Compass News wants you to be smarter than your newsfeed

by Startacus Admin
Compass News - the innovative journalism startup that'll help you navigate the world of news from the publishers you can trust.
.jpg)
Many people’s initial, sensible instinct is to not believe a story from a source they don’t know until they see it corroborated elsewhere, but many other people’s first instinct, Sarah, is to take it as gospel. In an age of fake news (the real kind, not...you know), this can be irritating and misleading at best, and genuinely dangerous at worst.
But what would happen if we were to only trust a single source for our news, lest we be led astray? We need a healthy variety in our news diet, told from all sides in all kinds of voices. So how can we do that and stay safe?
Compass News is a London-based journalism startup that aims to keep young people, in particular, interested in news while ensuring that said news only comes from the highest quality, trustworthy sources.
Built after talking to students across the UK about what they like, dislike, and want in their news consumption, Compass News curates news from trusted publishers all over the world. It is designed to keep people up to date with the day’s happenings without taking too much of their time. With this in mind, the app pushes out 6 of the biggest news stories, twice a day, and includes a bite sized summary. The ‘Story So Far’ function of the app gives readers background information for the major stories in under 100 words so they will always be up to speed.
The editors who curate the stories bring experience from the likes of the BBC, Wired, and the Financial Times. As well as these editors, they have been training an AI editor to watch what these human editors do, observe how they make their editorial decisions, and copy.
By teaching it in this way, rather than programming it with a set of rules and conditions, they hope to come out the other end with an AI editor that can reliably work by itself while the humans are doing human things, like sleeping.
Compass News gathered up a nice $1m in funding recently, which they are using to expand into the US. A trustworthy source of news from less mainstream sources is sorely needed, and one that aims particularly to keep young people engaged in the world around them will continue to make the headlines, we think.
If you like this news/publishing/fake-news focused startup, you are likely to want to find out more about:
Echobox, who wants to be your dedicated, AI Social Media assistant and Poll Tracker
Factmata takes on fake news and wins bigly
The Market Mogul crowdsources the whole news story
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
YoungPlanet is an app that aims to 'enables parents to put no longer used children’s things to good use with new families and away from landfill, for free'

Major investment news for the London-based fintech to support its product innovation and ambition to help small businesses thrive across the UK

The Yorkshire-based tech spin-out, FourJaw secures major funding to assist with developing its technological solutions for the manufacturing sector

The lowdown on Jack & Bry, the innovative London-based startup that makes a range of plant-based meats, all from Jackfruit

Week Gen-C is a week long calendar of events focused on entrepreneurship and careers, aimed at helping young people affected by the covid pandemic in the North West of NI

Leading startup community, YSYS launch 4 days of innovative online conversations and a range of new initiatives with the core theme of “Access”

Jean Gamester from Toastmasters International shares her tips on bringing back some of that old normal and staying fabulously virtually connected

Karakuri is a London-based startup that's using robotics to create innovative solutions for the catering sector

Planning to launch a fashion brand this year? Here are a few basic tips that will help you do just that and get your business off to the right start

Bippit is an online platform and app that helps companies to support the financial needs of their employees - not just via their salary
Published on: 15th April 2018
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.







- Countingup closes £9.1 million Series A investment 3rd Mar 2021 Major investment news for the London-based fintech to support its product innovation and ambition to help small businesses thrive across the UK
- FourJaw’s six figure venture capital boost 1st Mar 2021 The Yorkshire-based tech spin-out, FourJaw secures major funding to assist with developing its technological solutions for the manufacturing sector
- Week Gen-C to offer career and entrepreneurship respite to pandemic-hit youth 1st Mar 2021 Week Gen-C is a week long calendar of events focused on entrepreneurship and careers, aimed at helping young people affected by the covid pandemic in the North West of NI
- #YSYSAccessWeek: Building a diverse, inclusive and accessible tech startup ecosystem 28th Feb 2021 Leading startup community, YSYS launch 4 days of innovative online conversations and a range of new initiatives with the core theme of “Access”