Where’s your favorite information source stand on the political scale?
I’ve updated the following subjective chart based on information compiled from various sources and your feedback. Some sources have shifted left or right, others have been added including: ESPN, McClatchy, the Federalist, Conservative Review, Washington Monthly, Twitchy, Gateway Pundit and Conservative Treehouse.
Please note that outlets on left and right sometimes publish material that’s on the opposite side of the political spectrum, or that has no political leaning at all. The placement is based on perceived overall tone and audience. Position on the chart doesn’t necessarily imply credibility or lack thereof. Sources on far right and far left have, in many instances, produced excellent, factually correct information at times.
I have loosely placed more traditional information sources in the top half of the chart working down toward aggregators, fact-checkers, opinion sites and less news-related sources. (This posed some position challenges since most of traditional information sources are left-leaning.) I did not attempt to place individual programs or broadcasts.
Compiling such a chart is obviously difficult for many reasons, some of them having to do with space. The spacing should be considered relative and not an indicator of absolute position. A number of the information sources technically belong on top of one another.
You have contributed terrific ideas, such as sizing boxes based on audience, and dividing into quadrants. This is a work in progress. Thanks for your input!
Think a source should be moved? Want one added? Leave a comment!
For a larger view, click on the image and enlarge.
Alternate charts and opinions:
https://www.infowars.com/alternate-reality-viral-propaganda-chart-demonizes-independent-media/
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com
Preorder “The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think and How You Vote.”
I Personally think Business Insider should be much further left.
It would also be interesting to note whether or not the employees of each of these organizations belong to unions or not. Many people are not aware just how unuionized the media and entertainment industries are and this certainly influences their bias.
Fox News vs fox opinion very very different ( hannity or oriely vs bair)
If you can differentiate news / bair down middle , hannity far right.
Is there a reason Business Insider appears twice?
I do not see circa.com on your chart. I use it for one of my online news sources. Do you have any thoughts on where it would be placed in this chart?
If by “right” you mean closest to the Constitution and America’s founding principles and beliefs; and conversely, “left” meaning opposed to same.
Agreed on most of the outlets except BBC, which I think is center to left
Nothing new. The profession of news has been slanted one way or the other since its inception. Just follow the money and you’ll understand the slant of today. The graph does seem about right. The major issue, in my opinion, is the amount of opinion shows on entertainews cable channels. Too many take opinion as actual fact.
I also paused over American Thinker. I tend to think of it as a collection of opinion blogs more so than news. The lines between news and opinion have pretty much disappeared. If you pay attention to nightly network news, they are a little more subtle in their adjective usage. Rush Limbaugh is a “conservative” talk show host, but you don’t hear the Anderson,Maddows,Mathews of the world called “liberal” commentators. Not exaclty “opinion”, but sorta.
American Thinker is Right.
So is new site AmericanGreatness.com. Right.
BBC is Left. Economist is Left. (Brits are usually center or left in my experience.)
WSJ should be at least in the Center.
Using President Trump as a litmus test (either way) disregards each site’s body of work. A number of so-called Right sites have not been supporters.
Wow, you have CNN and Time as far left as you have Breitbart, Infowars, and the Blaze on the right? You don’t think that’s a bit much? Certainly, you could put some left leaning sources – like Huffpo or Salon – as far to the left as those… but then you have even Mother Jones to the right of CNN? Did you just take a bunch of news organizations and randomly distribute them on the continuum? This is the worst one of these that I have seen.
The chart isn’t exact in terms of proportion. Where do you think they belong?
What’s the point of having a continuum if you aren’t going to worry about proportion? Are you just looking to get social media posts? Why does this exist if you didn’t attempt to be accurate?
As far as CNN and Time, probably center-left, for both of them – MSNBC is certainly more liberal than CNN. In general, it seems like a lot of things are further to the left than they should be. Daily Kos and Mother Jones are both, certainly, further to the left than the Atlantic or CNN.
Matt, wikileaks exposed the sheer level of collusion between CNN and the Hillary campaign. To state that CNN is center-left in light of this evidence is absurd. If you are not aware of the extent of collusion that occurred (and is probably still occurring) between the DNC and CNN, I would suggest you need to expand your repertoire of news providers.
CNN earned their position on the far left side of this chart.
So, they are far left because they don’t like Trump? Why isn’t The Blaze over there, too, then? The only collusion I saw was Donna Brazille leaking things – that exposes far more a problem with the practice of paying political hacks as talking heads than the network as a whole. Also, keep citing Wikileaks, the Russian intelligence service loves when their work is appreciated.
CNN should be no further left than Fox News is right. Fox can’t seem to stop singing the President’s praises, and they air blatantly partisan shows that make no attempt at straight journalism. Again, this is a terrible visual representation.
CNN representatives caught with their hand in the cookie jar
[Source: Wikileaks]
CNN – Brianna Keilar
CNN – Dan Merica
CNN – David Chailan
CNN – Erin Burnett
CNN – Gloria Borger
CNN – Jake Tapper
CNN – Jeff Zeleny
CNN – Jeff Zucker
CNN – John Berman
CNN – Kate Bouldan
CNN – Maria Cardona
CNN – Mark Preston
CNN – Sam Feist
Matt, I don’t think you watch/listen to Fox News, so you might have missed the big on-going tiff Trump had with Megyn Kelly. I also catch their radio news updates now and then, and sometimes the way they phrase things or their focus seems to have more of a negative spin for Trump than I think it should.
As for CNN, they are not “far left because they don’t like Trump”, as you put it. It is, as Brian explained very clearly, due in part to the proven COLLUSION between CNN and the Democrat campaign for president. When a news outlet is caught (and multiple times, at that) working with a political candidate, that should erase any sense of objectivity a viewer associates with them. If you still think they’re on equal footing with Fox, show me where Fox colluded with the Trump campaign and I’ll agree with you.
Very good work Sharyl, I find this chart to be very helpful. I do, however, believe that The Economist should be just to the left of the line based solely on the last article of theirs that I read. It was 2008, and they were talking about how Obama’s economic policies would be great. Their analysis sounded like a puff piece, and I feel eight years worth of vindication.
I recently saw a similar chart that divided media into 4 quadrants, liberal to conservative and MSM to new media. Don’t recmember where, but was obviously a liberal product bc some obviously liberal outlets were pit as middle of the road. Your chart, while not entirely accurate, is far better than the one I saw previously
Would you consider adding the Associated Press? As an organization, their articles are picked up by many left leaning papers across the country.
They’re on there, top left second row
Thanks for sharing this chart on Twitter! It’s very good and some of the comments here offer productive revisions or additions. Please explain how you placed the sources either high or low on the chart — was it based on your perception of their accuracy?
Sharyl, I’m confused about why Google is on a chart for media bias. Google is not a media outlet. Why are they on here, and how are they left-wing?
It’s a distributor/common source of news. But I take your point. Not a perfect chart, I just included what made sense to me. Work in progress.
Sharyl: Just discovered your entry after it popped up on Lucianne, and in Conservative Treehouse, the former one of the oldest news aggregator sites (but not on your list).
Also, may I suggest adding American Greatness and the Claremont Review of Books to your list: They are the popular and intellectual homes of “West Coast Straussianism,” which is centered at the Claremont Institute with a major outpost at Hillsdale College. We West Coast Straussians (or, affectionately, “Claremonsters”) detest the “Conservative, Inc.” East Coast Straussians, who infest the DC conservative think tanks and are led by Bill Kristol, George Will, Jonah Goldberg, and John Podhoretz — You unintentionally touched on it in “The Smear.”
Separately, may I suggest another type of split (perhaps into quadrants) to which another poster alluded: The so-called Jacksonian Nationalist/Wilsonian Progressive (Globalist) split.
Let me explain: Back in 2001/2, Walter Russell Mead published the seminal “Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World,” where he laid out four overarching foreign policy themes — Hamiltonian mercantilism, Jeffersonian isolationism, plus Wilsonian progressivism, and Jacksonian nationalism — with the latter two dominating the post-WWII environment, across party lines.
For a better explanation, please see Roger Fontaine’s Dec. 16, 2001 WashTimes review titled “Hamiltonians, Jeffersonians, plus Wilsonians and Jacksonians.”
Circling back around to The Swamp, we West Coast Straussians are almost all Jacksonian Nationalists, while our “Acela corridor” brethren are almost all Wilsonian Progressives.
Some prominent West Coasters include Victor Davis Hanson, David Goldman a/k/a “Spengler,” Angelo Codevilla, Chris Buskirk, Jeff Sessions, Stephen Miller, and of course, President Trump, who, as I documented last year in American Greatness, was a Jacksonian even 30 years ago.
CNN has done more to subvert our electoral process than Russia by far. Fascist Socialist Propagandists at CNN and MSDNC are so far left they shouldn’t be legitimized in a nation that appreciates freedom and liberty.
Totally agree with that! CNN and MSNBC are compromised with bias; they do not do any actual journalism. I’d call both of them government controlled propaganda. Fact-checkers are all controlled by Facebook and other left biased organizations and thus their “fact” checking is not legitimate. I agree with 2 others in this thread- most of the left side is so much farther from fair centrist reporting than what I see on the outlets on the right. I can no longer even consider the traditional network media as anything near fact. Cannot watch them anymore!
Sharyl- Where do you see Epoch Times?
The Hill used to be a fairly credible site, but has taken a hard left turn. I would move them more to the left. Slate also has to be considered more Left than CNN, although CNN is making a play to be where you currently have them. I would also move the Economist. I wouldn’t consider them a conservative publication.
Agree about The Economist, sit them right next to Bloomberg, dopplegangers
I agree. I’ve been reading The Economist forever, and I now find myself occasionally asking “Is this really the Economist?” It started during the GW Bush years, accelerated during the Obama administration, and come to full bloom with the election of Trump. Their position on Brexit is that it’s idiotic, Neanderthals defeated the brilliant and accomplished Hillary Clinton, climate science is settled, we all need to be on bicycles, the California high speed rail is genius, and globalism will solve all. There are weeks that I don’t recognize the publication at all.
Frank F has it correctly: They belong near Bloomberg. But not quite as far to the left as the Guardian.
Another vote for moving The Economist to the left half of the chart – they’ve been lefty for years now. Some evidence:
Endorsed Hillary Clinton
Endorsed Obama over Romney
Endorsed Obama over McCain
Cover of Donald Trump speaking through a megaphone shaped as a KKK hat
Anti – Brexit
Pro Obamacare
Pro open borders (opponents are “xenophobic”)
Against Originalism and Originalist courts
Pro gun control
Fairly accurate but I would slide FOX News farther left (in line with the left border of the WSJ). It is now, thanks to regulars Shep Smith, Jon Scott, Bill Hemmer, Bret Baier, Dana Perino and “contributors” Charles Lane, Marcie Harf, Becker and Williams it is much, much closer to the middle.
Thanks
This is great. I’d say Reuters, the Hill, and CNBC could all slide to the left a bit.
Would be very interesting to also identify the ones Google & Facebook are identifying as “Fake News”. Pretty sure they’d all be on one side of the chart.
WSJ belongs in the center IMHO. Maybe even slightly left of center.
Agree. The WSJ has shifted left and anti-Trump especially in the last year to the point where
I called to cancel my subscription. The only reason I kept it was because they offered to lower the price for several months to keep me from bailing. If things don’t get back to the center or right of center I’ll find another source and use my stack of old paper to clean my pet’s litter box with.
Move Huffington Post further left, if that’s even possible ???? Also, do you count Rebel Media?
BuzzFeed, Google and Mashable might be a smidgen more left. But basically it looks right to me. Thanks.
You need to add ESPN in the left column.
All the biased fact checkers need to be pushed a bit more to the left.
Daily Caller can be nudged to the right
The Hill can be nudged to the left
Also consider adding two dashed vertical lines on either side of the spectrum and labeling them “outright propaganda” to show when they have gone too far – CNN can be in this new category on the left side
Also add MSNBHeeHaw to the “outright propaganda” column.
Rolling Stone is further left than shown on the chart.
I’ve seen many of these charts and this one comes the closest to my own opinions. I would probably say CNN belongs a little less left. Not sure they’re more left than NBC or NPR.
Business Insider needs to go MUCH further left. They started out reasonably balanced but seem to have nearly abandoned all efforts in the past 6-9 months. They’ve changed.
LOL! It’s the Trump Effect! Being a conservative isn’t same as being on Trump Train. Also, some of these rags push the Globalist agenda. The Globalists tend to lean left, but they have many conservatives (McCain/Graham,Rubio,BushFamily, et al) in their camp.
I tend to think Globalist/Populist(wish there was a better word with less baggage) is becoming the new divide. Immigration is a Globalist issue more so than left/right, as is IslamoRealism. These 2 issues only appear liberal because they own the old media that pushes it. I also believe the transgender thing, especially as it rleates to children is a bridge too far for many Democrats.
McLame and Grahamnesty conservative? Wow, have another sip of Kool-Aid
A Business Magazine would never survive being Left of center..
And yet, Business Insider exists….
Your chart makes sense, the thing about the “right” as with most Republicans is that they don’t Fall lock step like Liberal Democrats..So it’s probably more off balance than pictured..
The Hill has gone far left over the last six months. Very sad.
My problem is that I don’t know what the heck “right” and “left” mean in this context. From my perspective, “left” is fake news, and “right” is “real” news. When I listen or watch the Clinton News Network (CNN), or MSNBC, I have no idea where reality is. On the other hand, when I watch OAN or Fox, I have a pretty good idea what is true or is not. So, what does this chart mean? The question really is, does the left really live in an altered state of reality, or do they just use news outlets to push their view of what they would like reality to be?
It’s easy Joe, the left only gives the “good” facts about liberals but never the “bad” facts and only the “bad” facts about conservatives but never the “good” facts. They seldom lie. They just never tell the truth–the whole, objective truth, that is. It’s a great propaganda tool and works great. It’s kept the Democrats alive for decades. It got Obama elected twice when truly objective, whole truth reporting would have doomed him from the start. It’s really censorship.
You need theconservativetreehouse.com on the list. It is amazingly accurate about all things.
It’s there, look in the middle all the way to the right.
It’s there, lower right. No tree.
It’s all about the money as that’s how they keep score…..
No Davey the Hill is still riding the rail it was Info-wars crazy for years but it has tempered its bias as of late.