In Aug. 2020, AllSides asked people across the political spectrum to take our Blind Bias Survey and rate the bias of content from The Associated Press, BBC, Bloomberg, The Epoch Times, and The New York Times.
During an AllSides Blind Bias Survey, participants from all sides of the political spectrum are asked to rate the content of a media outlet blindly, with all branding information stripped, so they are not influenced by preconceived ideas of a brand's bias. Read the white paper to review our methodology, or sign up to receive the next survey.
Media outlets evaluated for bias in the August 2020 Blind Bias Survey were:
Survey Results
On average, participants across the political spectrum rated AP and BCC both as between Center and Lean Left; Bloomberg as Lean Left; The Epoch Times as between Center and Lean Right, and The New York Times as Lean Left.
Associated Press Bias Rated On Border of Center, Lean Left
BBC Bias Rated on Border of Center, Lean Left
Bloomberg Bias Rated Lean Left
The Epoch Times Rated on the Border of Center and Lean Right
The New York Times Rated Lean Left
View a blog post roundup of the results here, and another comparing BBC and Epoch Times results here.
About The Blind Bias Survey
A total of 2,115 people across the political spectrum took the survey, including 233 participants with a Left bias; 529 with a Lean Left bias; 605 with a Center bias; 595 with a Lean Right bias, and 153 with a Right bias.
Results are not assessed by majority rule; we look at pluralities and averages — both among respondent groups and across all respondent groups — to arrive at final determinations. There is nuance to this process; more detail is available in our white paper.
For this survey, AllSides collected two types of content from media outlets: top headlines from two different days at the same time of day, and top stories the outlet ran around two major national news stories. Stories and headlines were stripped of branding and any information that would allow participants to identify the outlet. Participants were asked to rate the bias of the source on a scale of Left, Lean Left, Center, Lean Right, and Right.
Note About Blind Bias Surveys
Note that blind surveys do have limitations and they alone do not always determine our ratings, because these surveys ask respondents to assess a relatively small snapshot of the source's content in time. The surveys don't include photos, content published over a long period of time, or other elements. Therefore, we also use other methods to arrive at a final bias rating, such as Editorial Reviews, third party data and independent reviews.
AllSides uses multiple methods for calculating media bias ratings.
Our blind bias survey, described in the graphic below, represents our most robust media bias rating method, but it is not the only method we use. A source might openly share its bias, or it may be determined by third party research, an independent review, or an editorial review. Take a look at the multiple methods AllSides uses to measure and rate media bias.
