AllSides Media Bias Rating: Center

What does a "Center" media bias rating mean?

Sources with a Center AllSides Media Bias Rating™ either do not show much political bias or display a balance of articles with left and right perspectives.

Outlets with a Center AllSides Media Bias Rating™ fall between and  -0.99 to +0.99 on the AllSides Media Bias Meter™. Note that a Center outlet may have a rating that is close to the Lean Left or Lean Right categories on our scale. 

The numerical rating categories are as follows:

Left: -6.00 to -3.00

Lean Left: -2.99 to -1.00

Center: -0.99 to +0.99

Lean Right: +1.00 to +2.99

Right: +3.00 to +6.00

Note: Only media outlets that have undergone a full AllSides Media Bias Audit™ and have qualified for the AllSides Certified Balanced Award™ are endorsed by AllSides as truly balanced journalism. For more about our Balance Certification, or to hire us for a bias audit, click here. Not all Center-rated sources are Certified Balanced, but all Certified Balanced Sources are Center rated.

Some Center sources represent quality journalism. However, Center doesn't mean better! A Center media bias rating does not necessarily mean a source is totally unbiased, neutral, perfectly reasonable, or credible, just as Left and Right don't necessarily mean extreme, wrong, unreasonable, or not credible. AllSides does not believe people should only read outlets rated Center; we encourage people to read outlets across the political spectrum.

A media outlet with a Center rating that does not show much predictable bias overall may still omit important perspectives or run individual articles that display bias. A Center outlet may leave out valid perspectives or arguments from the left or right. While some Center outlets do an excellent job of providing balanced or unbiased journalism, AllSides believes we shouldn't consume media only from Center outlets. By reading only Center outlets, we may still encounter bias or omission of important issues and perspectives. For this reason, it is important to consume a balanced news diet.

Learn more about media bias