Deseret News

AllSides Media Bias Rating™: Center
1610/2160
The bias meter value for Deseret News is 0.90. -6 is the furthest "Left" value and 6 is the furthest "Right" value.
0.90
Center What does this mean?

How we determined this rating:

  • Independent Review
  • Community Feedback:   ratings
  • AllSides has low or initial confidence in this bias rating.

Unless otherwise noted, this bias rating refers only to online news coverage, not TV, print, or radio content.

Learn about our bias rating methods
Deseret News
Deseret News
Bias Rating Center
Type News Media
Region Utah
Community Christian
Owner Deseret Management Corporation
Established 1850
Website deseret.com
Twitter @Deseret
Facebook deseretnews
Wikipedia Deseret News
Ballotpedia Deseret News
What a Center Bias Rating Means

The source either does not show much media bias, displays a balance of articles with left and right biases, or equally balances left and right perspectives in its reporting.

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 encourages people to read outlets across the political spectrum.

Learn more about Center ratings
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About Deseret News's Bias Rating

Deseret News is a news media source with an AllSides Media Bias Rating™ of Center.

What a "Center" Rating Means

Sources with an AllSides Media Bias Rating of Center either do not show much predictable media bias, display a balance of articles with left and right biases, or equally balance left and right perspectives.

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 encourages people to read outlets across the political spectrum.

Learn more about Center ratings

Bias Reviews

We use multiple methods to analyze sources. Learn how we rate media bias.

Deseret News Rated Center in October 2022 Independent Review

Reviewers from the left, center, and right returned a bias rating of Center for Deseret News in an AllSides October 2022 Independent Review. 

AllSides editors have previously acknowledged that much of the content published by Deseret News is center. The findings in our most recent review confirmed a Center bias rating for the outlet. Reviewers found most of the content to be balanced, with very few instances of bias indicators. Articles that covered the Jan. 6 events, a debate between John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz, and the upcoming vote to remove slavery-related language as it relates to prisoners from the 13th Amendment did so without employing common types of bias

Deseret News Rated Lean Right in July 2021 Independent Review

During a July 2021 Independent Review, AllSides editors from the left, center and right gave Deseret News an initial bias rating of Lean Right, though we acknowledged it may have been closer to Center-Right.

Shortly after rating Deseret News and adding them to Version 5 of the AllSides Media Bias Chart in July 2021, AllSides editors continued to wrestle with whether Deseret was more Center or more Lean Right. We determined that a focus on stories of  faith, family, and American history gave them a slight right lean, because these issues in modern America are largely perceived to be to the right of center (whether they ought to be or not is a different issue). We did acknowledge that on some days, the homepage appeared more Center, and on other days, more Lean Right.

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Community Feedback

Feedback does not determine ratings, but may trigger deeper review.

As of March 2024, people have voted on the AllSides Media Bias Rating for Deseret News. On average, those who disagree with our rating think this source has a Center bias.

Confidence Level

Confidence is determined by how many reviews have been applied and consistency of data.

As of March 2024, AllSides has low or initial confidence in our Center rating for Deseret News. If we perform more bias reviews and gather consistent data, this confidence level will increase.

Additional Information

The Deseret News started out as The Deseret Morning News in 1840 when the territory of Deseret included parts of California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon. Today it is known as the first news organization and the longest continuously-operating business in the state of Utah. 

The Deseret News' About page states [retrieved 2/13/23]:

The Deseret News retains and reaffirms its commitment to being a standard-bearer of journalistic integrity and principled reporting. We aim to elevate understanding, challenge assumptions and illuminate context from our long-standing heritage of faith, family and the fundamental values that build strong societies.

Self-Proclaimed Bias of Deseret News

On July 18, 2021, Deseret News responded to accusations that Deseret has a left-wing agenda. Deseret executive editor Hal Boyd seemed to largely endorse our Lean Right rating in his piece titled, "Opinion: No, the Deseret News doesn’t have a ‘leftist agenda’."

Boyd noted that he is a conservative, and pointed to the AllSides Media Bias Rating of Deseret News as Lean Right to emphasize that Deseret has a conservative lean.

Speaking of the AllSides' Media Bias Rating and other media bias rating services that have rated Deseret as "balanced", "center-right" and "'slightly' favoring 'conservative ideas and causes,'" Boyd commented (emphasis ours): 

"To me — having been around the Deseret News as a reporter, as an opinion editor, as a columnist and now in my current capacity — these assessments track with my experience. The Deseret News doesn’t seek to evince an overtly partisan agenda, but, broadly speaking, the publication cares deeply about issues surrounding faith, family and the way prudent life choices and community voluntarism impact human flourishing and upward mobility. In other words, the Deseret News cares about issues that are widely considered — rightly or wrongly — conservative."

He also noted that "not every issue the Deseret News writes about fits into a neat and tidy partisan category," continuing:

"...in the spirit of the First Amendment, the Deseret News doesn’t shy from actively publishing a spectrum of reasonable perspectives in order to foster, and hopefully model, the kind of healthy dialectic that is often absent in today’s discourse. In 2016, for instance, the Deseret News published essays from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In the run-up to 2020, the Deseret News ran pieces from Mike Pence and Kamala Harris."

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Deseret News Ownership and Funding

Funding and ownership do not influence bias ratings. We rate the bias of content only.

Owner: Deseret Management Corporation

Deseret News is a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. Deseret News focuses on news, sports coverage, business, arts and opinion related to church members.

Articles from Deseret News

This content was curated by AllSides. See our Balanced Newsfeed.