This is an actual NewsGrade report generated for a real news organization, shared here for demonstration purposes. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement of this tool.
LION Publishers
Category Scores
AI Readiness & Policy
Nonprofit/Public Media average: 3.2
Trust & Credibility Signals
Performance & Accessibility
Advertising & Revenue Integration
SEO & Structured Data
Headlines & Content Presentation
Navigation & Information Architecture
Article Page Design
Visual Hierarchy & Homepage Layout
Mobile Experience
Typography & Readability
Radar Overview
Terms of Service — Standard User Content License
Informational · not part of the scored grade
The site's Terms of Service include a standard license clause covering content submitted by the public (tips, photos, community contributions). This is common boilerplate that protects the publisher when using audience submissions — it governs user-submitted content, not the publisher's own journalism. Legal review is still appropriate to confirm scope.
“When you post or submit any content of any type you are granting us, and anyone authorized by us, a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, copy, modify, transmit, translate, sell, exploit, create derivative works from, distribute, and/or publicly perform or display such material, in whole or in part, in any manner or medium, now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose.”
What this means
This clause covers content submitted by the public to LION Publishers — such as tips, photos, or posts — not the publisher's own journalism. It is broad (perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, for any purpose), which is more expansive than a standard operational license. This is common boilerplate but legal review is appropriate to confirm its scope and whether any limits are needed.
This is a free advisory check, separate from the 70+ scored criteria. It does not affect your overall grade or category scores. Automated legal text analysis always warrants professional review.
Top 5 Recommendations
Priority 1 · Trust & Credibility Signals
Readers can't verify your standards, policies, or commitment to fairness
Your site is missing an ethics policy, corrections policy, and privacy policy — all scored zero. There's also no visible commitment to diverse voices. For an organization that supports independent news publishers, these absences are especially conspicuous. Readers and members expect to see the accountability standards you champion in your own operations.
Who should act: Executive Director or Editorial Lead
What to ask them: Can we publish an ethics/editorial standards page, a corrections policy, and a privacy policy — each linked from the footer? Also add a brief statement about our commitment to diverse voices on the About page.
Priority 2 · SEO & Structured Data
Your stories may not appear in Google News because you lack a News Sitemap
Google News uses a special sitemap to discover and surface journalism quickly — sometimes within minutes of publication. Without one, your articles compete on standard SEO timelines instead of appearing in the news stream. For a media-focused organization, this is a meaningful missed opportunity for visibility and credibility.
Who should act: Developer or SEO manager
What to ask them: Can you create and submit a Google News Sitemap that includes our latest articles, and register it in Google Search Console? It should update automatically whenever we publish.
Priority 3 · Article Page Design
Articles lack structure, related content, and easy ways for readers to share or engage
Articles would benefit from clearer internal structure (subheadings, pull quotes, or summary bullets), links to related stories that keep readers on site, and visible social sharing tools. These three elements work together to increase time-on-site, reduce bounce rate, and amplify your content's reach — all important for an organization whose credibility depends on content visibility.
Who should act: Editor and Developer working together
What to ask them: Can we establish an article template that includes: subheadings every few paragraphs, a 'Related Articles' block at the end, and social sharing buttons (at minimum LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and email) near the headline and at the bottom?
Priority 4 · Advertising & Revenue Integration
Your site collects user data with no visible consent mechanism — a legal and trust risk
If your site uses analytics, advertising trackers, or any third-party scripts that store data, you are likely required by law (GDPR, CCPA) to obtain user consent before those scripts fire. The absence of a cookie consent banner exposes the organization to regulatory risk and signals to readers that data practices aren't transparent — especially problematic for a trust-focused media association.
Who should act: Publisher or Operations Director, in coordination with a developer
What to ask them: Can we implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit, lets users accept or decline non-essential cookies, and stores their preference? This needs to actually block tracking scripts until consent is given — not just display a notice.
Priority 5 · AI Readiness & Policy
AI companies are crawling your content with no rules or guidance in place
AI systems are actively scraping journalism sites to train models and power chatbots — often without attribution or compensation. As an organization that advocates for independent news publishers on exactly these issues, LION has a particular responsibility and opportunity to model best practices. Right now your site has no AI crawling rules, no published policy, and no content disclosure framework — all scored at 1 out of 3.
Who should act: Executive Director, in consultation with a developer
What to ask them: Can we publish a clear AI policy page stating our position on AI use of our content, add rules to our robots.txt to manage AI crawlers, and create an llms.txt file? This also positions LION as a leader on an issue central to your members' livelihoods.
Implementation Roadmap
A prioritized plan for your team — organized by how long each fix takes.
Quick Wins
These fixes require editorial decisions, not development time. A managing editor can act on them today.
No items in this timeframe.
Medium Projects
These require coordination between editorial and technical staff. Plan them into your next sprint or work cycle.
Readers can't verify your standards, policies, or commitment to fairness
Executive Director or Editorial LeadYour stories may not appear in Google News because you lack a News Sitemap
Developer or SEO managerArticles lack structure, related content, and easy ways for readers to share or engage
Editor and Developer working togetherYour site collects user data with no visible consent mechanism — a legal and trust risk
Publisher or Operations Director, in coordination with a developerAI companies are crawling your content with no rules or guidance in place
Executive Director, in consultation with a developerMajor Initiatives
Significant investments that require planning, development resources, and possibly budget. Start scoping them now.
No major initiatives needed right now — your priorities are covered by the quick wins and medium projects above.
Trust Project Alignment
How does your site measure up against the 7 applicable Trust Indicators — the global journalism transparency standard?1 of the standard 8 indicator is advisory-only for this site type and isn't scored.
Score: 5 of 7 Trust Indicators met
The Trust Project is a global journalism transparency initiative. Meeting all 8 indicators signals credibility to readers, platforms, and funders. Learn more at thetrustproject.org
Your robots.txt — who's allowed in and who's not
robots.txt controls which crawlers can access your site — including AI training bots that may use your journalism to train their models.
How to implement:
- Copy the file above (or download it)
- Replace your current robots.txt file at your site's root directory
- Test it by visiting
[your-domain]/robots.txtin your browser - Monitor Google Search Console for any crawl changes over the next 2 weeks
Important: robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement mechanism. Well-behaved crawlers respect it, but it doesn't technically prevent access. For stronger protection, consider also adding HTTP headers (X-Robots-Tag) and the TDM Reservation Protocol.
⚠️ Do NOT block Googlebot, Bingbot, or other search engine crawlers unless you intentionally want to remove your site from search results.