RT

The bias meter value for RT is 2.00. -6 is the furthest "Left" value and 6 is the furthest "Right" value.
2.00
Lean Right What does this mean?

How we determined this rating:

  • Independent Review
  • Editorial Review: Feb 2022
  • 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
RT
RT
Bias Rating Lean Right
Type News Media
Region National
Owner RIA Novosti
Established 2005
Website rt.com
Twitter @RT_com
Facebook RTnews
Wikipedia RT
What a Lean Right Bias Rating Means

The source displays media bias in ways that moderately align with conservative, traditional, libertarian, or right-wing thought and/or policy agendas.

Learn more about Lean Right ratings
Go to RT
No Paywall
Our records indicate that content from this source is free to access. If this is incorrect, please email us to let us know.

About RT's Bias Rating

RT is a news media source with an AllSides Media Bias Rating™ of Lean Right.

What a "Lean Right" Rating Means

Sources with an AllSides Media Bias Rating of Lean Right display media bias in ways that moderately align with conservative, traditional, libertarian, or right-wing thought and/or policy agendas. A Lean Right bias is a moderately conservative rating on the political spectrum.

Learn more about Lean Right ratings

Bias Reviews

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

Feb. 2022 Review: AllSides Rates RT Lean Right

AllSides rated RT Lean Right following an initial review by the AllSides team. One team member who has a Center bias argued RT deserved a Right rating.

The team noted RT had an anti-globalist bias and displayed a perspective on events that ran contrary to establishment Democrat or neoconservative beliefs that the US should expand liberal democracy abroad. RT published content spelling out concerns about Davos (ie The World Economic Forum) and its pushing of critical race theory, as well as pieces on the fact that many experts warned NATO expansion would lead Russia to invade Ukraine.

AllSides also noted that RT is owned and controlled by the Russian government and therefore, especially during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, issued state-sponsored propaganda. We determined it useful for people to know what the Russian government perspective is, or what messages they are currently publicizing, so we opted not to censor this content in our balanced news (as some, such as the EU, have done and others are being pushed to do), but make it available to our readers so they can have a more complete picture and be better informed.

Some on the team had concerns that AllSides' left-to-right bias rating scale was not as applicable to this source as it is with others. RT may be less biased in terms of US political ideologies and perspectives, because they are biased by whatever they think is in the best interest or best reflects the views of the current Russian government. As such, the content may vary from left to right more than others depending on the circumstance.

Top of Page

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 RT. On average, those who disagree with our rating think this source has a Lean Right 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 Lean right rating for RT. If we perform more bias reviews and gather consistent data, this confidence level will increase.

Additional Information

Third-Party Accusations of Bias

Note: Third-party accusations of bias do not factor into AllSides Media Bias Ratings™. We provide this information as an FYI.

Many media organizations and commentators on the left, such as Southern Poverty Law CenterThe Daily Beast, PolitiFact, Slate, and The Guardian, have accused RT of promoting conspiracy theories or hosting people who promote them. The Center for Countering Digital Hate argued RT is responsible for "climate change denial" content.

Poynter assessed RT's fact checking arm FakeCheck and noted, "we found that the project mixes some legitimate debunks with other scantily sourced or dubiously framed “fact checks.”"

Meanwhile, a writer at the left outlet Marxism-Leninism Today defended RT, stating, "RT is the focus of attack precisely because it provides a means of information gathering outside the bounds of corporate media. RT viewers can access a wide variety of viewpoints, including those in opposition to United States and NATO foreign policy ... The anti-Russian trope has been executed with perfection. It has been spread by the corporate media and the two party duopoly. The same newspapers and cable news stations providing endless anti-Russian coverage never allow a counter narrative to see the light of day."

About Russia Today

According to its About page, "RT creates news with an edge for viewers who want to Question More. RT covers stories overlooked by the mainstream media, provides alternative perspectives on current affairs, and acquaints international audiences with a Russian viewpoint on major global events."

In an interview with RT, Russian President Vladimir reportedly told the network's editor-in-chief, "When we designed this project back in 2005, we intended introducing another strong player on the world’s scene, a player that wouldn’t just provide an unbiased coverage of the events in Russia but also ... try to break the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams. And it seems to me that you’re succeeding in this job."

He continued,

"I’d like to emphasize something of the key importance. We never expected this to be a news agency or a channel which would defend the position of the Russian political line. We wanted to bring an absolutely independent news channel to the news arena.

Certainly the channel is funded by the government, so it cannot help but reflect the Russian government’s official position on the events in our country and in the rest of the world one way or another. But I’d like to underline again that we never intended this channel, RT, as any kind of apologetics for the Russian political line, whether domestic or foreign."

In Feb. 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, search giant Google blocked RT.com from its news features and from receiving money for ads on their websites, apps and YouTube videos.

Top of Page

RT Ownership and Funding

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

Owner: RIA Novosti

RT is owned by RIA Novosti, a Russian stated-owned news agency.

Articles from RT

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