News Integrity Through Agency Protocol

Creating a trustworthy information ecosystem with promises and assessments

The News Integrity Problem

The contemporary news ecosystem faces critical challenges to its integrity:

  • Misinformation and disinformation spread rapidly
  • Declining trust in media institutions
  • Difficulty in distinguishing fact from opinion
  • Limited accountability for inaccurate reporting
  • Echo chambers reinforced by algorithms
  • Financial pressures favoring engagement over accuracy

These challenges erode public discourse and democratic decision-making, creating an urgent need for new trust systems in the information space.

Agency Protocol Solution

Agency Protocol offers a framework to restore trust in news through:

  • Public, verifiable promises made by news entities
  • Transparent assessments of promise fulfillment
  • Domain-specific merit accumulation based on kept promises
  • Economic incentives aligned with truth and accuracy
  • Clear distinction between different types of content
  • Accountability across the entire information supply chain

By creating a web of promises and assessments, Agency Protocol makes trustworthy behavior visible and rewarded.

How Agency Protocol Transforms News

For Publishers

  • Build trust through verifiable promise-keeping records
  • Differentiate through domain-specific merit scores
  • Create economic incentives aligned with quality journalism
  • Increase reader loyalty through demonstrated integrity

For Journalists

  • Build personal reputation through promise fulfillment
  • Demonstrate expertise in specific domains
  • Receive fair assessments of reporting quality
  • Connect directly with readers through promise relationships

For Consumers

  • Easily identify trustworthy news sources
  • Verify content claims through assessment records
  • Contribute to ecosystem health through feedback
  • Make informed decisions with contextual trust data

News Promise Hierarchy

Agent TypeExample PromisesBenefits
News Organization
Publishers, broadcasters
  • Fact verification policies
  • Content labeling standards
  • Correction procedures
  • Conflict of interest disclosure
Builds institutional reputation through consistent promise-keeping
Journalist
Reporters, writers, editors
  • Source protection
  • Balanced reporting
  • Conflict avoidance
  • Original reporting standards
Creates personal brand value through domain-specific merit
News Article
Individual content pieces
  • Factual accuracy
  • Context completeness
  • Source transparency
  • Disclosure of AI usage
Enables content-level assessment independent of producer
Fact Checker
Assessment organizations
  • Transparent methodology
  • Evidence provision
  • Impartiality
  • Timely assessments
Creates aligned incentives for high-quality assessments
News Consumer
Readers, viewers, listeners
  • Error reporting
  • Responsible sharing
  • Quality feedback
  • Subscription commitments
Encourages active participation in information quality

Immediate Applications

  • News organizations can implement promise and assessment frameworks
  • Journalists can create public profiles with tracked promises
  • Articles can include machine-readable promise metadata
  • Assessments can be linked directly to content
  • Aggregators can highlight trust scores based on merit

Medium-Term Evolution

  • Development of open standards for news promises
  • Integration with existing fact-checking infrastructures
  • Creation of domain-specific news merit markers
  • Browser extensions to display trust data while browsing
  • API systems to share assessment data across platforms

Long-Term Vision

  • Economic systems rewarding accurate information
  • Decentralized assessment networks with aligned incentives
  • AI assistants leveraging promise data for content evaluation
  • Global reputation systems for information quality
  • Legal frameworks recognizing promise-based accountability