Bringing accountability to journalism
Ever read an article thinking “this is crazy biased”, then found the comments saying it doesn't go far enough? Ever felt a comment was biased but weren't sure if it was just you? Lense lets readers directly rate the bias and quality of articles and comments — and shows how authors, publishers and readers have been rated, so you know who to pay attention to.
Lean
Reliability
Seven steps on each scale, always shown with their label — never colour alone.
Reader ratings for the news you read
Lense collects how real readers rate each article's political lean and reliability, and puts that next to the story.
See what real people think is biased
Not a panel of experts. Every signed-in reader rates an article's political lean and its reliability on the same seven-step scales, and Lense shows the whole spread.
See fact-checking annotated as you read
In the Lense phone app and browser extension (both coming soon), readers highlight a sentence and discuss it right there, citing sources that support, dispute or add context.
See which news sources to listen to
Publishers, authors and readers each get a profile with their average ratings, and publishers and authors show how theirs move over time, so you can see who is consistently reliable.
Read, rate, discuss, star
- 1
Read
Open any news article — on the original site with the extension, or from the Lense feed.
- 2
Rate
Pick where it sits on political lean (liberal to conservative) and reliability (fiction to factual).
- 3
Discuss
Comment on the whole article or on one highlighted passage. Cite sources. Vote and rate other comments.
- 4
Star
Every reader gets one star a week for the article most worth reading. Stars reset every Monday morning.
Top this week
The articles Lense readers starred most in the last seven days.
The week is just getting started
No starred articles yet this week — check the feed for everything readers are rating.
What Lense can and can't do
What Lense does
Readers rate the political lean and reliability of any news article or YouTube news video, and of each other's comments.
Readers comment on a whole article, or on a passage they highlight in the phone app's reader or the browser extension, and cite sources.
Show each publisher's, author's and reader's average ratings, and how a publisher's or author's change week to week.
Rank the feed by stars, newest, or how split readers are, filtered by time window and paywall.
Work on the web, in a browser extension and in a phone app, with the same account and the same data everywhere.
What Lense doesn't do
Lense does not decide what is true. Every rating comes from readers; there is no expert panel and no AI scoring.
Lense never copies or shows an article's text — it links to the original. Only short passages readers quote are kept.
Lense can't open paywalled articles for you. You read them on the publisher's site with your own subscription.
Averages from fewer than 3 ratings are shown as “early” — a handful of readers isn't a verdict.
Public sign-up isn't open yet: accounts are created by the Lense team. Social sign-in is not available.
One account on the web, in your browser and on your phone
On the web
The feed, every article's ratings and discussion, and publisher, author and reader profiles.
Browser extension
Ratings and passage threads on the article itself, in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Safari later.
iPhone & Android
The feed, a built-in reader with passage threads, and profiles — the same account and data.
Frequently asked questions
What is Lense?
Lense is a news-rating community: readers rate the political lean and reliability of news articles and of each other's comments, discuss specific passages with cited sources, and see how publishers, authors and readers have been rated over time.
Who decides an article's rating?
Readers do. Each signed-in reader picks one of seven steps for lean and for reliability; Lense shows the average, the full spread of ratings, and marks anything with fewer than three ratings as early.
How is a publisher's or author's rating worked out?
From the reader ratings of their articles, weighted so that a handful of heavily rated stories can't dominate, and shown week by week so you can see whether they are drifting.
Does Lense show the article itself?
No. Lense shows a link preview (headline, image, byline, date) and the discussion, with a button to read the original on the publisher's site.
What is a star?
Every reader gets one star per week to give to the article they think is most worth reading. You can move it to a different article during the week. Stars reset every Monday morning.
How do I get an account?
Lense is invite-only for now. Use “Get in touch” to email trulyandrej@gmail.com and the team will set one up.
Want to help hold journalism to account?
Lense is invite-only while it grows. Ask for an account and start rating.