the equivalent in the movie are the villains
• Nima:
  • Doing as many in person events as possible really spreads the revolutionary spirit and message