FYS: Zero to Hero (Bungard)

Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart

Ad Fontes (founded. 2018)  has studied 3600 news sources, 700 podcasts and 474 TV/viideo programs, evaluating them on a two-point methodology.. In some circles, it's simply referred to as "The Chart" -- a mark of its reach and growing influence.

The bias rating, on the horizontal axis, ranges from most extreme left to middle to most extreme right. The reliability rating, demonstrated on the chart’s vertical axis, rates sources on a scale from original fact reporting to analysis, opinion, propaganda and inaccurate/fabricated information.

https://adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart/

Individual Source Ratings

News Source Ratings: Profiles by Title 

Although not all sources from The Chart are listed on this page, it's sometimes an easy way  to find and isolate descriptions of major news and broadcast outlets.  Profile pages describe methodology, and provide overall scores for both reliability and political "lean." They link back to the larger Ad Fontes interactive Chart, so you can see a news outlet in context and in comparison to others. 

Interesting to Note: Many source profiles include content samples (individual articles or a particular broadcast), with reliability/bias ratings.

• Reliability scores for articles and shows are on a scale of 0-64. Scores above 40 are generally good; scores below 24 are generally problematic.

Scores between 24-40 indicate a range of possibilities, with some sources falling there because they are heavy in opinion and analysis, and some because they have a high variation in reliability between articles.

• Bias scores for articles and shows are on a scale of -42 to +42, with higher negative scores being more left, higher positive scores being more right, and scores closer to zero being minimally biased, equally balanced, or exhibiting a centrist bias.

The Chart in Debate

Complex or clickbait?: The Problematic Media Bias Chart (ACRL Blog, 2021) 

• Reader comments are worth perusing, too. 

What the ACRL Blog Critique Misses About the Media Bias Chart (April 2021)

• The Ad Fontes Response. 

Is the Media Bias Chart Biased? (2022) 

• From the Ad Fontes Methodology FAQs.

AllSides Media Bias Chart

AllSides (founded 2012) measures bias differently from Ad Fontes (described above). Its source base is narrower, for example, limited to the written, political, online content produced  by1400 U.S. news outlets. Politically-themed podcasts and broadcast/video journalism are not included. 

Unlike Ad Fontes,  AllSides does not measure accuracy or reliability of claims of publications, focusing solely on whether a publication leans left, center, right -- or somewhere in-between. Read more about the AllSides methodology, including the use of Blind Bias Surveys. 

Like Ad Fonte's  the AllSides Media Bias Chart version is interactive; detailed profiles of each news outlet are a click away.

One special/interesting feature: AllSides tracks the shifts over time of a publication's political leaning.

https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

AllSides Topic Pages

Browse or search a master of Topics & Issues that are politically charged in current media debates. 

All Sides Red / Blue Translator

The AllSides Red Blue Translator reveals how people across the political spectrum think and feel differently about the same term or phrase. 

In an age when speech is contested and civil discourse is imperiled, we can wonder whether we're all speaking the same language. 

Think about how  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has been weaponized in the current culture wars, for example.. 

AllSides in Debate

Should You Trust Media Bias Charts?

• Article from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies (December 2020) critiquing both AllSides and Ad Fontes.