How factual, reliable and unbiased are the main news websites and TV channels?

Maciamo

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The site Media Bias/Fact Check rates news media for their factual reporting and political bias. There are thousands of sites rated, but I thought it would be interesting to give a concise summary of the main English-language news websites and TV channels. I am going to classify them by country.

United Kingdom

In 2016, in my article Who reads which newspaper in Britain? I explained the political bias and social class associated with the major British newspapers.

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
BBC NewsHighLeft-center
Daily ExpressMixedRight
Daily MailLowRight
Daily MirrorMixedLeft-center
Daily StarMixedRight-center
Daily TelegraphMixedRight
London Evening StandardHighRight-center
Financial TimesHighLeast biased
Sky NewsHighLeast biased
The EconomistHighLeast biased
The GuardianMixedLeft-center
The IndependentMixedLeft-center
The SunMixedRight
The TimesHighRight-center


United States

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
ABCHighLeft-center
Associated PressVery highLeast biased
CBSHighLeft-center
CNNMixedLeft
Fox NewsMixedRight
The Huffington PostMixedLeft
The Los Angeles TimesHighLeft-center
New York PostMixedRight-center
The New York TimesHighLeft-center
NBC NewsHighLeft-center
NewsweekMixedLeft
NPRVery highLeft-center
PoliticoHighLeast biased
ReutersVery highLeast biased
Time MagazineHighLeft-center
USA TodayHighLeft-center
Washington PostHighLeft-center
Yahoo NewsHighLeft-center


Canada

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
CBSHighLeft-center
CTVHighLeast biased
Financial PostMostly factualRight-center
The Globe and MailHighRight-center
Global NewsHighLeft-center
National PostHighRight-center
Toronto StarHighLeft-center
Toronto SunMostly factualRight


Australia

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
9 NewsHighRight-center
ABCHighLeft-center
The AgeHighLeft-center
The AustralianMixedRight-center
Daily TelegraphMixedRight
The Herald SunMostly factualRight-center
News.com.auMostly factualRight-center
The Sydney Morning HeraldHighLeft-center


News in English from non-English-speaking countries

News mediaCountryFactual reportingPolitical bias
Al JazeeraQatarMixedLeft-center
ANSAItalyHighLeast biased
Asahi ShimbunJapanHighLeft-center
CCTV InternationalChinaMixedLeft-center
Deutsche Welle (DW News)GermanyHighLeft-center
El PaisSpainHighLeft-center
EuronewsFranceHighLeast biased
EU ObserverBelgiumHighLeft-center
France 24FranceHighLeast biased
Japan TimesJapanHighLeast biased
Japan TodayJapanHighLeft-center
The LocalSwedenHighLeft-center
Mainichi ShimbunJapanHighLeft-center
NHK WorldJapanHighLeft-center
Russia Today (RT News)RussiaVery lowRight-center
Spiegel OnlineGermanyHighLeft-center
South China Morning PostChinaMixedLeft-center
Xinhua NewsChinaMixedLeft-center
Yomiuri ShimbunJapanHighRight-center
 
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Maciamo, I don't know why I should accept the conclusions of some armchair pundit.

"The Columbia Journalism Review describes Media Bias/Fact Check as an amateur attempt at categorizing media bias and Van Zandt as an "armchair media analyst."[3] The Poynter Institute notes, "Media Bias/Fact Check is a widely cited source for news stories and even studies about misinformation, despite the fact that its method is in no way scientific."[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Bias/Fact_Check

Plus, anyone who thinks the New York Times and NPR are unbiased has very strange standards, imo.

These judgments are inherently subjective, again, imo.
 
Maciamo, I don't know why I should accept the conclusions of some armchair pundit.

"The Columbia Journalism Review describes Media Bias/Fact Check as an amateur attempt at categorizing media bias and Van Zandt as an "armchair media analyst."[3] The Poynter Institute notes, "Media Bias/Fact Check is a widely cited source for news stories and even studies about misinformation, despite the fact that its method is in no way scientific."[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Bias/Fact_Check

Plus, anyone who thinks the New York Times and NPR are unbiased has very strange standards, imo.

These judgments are inherently subjective, again, imo.

I thought analysts field work is on the armchair? :unsure: :embarassed::LOL:

I know the idiom btw... it's just not the best word choice for the profession.
 
I didn't know that Media Bias/Fact Check was amateurish. Sorry about that. Here are other attempts at classifications of news websites across the political spectrum.

First, the British Government did a survey on YouGov asking British people what they thought of the political biases of British newspapers.

Newspapers%20left%20right%20wing-01.png


And this sorted by the actual political party for which the readers voted at the last election.

main-qimg-f86fc5ad1c1fbb25f6d6648bbe383321




Next is a series of charts are from Pew Research's articles on Political Polarization in the U.S.

Pew_mediapolarization_ideologicalplacementsourceaudience.png



PJ_2020.01.24_media-polarization_1-01.png


PJ_2020.01.24_media-polarization_1-03-1.png


ft_2020.04.01_newssources_02.png





Here is a chart is from AllSides.com, a website that attributes political bias and let users provide feedback on whether they agree or not with their attributions.
AllSidesMediaBiasChart-Version1.1_0.jpg



news-bias.jpg


AdFontesMedia is another site that rates news sites on their political bias as well as factual reliability. They made the next two charts.

Media-Bias-Chart-5.1-Licensed.jpg



152.o1.jpg



This one is about the quality of science news reporting. It was was made by the American Council of Science and Health and Real Clear Science.

ACSH-RCS+infographic+v8.jpg
 
Glad to see that most of my favorite sources are non-partisan, least biased. AP, Reuters for general news mainly. I use WSJ, Bloomberg mainly for business/economics news, and for the laymen it is good enough, but if you are looking to trade on their news beware... I would not recommend it, won't go in depth as to why not.

Surprised that MIT TR is rated so low on "compelling to read"? I absolutely love it.

Edit: Also, INFOWARS is fun to watch, who needs the Onion when you can have this as (un/intentional?) satire. Haven't followed since they got de-platformed (for good reason, some things should not be even sarcastically implied, Sandy Hook denial was just despicable).
 
From the various sources above, it seems that Media Bias/Fact Check was right about the political bias of British news sites. What is odd is that AllSides consider The Economist as slightly leftist, when if anything they are very slightly on the right of the center.

In the USA, we have:

- CNN, MSCBC, Huffington Post, Newsweek and Time Magazine on the left.

- ABC, Politico, The New York Times and the Washington Post are center to center-left.

- AP, NPR and Reuters are in the middle (least biased).

- The New York Post is either listed as center-right or very much on the right.

- Fox News and Breibart are on the right.
 
From the various sources above, it seems that Media Bias/Fact Check was right about the political bias of British news sites. What is odd is that AllSides consider The Economist as slightly leftist, when if anything they are very slightly on the right of the center.

In the USA, we have:

- CNN, MSCBC, Huffington Post, Newsweek and Time Magazine on the left.

- ABC, Politico, The New York Times and the Washington Post are center to center-left.

- AP, NPR and Reuters are in the middle (least biased).

- The New York Post is either listed as center-right or very much on the right.

- Fox News and Breibart are on the right.

And in Europe Maciamo?

I can add for the Netherlands:

I. Newspapers:
- De Telegraaf, right
- Algemeen Dagblad center-right
- De Volkskrant, center-left
- NRC- Handelsblad, center-liberal
- Trouw, center, christian
- Het Parool (mostly Amsterdam), center-left
- Nederlands Dagblad, christian-reformed
- Reformatorisch Dagblad, reformed-pietistic

II. News Magazines
- Elsevier, right
- Vrij Nederland, center left
- Groene Amsterdammer, libertarian
- HP/De Tijd, center

May be contra to the dominant view about the Netherlands are the biggest newspaper (De Telegraaf) and the biggest Newsmagazine (Elsevier) without doubt right wing. You see also a quite big shot of christian newspapers (calvinistic). There is a liberal-libertarian influence (NRC, Groene Amsterdammer). Newsmagazine Vrij Nederland and Newspaper Het Parool are rooted in the resistance in ww2 and have a social-democratic kind of signature. The story of the newspaper The Volkskrant is most remarkable. It was traditional the newspaper of the Roman-Catholics (Southern Netherlands) but due to the counter culture in the sixties it shifted definitely to the left, now it's kind of center-left.

Personally I read Elsevier, Groene Amsterdammer, de Volkskrant and a regional newspaper called Dagblad van het Noorden. In the earlier days also Vrij Nederland.

Who can add for other countries?

I have read long time the newsmagazine Der Spiegel, kind of center -left (according to the old publisher 'when doubt: left') and Die Zeit kind of liberal-highly academic. Both centered in Hamburg, Germany.

Can others add???
 
The site Media Bias/Fact Check rates news media for their factual reporting and political bias. There are thousands of sites rated, but I thought it would be interesting to give a concise summary of the main English-language news websites and TV channels. I am going to classify them by country.

United Kingdom

In 2016, in my article Who reads which newspaper in Britain? I explained the political bias and social class associated with the major British newspapers.

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
BBC NewsHighLeft-center
Daily ExpressMixedRight
Daily MailLowRight
Daily MirrorMixedLeft-center
Daily StarMixedRight-center
Daily TelegraphMixedRight
London Evening StandardHighRight-center
Financial TimesHighLeast biased
Sky NewsHighLeast biased
The EconomistHighLeast biased
The GuardianMixedLeft-center
The IndependentMixedLeft-center
The SunMixedRight
The TimesHighRight-center


United States

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
ABCHighLeft-center
Associated PressVery highLeast biased
CBSHighLeft-center
CNNMixedLeft
Fox NewsMixedRight
The Huffington PostMixedLeft
The Los Angeles TimesHighLeft-center
New York PostMixedRight-center
The New York TimesHighLeft-center
NBC NewsHighLeft-center
NewsweekMixedLeft
NPRVery highLeft-center
PoliticoHighLeast biased
ReutersVery highLeast biased
Time MagazineHighLeft-center
USA TodayHighLeft-center
Washington PostHighLeft-center
Yahoo NewsHighLeft-center


Canada

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
CBSHighLeft-center
CTVHighLeast biased
Financial PostMostly factualRight-center
The Globe and MailHighRight-center
Global NewsHighLeft-center
National PostHighRight-center
Toronto StarHighLeft-center
Toronto SunMostly factualRight


Australia

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
9 NewsHighRight-center
ABCHighLeft-center
The AgeHighLeft-center
The AustralianMixedRight-center
Daily TelegraphMixedRight
The Herald SunMostly factualRight-center
News.com.auMostly factualRight-center
The Sydney Morning HeraldHighLeft-center


News in English from non-English-speaking countries

News mediaCountryFactual reportingPolitical bias
Al JazeeraQatarMixedLeft-center
ANSAItalyHighLeast biased
Asahi ShimbunJapanHighLeft-center
CCTV InternationalChinaMixedLeft-center
Deutsche Welle (DW News)GermanyHighLeft-center
El PaisSpainHighLeft-center
EuronewsFranceHighLeast biased
EU ObserverBelgiumHighLeft-center
France 24FranceHighLeast biased
Japan TimesJapanHighLeast biased
Japan TodayJapanHighLeft-center
The LocalSwedenHighLeft-center
Mainichi ShimbunJapanHighLeft-center
NHK WorldJapanHighLeft-center
Russia Today (RT News)RussiaVery lowRight-center
Spiegel OnlineGermanyHighLeft-center
South China Morning PostChinaMixedLeft-center
Xinhua NewsChinaMixedLeft-center
Yomiuri ShimbunJapanHighRight-center


I don't know but I guess there is not really such thing as unbiased news, it's always with some kind of flavor, middle ground doesn't mean unbiased....I think unbiased is an idee fixe.
 
And in Europe Maciamo?

I can add for the Netherlands:

I. Newspapers:
- De Telegraaf, right
- Algemeen Dagblad center-right
- De Volkskrant, center-left
- NRC- Handelsblad, center-liberal
- Trouw, center, christian
- Het Parool (mostly Amsterdam), center-left
- Nederlands Dagblad, christian-reformed
- Reformatorisch Dagblad, reformed-pietistic

II. News Magazines
- Elsevier, right
- Vrij Nederland, center left
- Groene Amsterdammer, libertarian
- HP/De Tijd, center

May be contra to the dominant view about the Netherlands are the biggest newspaper (De Telegraaf) and the biggest Newsmagazine (Elsevier) without doubt right wing. You see also a quite big shot of christian newspapers (calvinistic). There is a liberal-libertarian influence (NRC, Groene Amsterdammer). Newsmagazine Vrij Nederland and Newspaper Het Parool are rooted in the resistance in ww2 and have a social-democratic kind of signature. The story of the newspaper The Volkskrant is most remarkable. It was traditional the newspaper of the Roman-Catholics (Southern Netherlands) but due to the counter culture in the sixties it shifted definitely to the left, now it's kind of center-left.

Personally I read Elsevier, Groene Amsterdammer, de Volkskrant and a regional newspaper called Dagblad van het Noorden. In the earlier days also Vrij Nederland.

Who can add for other countries?

I have read long time the newsmagazine Der Spiegel, kind of center -left (according to the old publisher 'when doubt: left') and Die Zeit kind of liberal-highly academic. Both centered in Hamburg, Germany.

Can others add???

Thanks for sharing. The purpose of this thread is to give a summary of the main news websites in English. It would be too daunting a task to tackle the whole world, or even all European countries.
 
NPR in the U.S. is rated "very high" regarding factual reporting?

Um, no.

I trust smaller, independent news sources more at this point than the legacy mainstream media. During evolving news stories I look to video recorded by "man on the street" types.

Nevertheless, I do review sites from all perspectives to distill the most accurate viewpoint. I even force myself to review HuffPo nearly everyday and I listen to NPR when driving to see what the other side has cooked up. Keeps my blood pressure nice and high like I like it.
 
What is most illuminating about these Left-to-Right spectrums for assessing media bias is the complete absence of a national populist Third Position, as though such a perspective did not exist.

The first question that one should ask is, Who Owns the Media?

"Democracy has become a weapon of moneyed interests. It uses the media to create the illusion that there is consent from the governed. The press today is an army with carefully organized weapons, the journalists its officers, the readers its soldiers. The reader neither knows nor is supposed to know the purposes for which he is used and the role he is to play. The notion of democracy is often no different than living under a plutocracy or a government by wealthy elites."

"
If by 'democracy' we mean the form which the Third Estate as such wishes to impart to public life as a whole, it must be concluded that democracy and plutocracy are the same thing under the two aspects of wish and actuality, theory and practice, knowing and doing. It is the tragic comedy of the world‑improvers' and freedom‑teachers' desperate fight against money that they are ipso facto assisting money to be effective. Respect for the big number—expressed in the principles of equality for all, natural rights, and universal suffrage—is just as much a class‑ideal of the unclassed as freedom of public opinion (and more particularly freedom of the press) is so. These are ideals, but in actuality the freedom of public opinion involves the preparation of public opinion, which costs money; and the freedom of the press brings with it the question of possession of the press, which again is a matter of money; and with the franchise comes electioneering, in which he who pays the piper calls the tune. The representatives of the ideas look at one side only, while the representatives of money operate with the other. The concepts of Liberalism and Socialism are set in effective motion only by money. … There is no proletarian, not even a Communist movement, that has not operated in the interests of money, and for the time being permitted by money—and that without the idealists among its leaders having the slightest suspicion of the fact.

Concrete Example of Spengler's argument ----> 9-11 and the War on Terror ----> The planes crashing into the Twin Towers were but a "gruesome spectacle." Controlled demolitions brought down WTC 1 & 2, plus the oft-forgotten WTC 7. And yet otherwise intelligent people continue to subscribe to the official narrative, thanks to the media's complete control of the narrative.

Anybody who understands the truth of 9-11 cannot be at all surprised by the grotesque falsehood that reigns in the media today.
 
The site Media Bias/Fact Check rates news media for their factual reporting and political bias. There are thousands of sites rated, but I thought it would be interesting to give a concise summary of the main English-language news websites and TV channels. I am going to classify them by country.

United Kingdom

In 2016, in my article Who reads which newspaper in Britain? I explained the political bias and social class associated with the major British newspapers.

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
BBC NewsHighLeft-center
Daily ExpressMixedRight
Daily MailLowRight
Daily MirrorMixedLeft-center
Daily StarMixedRight-center
Daily TelegraphMixedRight
London Evening StandardHighRight-center
Financial TimesHighLeast biased
Sky NewsHighLeast biased
The EconomistHighLeast biased
The GuardianMixedLeft-center
The IndependentMixedLeft-center
The SunMixedRight
The TimesHighRight-center


United States

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
ABCHighLeft-center
Associated PressVery highLeast biased
CBSHighLeft-center
CNNMixedLeft
Fox NewsMixedRight
The Huffington PostMixedLeft
The Los Angeles TimesHighLeft-center
New York PostMixedRight-center
The New York TimesHighLeft-center
NBC NewsHighLeft-center
NewsweekMixedLeft
NPRVery highLeft-center
PoliticoHighLeast biased
ReutersVery highLeast biased
Time MagazineHighLeft-center
USA TodayHighLeft-center
Washington PostHighLeft-center
Yahoo NewsHighLeft-center


CasinosCanada.reviews

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
CBSHighLeft-center
CTVHighLeast biased
Financial PostMostly factualRight-center
The Globe and MailHighRight-center
Global NewsHighLeft-center
National PostHighRight-center
Toronto StarHighLeft-center
Toronto SunMostly factualRight


Australia

News mediaFactual reportingPolitical bias
9 NewsHighRight-center
ABCHighLeft-center
The AgeHighLeft-center
The AustralianMixedRight-center
Daily TelegraphMixedRight
The Herald SunMostly factualRight-center
News.com.auMostly factualRight-center
The Sydney Morning HeraldHighLeft-center


News in English from non-English-speaking countries

News mediaCountryFactual reportingPolitical bias
Al JazeeraQatarMixedLeft-center
ANSAItalyHighLeast biased
Asahi ShimbunJapanHighLeft-center
CCTV InternationalChinaMixedLeft-center
Deutsche Welle (DW News)GermanyHighLeft-center
El PaisSpainHighLeft-center
EuronewsFranceHighLeast biased
EU ObserverBelgiumHighLeft-center
France 24FranceHighLeast biased
Japan TimesJapanHighLeast biased
Japan TodayJapanHighLeft-center
The LocalSwedenHighLeft-center
Mainichi ShimbunJapanHighLeft-center
NHK WorldJapanHighLeft-center
Russia Today (RT News)RussiaVery lowRight-center
Spiegel OnlineGermanyHighLeft-center
South China Morning PostChinaMixedLeft-center
Xinhua NewsChinaMixedLeft-center
Yomiuri ShimbunJapanHighRight-center
I totally agree with the fact that all media outlets report news with a certain bias. Who sponsors them, and therefore wants to have influence.. Even highly-rated sources may have some bias.
 

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