Behind the feed

Stats & FAQ

Where our stories come from, what the little markers on each story mean, and how the feed decides what goes first.

441

Sources

56,356

Articles currently live

What the coloured dots mean

Next to each outlet's name is a small dot showing what kind of outlet it is. It's there for when you want it — easy to ignore when you don't.

Independent mediaNot owned by a large media group or a government — often local or community newsrooms.
Mainstream mediaPart of a large commercial media group: wide reach, but coverage can reflect its owners' and advertisers' priorities.
News wireA news agency (like Reuters, AP or AFP) that supplies short reports to other outlets; it can be hard to see who the original sources were.
Government publisherA government body publishing its own news — an agency such as NASA, or a ministry's newsroom. Official announcements, not independent reporting about them.
State-affiliatedOwned by a state-owned company or a ruling party or state organisation, without being a state broadcaster. How much that shapes the coverage varies from outlet to outlet.
Largely state-fundedFunded mainly by a government or licence fee. Some are editorially independent, others are not — coverage of topics involving that government may lean toward its view.
No dotWe haven't labelled this outlet yet — new outlets are checked within a few days.

The lock

May be paywalledThis outlet may limit free reading: some subscriber-only stories, a few free articles a month, or a subscription for most stories. If a free outlet covered the same story, the card shows “Free to read at …” underneath. Some outlets only ask you to create a free account. That's not a paywall, so those stories show no lock.

Questions

How are stories chosen?

Every new article from our sources is read by an AI model against a fixed, written set of rules: it has to report something genuinely good that actually happened. Crime, disasters, partisan politics, opinion columns and commentary, and anything sponsored or paid-for are left out — as is positive spin on bad news. A short list of words that past decisions show almost always mean bad news (for example “sponsored”) filters a few articles out before the AI sees them. Each story that passes gets an impact score from 1 to 10 — how much good it does, for how many people — and that score drives the ranking below.

Can anyone pay to be featured?

No. We don't take money from outlets or anyone else for coverage, placement or ranking, and sponsored, advertorial and paid-for pieces are rejected even when their subject is positive. The site is funded by readers' donations; the free Android app also shows ads, which never affect which stories appear or where.

Why do some stories sit further down the page?

We rank stories by how much good they do, for how many people. To keep the feed varied, in each time window only the top 3 stories from any one outlet keep their place, and only the newest 3 from mainstream, state-affiliated and state-funded outlets combined — so newer ones rotate in and older ones move down. Nothing is hidden: everything else is still there, just further down. “Most Recent” ignores all of this and simply lists the newest first.

Do you include state-funded and mainstream media?

Yes. Good news is good news wherever it's reported, so we include every kind of outlet — and label each one so you can weigh it yourself. State-funded and state-affiliated outlets each get their own marker, and they share the mainstream “rotation” above so no single kind of outlet takes over the page. A government body publishing its own news (such as NASA) is labelled as exactly that.

How are the labels decided?

Automatically wherever the evidence is clear: a list of known state broadcasters and agencies, the “not free to read” marker publishers put in their own pages for search engines, known subscription software on an outlet's site, and an AI check of who owns it. Where the evidence isn't clear, a person decides — and until then the outlet simply shows no dot. Labels are re-checked every few months, because paywalls and owners change.

Can I hide paywalled or mainstream stories?

Yes — above the feed, use All outlets to show only independent media or hide mainstream and state media, and tick Hide paywalled to hide stories that may be behind a paywall.

Why are some stories translated?

We draw on outlets around the world, in many languages, and summarise every story in English. Stories marked “auto-translated” open the original article through Google Translate.

Think a label is wrong? Tell us — a person reads every message and will fix it.

Sources by type

Independent media	287
Mainstream media	123
News wire	7
Government publisher	1
State-affiliated	7
Largely state-funded	16
Not labelled yet	0
May be paywalled	106

Sources by country

Tap a country to see the outlets we read there — and the ones we looked at but don't use, and why. Missing one? Each country has a link to request it.

India21

In our feed

Not included

DeshGujarat deshgujarat.comWe couldn't find a news feed (RSS) to read its stories from
Eenadu eenadu.netWe couldn't find a news feed (RSS) to read its stories from
GramRajya gramrajya.comWe couldn't find a news feed (RSS) to read its stories from
Kozhikode Vartha kozhikodevartha.comWe couldn't find a news feed (RSS) to read its stories from
Newslaundry newslaundry.comWe couldn't find a news feed (RSS) to read its stories from
Panchmahal Samachar panchmahalsamachar.comIts news feed stopped working
The Wire thewire.inWe couldn't find a news feed (RSS) to read its stories from
Voice of Tibet vot.orgWe couldn't find a news feed (RSS) to read its stories from

India	4991
United States	2207
Portugal	1635
Nepal	1543
Unknown	1400
Japan	1308
Mexico	1212
Ghana	1129
Brazil	1127
Bangladesh	1113
Vietnam	1095
United Kingdom	1085
Indonesia	1043
South Korea	922
Spain	916
Ireland	799
South Africa	759
Pakistan	755
Senegal	732
Italy	715
Bosnia and Herzegovina	707
Philippines	702
France	685
Tanzania	600
New Zealand	589
Paraguay	578
China	558
Canada	528
Australia	504
Bolivia	484
Estonia	482
Kazakhstan	444
Jordan	435
Ukraine	420
Jamaica	405
Nigeria	395
Kenya	384
Montenegro	379
Serbia	365
Peru	361
Uruguay	360
Albania	352
Russia	349
Namibia	346
Lithuania	344
Bahrain	338
Andorra	323
Chile	320
Malta	304
Oman	302
Germany	300
Hungary	294
Azerbaijan	293
Mongolia	293
Suriname	291
Sweden	272
Papua New Guinea	259
Croatia	256
Kyrgyzstan	256
Ecuador	252
Venezuela	252
Iraq	250
Rwanda	250
Gabon	246
Saudi Arabia	243
Madagascar	241
Moldova	238
Uzbekistan	238
Cyprus	237
Cambodia	235
Tajikistan	235
Chad	228
Argentina	226
Vatican City	223
Greece	220
Malawi	213
Egypt	209
Slovenia	206
Luxembourg	204
Bulgaria	200
Dominican Republic	200
Solomon Islands	200
Romania	192
United Arab Emirates	189
Mauritius	187
Burkina Faso	185
Mali	184
Denmark	175
Turkey	169
Kuwait	168
Zimbabwe	165
Costa Rica	163
Sri Lanka	158
Mozambique	153
Austria	151
USA	144
Algeria	137
Tunisia	135
Uganda	134
Iran	133
Maldives	133
Angola	128
Switzerland	122
San Marino	115
Guinea	113
Colombia	110
Norway	106
Eswatini	104
Honduras	104
Palestine	104
Morocco	102
Curaçao	98
Iceland	96
Belgium	94
Somalia	93
Libya	92
Gibraltar	91
Jersey	91
Zambia	88
Bermuda	87
Malaysia	87
Netherlands	85
Gambia	83
Finland	82
Puerto Rico	81
Poland	79
Dominica	77
Israel	76
Thailand	76
Faroe Islands	72
Cuba	71
Slovakia	69
Barbados	67
Czechia / Czech Republic	67
Armenia	66
Latvia	66
Haiti	63
Sierra Leone	63
European Union	62
Singapore	62
Liberia	61
Bahamas	60
Saint Lucia	59
Hong Kong	58
Qatar	57
El Salvador	54
Grenada	51
Monaco	51
Réunion	51
Aruba	50
Belarus	50
Afghanistan	48
Ethiopia	48
Guernsey	48
Bonaire	47
Cayman Islands	46
Panama	46
Timor-Leste	46
Guyana	45
Ivory Coast	44
Guatemala	43
Kosovo	43
Cape Verde	42
Djibouti	40
Lebanon	40
Syria	39
Georgia	37
Benin	35
Europe	34
South Sudan	33
Niger	32
Greenland	31
International	31
Liechtenstein	31
Mayotte	30
Democratic Republic of the Congo	28
Fiji	28
North Macedonia	28
São Tomé and Príncipe	28
Equatorial Guinea	27
Central African Republic	26
Africa	25
Åland Islands	25
Antarctica	25
Sudan	24
Taiwan	21
Turkmenistan	20
Cameroon	18
Côte d’Ivoire	18
Palau	18
Yemen	18
Botswana	15
Comoros	15
Laos	15
The Gambia	15
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	14
Seychelles	14
Guinea-Bissau	13
Burundi	12
Samoa	12
England	11
Mars	11
Myanmar	11
Global	10
Trinidad and Tobago	10
Tuvalu	10
Kiribati	9
Nicaragua	9
DR Congo	8
Montserrat	8
Republic of the Congo	8
French Polynesia	6
Gaza	6
Saint Martin	6
Caribbean	5
Palestinian Territories	5
Scotland	5
Türkiye	5
West Indies	5
Bhutan	4
Cabo Verde	4
Latin America	4
Lesotho	4
North Korea	4
Saint Helena	4
American Samoa	3
Belize	3
Cook Islands	3
Gaza Strip	3
Martinique	3
Mauritania	3
Saint Kitts and Nevis	3
The Bahamas	3
Togo	3
Vatican	3
Wales	3
West Bank	3
Antigua and Barbuda	2
Asia	2
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba	2
Brunei	2
Congo	2
International Waters	2
Nauru	2
Sint Maarten	2
Tonga	2
US Virgin Islands	2
Vanuatu	2
West Africa	2
Western Balkans	2
Abyei	1
Arab League	1
British Virgin Islands	1
Caribbean Netherlands	1
East Timor	1
Eritrea	1
Falkland Islands	1
French Guiana	1
Ibero-America	1
Macao	1
Marshall Islands	1
Micronesia	1
Moon	1
Niue	1
Northern Mariana Islands	1
Saba	1
Sint Eustatius	1
Somaliland	1
South Pacific	1
Southern Africa	1
Sub-Saharan Africa	1
Svalbard	1
Tahiti	1