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.”
Okay so CNN and NPR have a far left bias whereas Fox News only has a slightly right of center bias? I think you’re biased in your own view?
In the page entitled “Treatise On Political-Apparatus Dishonest-News Media” at OneAmericanPeople.com is found a 1992 history lesson illustrating a collusive and manipulative political-smear campaign conducted by America’s corporate mainstream media a full three-years before Fox News came onto the scene. If such manipulative political-apparatus was not being witnessed by half of our country at that time and since, Fox News could not have found an audience. We need honest and politically-balanced corporate mainstream news media to bring us together as one American people. Let’s just agree that “We the People” of America have become critically-divided by “all” of the corporate mainstream news media that we currently have. Only, an America’s News Reporting Report Card providing something objective with which to evaluate our sources among America’s corporate mainstream news media, as demanded by Our American Movement®, will be able to help us achieve the honesty and political-balance in daily reporting of news that will facilitate our coming together and finding of common ground toward achieving solutions to our great American challenges.
Great idea.
Some websites suggestions: The Gateway Pundit (far right), Fox Business (Right), The Libertarian Republic (right), and Antiwar (Left).
Add Twitter and Facebook were many get their news.
List the top right and left websites by alexa rating.
I would place The Atlantic closer to the center. Reasons:
(1) The Atlantic prefers to explain situations, context, and cause and effect. That inherently moderates the content.
(2) They have several writers such as Conor Friedersdorf who argue against left-wing positions at times.
In my view, this places them to the right of Slate, which reliably adopts the position on the left, and frequently provides information only favorable to the argument.
Could be included: The Week, Christian Science Monitor.
Would like to see this chart with total reach (i.e. number of viewers/readers) represented by the size of their logo. This would be more reflective of the level of bias on each side of the spectrum.
PBS NewsHour. Objective, says I.
This is interesting but, I think, over simplified. The most important differentiator is not left vs right bias, but whether or not to trust both the information provided in each publication (story, essay, video, etc) and the assumptions the writer/producers makes about what the audience knows or believes. The Econmist, for example, assumes that the reader shares a far left understanding of history (including yesterday’s stories) and then shades its stories to elide conflicting information and make the reader feel smart for accepting its one sided editorial stance.
As others suggest a quadrant graph with trustworthiness as the vertical separator might help – but you might also want to consult a marketing/ stats person about using factor analysis and perhaps an interactive webpage to show this stuff.
Umm, so what scientific method was used to dictate what is left vs right? Just your gut feeling?
Gr.eat chart. Well done. Recommend adding Investors Business Daily on the right. Their editorials are insightful and well thought out.
Wall Street Journal needs to be split between news and opinion. The news side and opinion side have nothing to do with each other. News is far left, Opinion is on the right.
As much as I love this graph to visualize bias (as I see its purpose), I think it is mis-labelled. Instead of a central “50 yard line” separating Left from Right and measuring relative distance for each, it should instead be a Far Left and Far Right BOUNDARY line on each side, representing Lies and Delusion (Left) and Truth, Fact, Reality (Right). Centerline positioning gives the impression that being in center is valid and fair, when that by itself is somewhat misleading.
From Top to Bottom should show daily or annual readership volumes, however you want to measure that, so long as it is consistent.
In my view, this is yet another measure of the battle between darkness and light, manifest through media sources and the supporters they want to attract.
Imprimis?
You may be interested in one of the fundamental reasons WHY most of the traditional information sources are left-leaning.
https://merionwest.com/2018/07/07/all-the-fake-news-thats-fit-to-print/
I would consider CSMonitor centric, slightly left.
Also, American Conservative can be pretty contrarian, and I’d tend to put them center, center right.
I question the validity of any media bias chart that doesn’t have the AP at or very near the center. The whole structure of the AP is built around reporting the facts as quickly and concisely as possible.
Ranking a news outlet by its consumers of the information from that outlet does a disservice to the efforts of the outlet to be true to the facts. Having the Hill to the center of the AP makes me question your methodology. Listing the Economist to the right does a disservice to that publication. And really, FOX news should have two entries. The FOX news of the actual reporters and a seperate FOX entry for the “FOX and friends” echo chamber.
Your chart is about as accurate as the INFOWars chart. At least they got the axis named right. (Freedom???)
Where does ‘Truth’ fit in on this spectral display? Or is it in the ‘eye of the beholder’?
Thanks for sharing this chart on Twitter! It’s very good and some of the comments here offer productive revisions or additions.
I agree that Axios would be a great addition to the chart. Axios has quickly become a go-to source.
Please explain how you placed the sources either high or low on the chart — was it based on your perception of their accuracy?
Love the chart. Did not see BBC, Investors Daily, or Business Week.
BBC middle top left…
Christian Science Monitor should be moved left center-center left. This new site has not challenged progressive ideas as much as it used to 10-15 years ago. It accepted climate change as a fact – not challenging it, for example.
Nice chart — much more accurate than most. However, I would put Reason as much to the left of the line as you now have it to the right of the line. They have been moving leftward for a number of years now and completely lost their minds when Trump was elected.
Perhaps next time the Y-axis could be used to indicate accuracy based on retractions and refutation from other news outlets and sources.
That might be a useful tool for those who want to get their news from both sides, but wants to make sure the outlet isn’t loaded with “fake news.”