What Is Before Its News? The Truth Behind This Popular News Website
Before Its News is one of the most talked about alternative news websites on the internet. Its full name is usually written as Before It’s News, and readers often shorten it to BIN. The idea behind the site is simple and bold: let ordinary people publish news and opinions directly, without waiting for a big media company to approve the story first. Its well known slogan plays on its name, promising your news before it is news.
That open door is exactly why the site is both popular and controversial. Supporters see it as a home for free speech and for stories the mainstream media ignores. Critics point to the same open door and warn that false or wild claims can spread there with no checking. This guide explains honestly what the site is, how it works, what it publishes, and how a careful reader should use it.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Website name | Before It’s News, often shortened to BIN or written as Before Its News |
| Launched | 2008, during the early growth of citizen journalism websites |
| Type of site | Open citizen journalism and news aggregation platform |
| Who writes the content | Registered contributors from the public, not a staff newsroom |
| Editorial checking | Minimal editorial control and no standard fact checking before stories are published |
| Main topics | Politics, health, finance, science, spirituality, world events, and unusual or fringe topics |
| Cost for readers | Free to read, supported mainly by advertising |
| Founder | Most accounts credit internet entrepreneur Chris Kitze, though early details are thinly documented |
What Exactly Is Before Its News?
Before Its News is not a normal news company. A normal newspaper or television channel employs reporters, checks their work with editors, and publishes only stories that pass its standards. Before Its News works almost the opposite way. It is a platform, closer in spirit to a blogging site or a public notice board. Anyone who creates a free account can write a story, add links, photos, or videos, and publish it for the world to read.
Because of this model, the site is best described as citizen journalism. The writers are citizens, not staff. Some are careful independent reporters. Some are activists with a strong point of view. Some are hobby writers who follow unusual topics. A few share claims that are speculative or simply wrong. The platform itself does not stand behind each story the way a newspaper stands behind its reporting. Every story really belongs to its contributor.
The site grew during a period when trust in big media was falling and social media was rising. Many readers felt that television and newspapers covered only one side of big events, or moved too slowly. A site that promised news before it became official news fitted that mood perfectly. At its peak years in the mid 2010s, the site was reported to draw millions of visits each month, and it became one of the best known names in alternative media.
How the Website Works
For readers, using the site feels much like using any news homepage. Stories are sorted into topic sections, and busy or popular stories rise to the front page. Readers can open a story, comment on it, share it, and follow links to other sources. New stories appear constantly because contributors around the world post at all hours.
For writers, the process is quick by design. A contributor registers, writes or copies in a story, chooses a category, and publishes. There is no long wait for an editor and no requirement to show press credentials. Some contributors post their own original reporting. Others post commentary on news from elsewhere, or share and discuss stories published by other alternative outlets. This mix is why two stories sitting side by side on the homepage can be very different in quality and style.
The site supports itself mainly through advertising, which is common for free news platforms. Like many ad supported sites, it has asked readers to allow ads so the platform can keep running. There is no big subscription wall for normal reading, which also helps explain how its stories spread so widely through search engines and social sharing.
What Kind of Stories Does It Publish?
The range of topics is very wide. Politics and government stories are a large part of the site, including strong criticism of leaders and policies. Health is another major area, covering everything from general wellness ideas to alternative treatments and debates about medicine. Money topics appear as well, such as markets, banking, and warnings about economic trouble. Science and technology stories sit next to faith and spirituality posts, survival and preparedness guides, and reports about strange weather or natural events.
The site is also well known for topics that mainstream outlets rarely touch, or touch only to dismiss them. These include UFO reports, paranormal stories, secret government claims, and conspiracy theories about famous events. For fans of the site, this is the main attraction: they feel they are reading the stories and angles that powerful people would rather keep quiet. For critics, this same section of the site is the main problem, because dramatic claims can be published with little or no evidence.
An honest description has to hold both points together. The site genuinely does publish some stories early, and some local or overlooked reports that later receive wider attention. It also genuinely publishes material that no checked newsroom would release. A reader cannot judge the whole site with one label. Each story has to be judged on its own writer, its own evidence, and its own links.
Is Before Its News Trustworthy?
This is the question most people really want answered, and the honest answer is that it depends on the story, not the site. Because there is no standard fact checking step before publication, the platform itself cannot promise accuracy. A careful contributor who links to original documents can produce useful work there. A careless or dishonest contributor can publish nonsense under the same logo on the same day.
Smart readers use a few simple habits on this kind of platform. First, check who wrote the story and whether that writer has a track record. Second, follow the links inside the story and see whether the sources really say what the headline claims. Third, search for the same event on two or three unrelated outlets, including at least one mainstream source, and compare the basic facts such as dates, places, and names. Fourth, be extra careful with stories that ask for money, sell a health product, or demand urgent action based on fear.
Used this way, the site can serve as an early signal or a source of different viewpoints, rather than a final authority. Media literacy teachers often use open platforms like this as a teaching example: freedom to publish is valuable, but it moves the job of checking from the editor to the reader. On Before Its News, that job is fully yours.
Why People Keep Reading It
It is easy to mock the site, but its staying power since 2008 tells a real story about modern media. Many readers believe big outlets protect political and business interests, and those readers go looking for a place where unfiltered voices can speak. Before Its News gives them that place, with no gatekeeper and no house style. The feeling of reading something before the television reports it, or something television will never report, is powerful, and the site name itself promises exactly that feeling.
The community side matters too. Comment sections let readers argue, add details, and share their own experiences. Contributors build followings, and regular readers return for writers they trust personally, even if they ignore the rest of the site. In that sense the platform works less like one newspaper and more like a large public square, noisy, uneven, and sometimes valuable.
The debate around the site is really a debate about the modern internet itself. Open publishing has given millions of people a voice, and it has also made false stories faster and louder. Before Its News sits right in the middle of that tension, which is why people are still asking about it more than fifteen years after it launched.
FAQs
Can anyone publish on Before Its News?
Yes. Publishing is open to registered users with a free account. There is no requirement to be a professional journalist, and stories are not put through a normal newsroom editing process before they appear.
Is Before Its News a real news source?
It is a real and long running platform, but it is not a traditional news source. It hosts reader submitted stories rather than staff reporting, so its content should be treated as unedited contributor material and checked against other sources.
When did Before Its News start?
Most accounts date the launch to 2008. A small number of later write ups give 2009 or 2010, but 2008 is the most commonly reported year and matches the period when citizen journalism sites of this type were first growing fast.
Why do fact checkers criticise the site?
Because stories can be published without verification, false and misleading claims have appeared there, and some have spread widely. The criticism is aimed at the open model itself: with no checking step, accuracy depends entirely on each contributor.
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Final Thoughts
Before Its News is an open publishing platform dressed as a news site, and understanding that one fact explains almost everything about it. It offers speed, freedom, and viewpoints that mainstream media often leaves out. It also offers no promise that what you read has been checked. Enjoy it, if you enjoy alternative voices, but read it the way its own model demands: story by story, writer by writer, and always with a second source before you believe or share a big claim.
