If you’re a media organization operating in today’s world of fake news and conspiracy theories, you want a green rating from NewsGuard.

In the startup’s system, green stands for “trustworthy” and red for “unreliable.” One writer called them “nutrition labels for news organizations.”

NewsGuard employs 50 former journalists who comb through news sites to assess which ones are doing legitimate coverage and which are verging on propaganda.

Several employees are based in Chicago, and the site just landed a big client: Microsoft.

Morning Shift checks in with NewsGuard to learn what the company’s analysts are up to and why they decided to try to bring down fake news and misinformation.

GUESTS: Jim Warren, executive editor of NewsGuard, former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune and former chief media writer at the Poynter Institute

John Gregory, staff analyst at NewsGuard, former healthcare policy reporter and state politics and government reporter for the Illinois Radio Network

LEARN MORE: Veterans Of The News Business Are Now Fighting Fakes (New York Times 1/16/19)