Summary of Intent

I have been seeking centerline news sources as I am tired of reading an article and feeling like I have been taken for a ride by the author's bias.

As such I have done some investigation into competing groups that examine media bias and fact checking. They all seem to generally have the same results. It varies a bit from chart-to-chart and year-to-year, but there's enough in common to get a solid sense of the overall media bias landscape. This article discusses media bias charts at length with a microscope specifically on AllSides and Adfontes.

I am finding Reuters, Associated Press (AP), and United Press International (UPI) to be consistently in the top center area, meaning that multiple organizations forming media bias charts think they have close to centerline bias, original content, and accurate/reliable reporting. 

This actually should not come as a surprise as these big four (the fourth is Agence France-Presse (AFP) which seems to only provide news to other News media providers) organizations are the historical “wire” agencies. The agencies from which all other news agencies would receive their news. They are directly incentivized to be as unbiased as possible in the sale of their news to their subscribers all over the world.

“All four began with and continue to operate on a basic philosophy of providing a single objective news feed to all subscribers; they do not provide separate feeds for conservative or liberal newspapers. Jonathan Fenby explains the philosophy:

To achieve such wide acceptability, the agencies avoid overt partiality. Demonstrably correct information is their stock in trade. Traditionally, they report at a reduced level of responsibility, attributing their information to a spokesman, the press, or other sources. They avoid making judgments and steer clear of doubt and ambiguity. Though their founders did not use the word, objectivity is the philosophical basis for their enterprises – or failing that, widely acceptable neutrality.”

I have collected together a library of resources and tools useful for filtering media bias. They can be viewed in the toolbar above.