🔬 What is News-Distiller?
News-Distiller is an AI-powered tool that reads news articles and other text and distills them into clear, organized summaries — so you can understand what matters without reading the whole thing.
It also provides a Political Lean Assessment that evaluates whether the article's language and framing suggest a left, center, or right lean — based only on the writing itself, not the topic.
News-Distiller is a companion to TruthPrism, which fact-checks articles for accuracy. Together they give you both the gist and a credibility check.
📖 How to Use It
- Enter a URL — paste any article URL in the top field and click Distill It. Note that paywalled sites (NYT, WSJ, Washington Post) cannot be retrieved this way.
- Or paste text — copy the article text from any page and paste it into the text box.
- Choose a mode — Executive for a quick prose summary, Detailed for organized bullet points.
- Click Distill It — results appear in 10–20 seconds.
- Save your summary — click Save Summary to download a text file.
⚡ Executive vs. Detailed Mode
Executive Mode
A flowing prose summary of 3–6 sentences capturing what happened, essential context, and why it matters. Best for a quick read when you just need the gist.
Detailed Mode
The same prose summary, followed by organized bullet points grouped into labeled sections (e.g. Background & Context, Key Developments, Implications). Best when you want to understand the article more thoroughly without reading every word.
ℹ️ Both modes include the Political Lean Assessment and metadata (topic, tone, estimated time saved).
⚖️ Political Lean Assessment
News-Distiller evaluates the language and framing of each article — not its topic — to assess whether the writing leans left, center, or right.
The assessment applies a high bar: it defaults to Center unless signals are unambiguous. A single mildly charged word won't move the needle.
| Rating | What it means |
|---|
| Left | Clear, consistent progressive framing throughout the article |
| Center-Left | Mild left-leaning language or framing in an otherwise balanced piece |
| Center | Neutral, factual, or balanced language — no clear ideological lean |
| Center-Right | Mild right-leaning language or framing in an otherwise balanced piece |
| Right | Clear, consistent conservative framing throughout the article |
What counts as a valid signal: charged ideological language (e.g. "radical agenda", "woke ideology"), consistently sympathetic/hostile framing for one side, treating contested claims as established facts, or deliberately loaded terminology.
What does not count: topic selection, accurate labels for public figures (e.g. "conservative commentator"), dramatic writing about dramatic events, quoting relevant officials even if partisan, or reporting accurate facts.
ℹ️ This is an AI assessment of writing style, not a definitive verdict. Use it as one input alongside your own judgment.
🔑 Access Codes & Free Uses
Every new visitor gets 5 free distillations — no account or credit card required.
After your free uses are exhausted, you'll need a Distiller Pack code to continue. Distiller Packs are available for purchase at app.news-distiller.com/checkout — choose from Starter (50), Standard (100), Plus (250), or Pro (500) distillations. Codes never expire but are valid only until your distillations are used up.
- Enter your code and click Save — the card collapses and your code is remembered.
- Click the Access Code header to expand and change it at any time.
- Codes never expire and are not tied to a subscription.
🔗 URL vs. Paste Text
When should I use the URL field?
For any freely accessible article — most news sites, blogs, and public web pages work fine. Just paste the URL and click Distill It.
Why can't I use a URL for paywalled sites?
Paywalled sites (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, etc.) block automated access. The app cannot log in on your behalf. Instead, open the article in your browser while logged in, select all the text, copy it, and paste it into the text box.
Is there a length limit?
Articles up to approximately 12,000 characters (~1,800 words) are analyzed in full. Longer articles are truncated — you'll see a warning when this happens. For very long pieces, paste the most important sections.
💾 Saving Your Summary
Click Save Summary after any distillation to download a plain text file containing:
- The mode (Executive or Detailed) and the prose summary
- All bulleted sections (Detailed mode)
- The Political Lean assessment and signals
- Topic, tone, and time-saved metadata
The file is saved as news-distiller-summary.txt to your Downloads folder.
🧩 Chrome Extension
News-Distiller is also available as a Chrome browser extension. Click the flask icon in your toolbar to open a side panel that stays open while you browse — distill any page without copying and pasting.
- The extension uses the same Distiller Pack codes as the web app
- The side panel stays open as you navigate between pages
- Save Summary downloads the same formatted text file
The extension is available on the Chrome Web Store. Search for News-Distiller.
📱 iPhone & iPad (iOS Shortcut)
News-Distiller works on iPhone and iPad via an iOS Shortcut that adds it to your Share menu — tap Share on any article and News-Distiller opens and starts distilling automatically.
Option A — One-tap install (easiest)
Tap this button on your iPhone or iPad to install the shortcut automatically:
📲 Add News-Distiller Shortcut
Tap
"Add Shortcut" when prompted. Done.
Option B — Build it manually
- Open the Shortcuts app → tap + → name it News-Distiller
- Add action: Receive — set source to Share Sheet, type URLs
- Add action: Get URLs from Input (source: Shortcut Input)
- Add action: Text — type
https://app.news-distiller.com?url= then tap the variable icon and select URLs
- Add action: Open URLs — set to use the Text result from the previous step
- Tap Done
💡 Make sure "Https" is lowercase "https" in the Text action.
How to use it
- Open any article in Safari (also works in News, Flipboard, and other apps)
- Tap the Share button (box with arrow pointing up)
- Scroll down and tap News-Distiller
- The app opens in Safari and automatically starts distilling — no extra taps needed
Add News-Distiller to your Home Screen
For even faster access, add the web app as a home screen icon:
- Open Safari and go to app.news-distiller.com
- Tap the Share button
- Tap "Add to Home Screen"
- News-Distiller appears on your home screen like a native app
💡 Must use Safari — Chrome on iPhone does not support Add to Home Screen.
🔒 Privacy
News-Distiller takes a minimal approach to data:
- Article text is sent to Anthropic's Claude AI for analysis and is not stored by News-Distiller after the response is returned.
- Free use counts are tracked by a hashed (anonymized) version of your IP address — not linked to any personal identity.
- Access codes are stored only in your browser's local storage — not on our servers.
- No account creation is required. No email address is collected.