Negative News Search Seeks Shady Connections

LexisNexis’ new search function looks for articles in which a person or company is associated with a defined set of derogatory terms. LexisNexis is helping its customers sift through news stories with negative content to find out whether potential partners, vendors or customers should be investigated further.

LexisNexis is helping its customers sift through news stories with negative content to find out whether potential partners, vendors or customers should be investigated further.

The information company’s Negative News search can be used with Anti-Money Laundering, Risk Management and RiskWise applications. It scours more than 13,000 news sources for articles in which a person or company is named in close proximity with derogatory terms. LexisNexis announced the new feature Thursday. It’s free through the end of October for current customers.

"It’s sometimes difficult to truly know your business partners, vendors and customers, especially when there is limited public information available on a particular person or company," Thomas C. Brown, vice president of market planning and financial services at LexisNexis said in a prepared statement. "LexisNexis has worked with its customers to identify possible behavior that might suggest an individual warrants additional consideration and investigation. By using Negative News, users can leverage the full power of the current and archived LexisNexis news sources to provide critical background information they need, when they need it."

The company announced that searches would be directed toward "negative news content relating to specific person or business entity." It will target published articles with words like "bribe," "drug," "felony," "misconduct," "negligence" or "theft."

By K.C. Jones
TechWeb News

Full Story: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=172301282