AllSides has rated the bias of nearly 600 media outlets, and our media bias ratings are fluid and subject to change as outlets change over time or more information is gathered. We recently conducted reviews on a number of popular media outlets to ensure our bias ratings are up to date:

We conducted independent research and editorial reviews. During an editorial review, members of the AllSides staff, a group of people with biases that span the political spectrum, review the works of a media outlet and come to a consensus on its bias. During an independent review, a member of the team conducts research on the outlet; this is our lowest level of analysis.

Your feedback matters: you can help to ensure our ratings are accurate by visiting the source page of any outlet and voting on whether you agree or disagree. Community votes alone don't determine our ratings, but act as valuable feedback that our bias ratings may be off.

Yahoo! News Media Bias Moves from Left to Lean Left

We reviewed Yahoo! News and one of its projects, The 360, on Sept. 24. We decided to shift Yahoo! News’ media bias rating from Left to Lean Left, and were impressed to see that the site has become much more balanced in recent years. This is particularly impressive during a time of hyper-polarization when most media outlets are becoming more extreme in their bias.

Get the full scoop on our editorial review for the Yahoo! News media bias and vote on whether you agree.

Yahoo! News The 360 is Mixed

We give Yahoo! News' project The 360 a separate media bias rating of Mixed, because it does a good job of curating diverse perspectives from across the political spectrum, something that is rarely found in modern media today. We do note that we found some right and libertarian viewpoints to be missing, and the topics tend to be focused on issues typically more of interest to those on the left, but overall we were quite impressed.

Check out the new source page to learn more about how we rated the media bias of Yahoo! The 360.

BuzzFeed News Media Bias: From Lean Left to Left

Following an editorial review of BuzzFeed in July, AllSides decided to move BuzzFeed’s media bias rating from Lean Left to Left. Before we changed the rating, nearly 7,000 AllSides community members disagreed with our rating of Lean Left. Our review found that BuzzFeed excludes right-leaning perspectives and occasionally misrepresents facts to support leftist points of view.

View the full source page on BuzzFeed News media bias here.

Associated Press Remains Center

On August 28, AllSides conducted an Editorial Review of the Associated Press after members of our community, and some on the AllSides team, suspected the media outlet was inching farther Left. During the review, we found that many AP articles do not show evidence of bias. However, some articles do display a slight Lean Left bias. AllSides determined AP still deserves a Center rating.

Get the full details on our August Editorial Review of AP’s media bias rating.

NPR Online News Media Bias Remains Center

AllSides rates only the online news portion of NPR —not radio content, and we still rate NPR Opinion/Editorial content separately with a Lean Left rating. We conducted an editorial review of NPR online news after getting a lot of feedback from readers who believe that NPR displays a Lean Left bias (note that community feedback never determines our bias ratings; it only prompts us to do more research).

Like AP, we found that NPR maintains a Center bias, while there is an indication that some of its pieces do Lean Left. While some pieces may have a slight Lean Left bend, we determined it is not frequent enough to warrant changing the overall NPR online news media bias rating to Lean Left. Note that a Center bias does not necessarily mean a source is unbiased, neutral, or always reasonable — it simply means the source does not predictably publish opinions favoring either side of the political spectrum.

Overall, the AllSides team agreed NPR's headlines do not insert bias and largely present the facts. NPR doesn’t employ sensationalism or overt bias in either direction, and its reporting is mostly in a factual, objective style, not an interpretive style. We also found NPR online news does not focus coverage on hot-button topics favored by either side.

Get the full update on NPR’s media bias rating here.

The Epoch Times Media Bias Is Right

An AllSides editorial review concluded in the decision that The Epoch Times bias is Right. The Epoch Times gained recognition earlier this summer after Facebook banned it from running advertisements, and AllSides decided to review its bias after seeing a spike in pageviews to our source page on the outlet.

The Epoch Times has a self-proclaimed anti-communist bias and says it stands for “traditional values and awareness of virtues.” On both its news and opinion pages, The Epoch Times is clearly critical of policies and ideas such as open borders, the sexual revolution, abortion, and multiculturalism. It writes favorably about freedom of speech, gun rights, immigration control, and other topics. The team was happy to see that the paper does provide coverage of Democratic policies and proposals and often provides full quotes from politicians in its reporting, not short snippets that lack or distort context.

Get the full details of our editorial review of The Epoch Times media bias rating here.

AJ+ Bias is Left

We conducted an independent review of AJ+, a project run by Al Jazeera media network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. AJ+ has millions of social media followers and creates short videos on political issues. Most of the videos have a clear Left bent and focus on topics typically of interest to those on the left. AJ+ often omits libertarian and right-wing perspectives and views.

Vote on whether you agree or disagree with AJ+'s bias rating.

Al Jazeera Bias Moves from Center to Lean Left

We updated the bias of Al Jazeera itself to Lean Left following an independent review. The outlet employs some types of media bias such as emotionalism, slant, spin, and bias by omission. Al Jazeera usually omits right-wing perspectives and viewpoints. Reports generally focus on topics of interest to those on the left. Al Jazeera's opinion section leans left as well.

AllSides previously rated Al Jazeera’s media bias as Center. Out of 9,791 community votes as of Sept. 30, 2019, 6,106 community members disagreed with our bias rating of Center. Those who disagreed with our rating gave Al Jazeera an average bias rating of Lean Left.

Let us know whether or not you agree with our new Al Jazeera bias rating.

Next Up: Blind Bias Survey and Updated Media Bias Chart

AllSides is conducting a blind bias survey to get more data on the bias of six popular media outlets. If you’d like to help us rate media bias, sign up to receive the survey here. Next on the agenda: updating the AllSides Media Bias Chart.

Let us know what you think of these updated bias ratings and more by visiting our Media Bias Ratings page and clicking “agree” or “disagree” next to the bias rating for any outlet. And as always, contact us if you have feedback.

Julie Mastrine is the Director of Marketing at AllSides. She has a Lean Right bias.

This piece was reviewed by: John Gable, AllSides CEO and co-founder (Lean Right bias); Henry Brechter, Daily News Editor (Center bias); Samantha Shireman, Information Architect (Lean Left bias).

Media Bias, AllSides Media Bias Ratings, NPR, AP Bias