Talk about a timely product release.

 

As politicians and campaigners vie for the nation’s top elected post, on the heels of a GOP convention that saw finger-pointing and complaining about the media, a Seattle-based company reportedly is releasing a software program that detects biased news stories.

 

According to the Wall Street Journal, SpinSpotter is unveiling its “Spinoculars” program at Demo, a technology showcase this week in San Diego.

 

WSJ writers Nick Wingfield and Don Clark write that Spinoculars “is designed to appear as a toolbar on most Web browsers, relies on software and input from its users to find opinionated language, sources with conflicts of interest and an over-reliance on text from corporate and political press releases.”

 

The company says on its Web site that putting spin in the news is “like putting motor oil in the mojito.”

 

“We have tremendous respect for journalists, but who would argue that the media circus isn’t out of control?,” the Web site says. “A full 66 percent of Americans think the press is one-sided. Now there’s a website and software tool that exposes news spin and bias, misuse of sources, and suspect factual support. At SpinSpotter, you’ll experience the news in a profound new way. Yes, the truth is back in town.”

 

SpinSpotter says its software works like this: First, the software identifies news which appears to present editorial opinion as fact, then allows news users to rate spit, edit it out, share it or find instances of spin that the software missed. The program then learns from “the input of trusted users,” allowing the program to evolve and better identify spin.

 

In an era of declining journalism school enrollment, when more and more print journalism newsrooms are being downsized (newspaper writers produce 80 percent of all news, analysts say), and bloggers pop up with so-called “news” shows on TV, it will be interesting to see how SpinSpotter fares.

 

Just today, The New York Times’ Brian Stelter reported, MSNBC, amid accusations of political bias, took Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews out of their anchor chairs and installed David Gregory as the new anchor for news coverage of the coming debates and election night.

 

“The change – which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle – is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left,” Stelter reports.

 

Interestingly, the Times itself just came off of a weekend piece, “Target Practice: Media Bashing 101,” which examined the GOP’s recent barrage of attacks on the news media.

 

Summarizing the widely discussed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s address during the party’s convention, Mark Leibovich writes, “Ms. Palin capped off a succession of speakers –Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee – who took turns pummeling their favorite target, the news media, which in turn gave the news media the chance to talk about its favorite subject all week (the news media).”

 

According to Todd Herman, the founder and chief creative officer of SpinSpotter whom the WSJ reporters interviewed, the company could sell advertising and access to data from its system to groups such as media organizations.

 

Herman, who identifies himself as a conservative, says the company rushed to get the software ready for public use because of the tidal wave of political coverage headed into the presidential election.

 

“I want to make news transparent,” Herman told the Journal.

 

“Mr. Herman says he believes there is generally a liberal bias in the media, though John Atcheson, chief executive officer of SpinSpotter and a liberal, says he disagrees,” the WSJ reports.

 

Despite the often venomous atmosphere that can surround discussions about the so-called “elite” media’s coverage of the presidential election, it appears – according to the Times – that there’s no personal animosity between politicians and the journalists who report what they do and say and how they vote.

 

“Everyone knew their roles,” Leibovich writes of the Republican convention, “recited their lines, and it was all somewhat reminiscent of the old cartoon in which Sam the sheepdog spends all day trying to thwart Ralph the wolf from stealing the sheep – and then, at day’s end, the two adversaries exchange pleasantries, punch a clock and head home.”