Bias •
October 6th, 2020
RealClearPolitics Media Bias Review Finds Center Bias; Some Lean Right Content
During an AllSides Editorial Review of RealClearPolitics conducted Sept. 25, 2020, there was a general consensus that Center is still the best rating for RealClearPolitics due to the balance displayed on the site's homepage of curated content. Left-wing and right-wing views appear side-by-side from a variety of media outlets, and the homepage does a great job of displaying balanced perspectives. However, at least one area of the site, RCP's Articles section, is more Lean Right of Center.
AllSides decided to weight RCP's homepage in giving our final bias rating; its homepage content affects the rating by about 60%. AllSides has done something similar with our New York Times Opinion page bias rating — NYT's Editorial Board affects our rating by about 60%, despite the New York Times opinion pages including a few right-leaning columnists. AllSides rates individual columnists and writers as much as possible in order to give readers an accurate view in our balanced newsfeed, and we will do the same for RealClearPolitics.
We find RealClearPolitics is a bit like the Associated Press, BBC, and NPR — people across the spectrum generally see these outlets as on the left side of Center, while RCP is on the right side of Center. (Your individual judgement may vary.)
Interestingly, however, community feedback shows that of the 2,663 people who disagreed with our Center bias rating for RCP since 2013, on average they see RCP as Lean Left!
