Wall Street Journal (Opinion)

About Wall Street Journal (Opinion)'s Bias Rating

Wall Street Journal (Opinion) is featured on the AllSides Media Bias Chart™.

Wall Street Journal (Opinion) is a news media source with an AllSides Media Bias Rating™ of Lean Right.

Important Note: AllSides rates Wall Street Journal's opinion section separately from its news content. 

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.

Wall Street Journal Opinion/Editorial Rated Lean Right in April 2022 Independent Review

The Wall Street Journal Opinion retained its media bias rating of Lean Right following an April 2022 Independent Review by an AllSides reviewer.

The reviewer noticed bias through story choice. Topics featured on the opinion home page included Hunter Biden's laptop and critiques of Democrat's economic policies. There was also sensationalism in some stories such as "Democrats threw kerosene on the kindling with another $1.9 trillion in March 2021."

Wall Street Journal Opinion/Editorial Moved from Right to Lean Right in Sept. 2018 Editorial Review

In Sept. 2018, AllSides conducted an extensive Editorial Review of the Wall Street Journal's opinion and editorial content and decided to move its media bias rating from Right to Lean Right.

AllSides found that WSJ opinion does not outright ignore left voices and perspectives, as many very biased outlets do. In fact, WSJ highlights them frequently — if only to combat them.

When it comes to economics, WSJ opinion writers are on the right. However, they take a traditionally left view on some other issues, such as civil asset forfeiture and redistricting. One AllSides team member referred to WSJ opinion as "Rockefeller Republicans — more moderate and even-handed, not supporting Trump consistently."

Previous Media Bias Ratings of Wall Street Journal Opinion

Prior to Sept. 2018, AllSides gave Wall Street Journal's opinion section a Right media bias rating. As of August 2018, 2,917 AllSides readers agreed that the Wall Street Journal's editorial/opinion page had a Right media bias. 

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As of September 2023, people have voted on the AllSides Media Bias Rating for Wall Street Journal (Opinion). On average, those who disagree with our rating think this source has a Lean Right bias.

As of September 2023, AllSides has medium confidence in our Lean Right rating for Wall Street Journal (Opinion). An Editorial Review or Blind Bias Survey has affirmed this rating, or multiple reviews have returned differing results. If we perform more bias reviews and gather consistent data, this confidence level will increase.

Additional Information

The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal. The Journal is the largest newspaper in the United States, by circulation. Source: Wikipedia 

According to Wikipedia, "The Journal's editorial pages and columns, run separately from the news pages, are highly influential in American conservative circles. As editors of the editorial page, Vermont C. Royster (served 1958–1971) and Robert L. Bartley (served 1972–2000) were especially influential in providing a conservative interpretation of the news on a daily basis. Some of the Journal's former reporters claim that the paper has adopted a more conservative tone since Rupert Murdoch's purchase.^[50]"

Further, the paper's editorial board editorial board has argued for a pro-business immigration policy (in 1984, it advocated for open borders) and has critiqued Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act legislation. A 2015 study found The Wall Street Journal was the least likely newspaper to present the negative effects of global warming among several newspapers (Source).

Note from AllSides about the Wall Street Journal media bias rating:

This media bias rating refers to WSJ's opinion and editorial pages. Most AllSides media bias ratings refer specifically to the outlet's news coverage, but in this case, because WSJ's media bias differs so much between its news page and editorial page, we have split WSJ into two separate ratings. WSJ's news content — see The Wall Street Journal- News — has been blindly rated as Center. See our media bias survey results here.

Third-Party Accusations of Bias

Some see WSJ's ownership by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp as a potential source of conservative bias. A 2021 article in the Columbia Journalism Review said an op-ed criticizing Jill Biden, Democratic President Joe Biden's wife, "may have represented an appealing opportunity for corporate synergy" between WSJ and other Murdoch-owned outlets like Fox News. Many of Murdoch's outlets have a conservative reputation; Sky News Australia, for instance, has been accused of misleading viewers about climate change and spreading fear and falsehoods about the country's indigenous representation in parliament.

The CJR article continued, saying, "The Journal has a distinctly conservative, finance-focused sensibility; it also belongs squarely among the New York media elite. It is not where many reporters aspire to land, however, in large part because its reputation is so tainted by incendiary op-eds. For decades, the Journal newsroom has grumbled about leaps of logic and reckless ideology on the opinion side. During Trump’s presidency, the grumbling grew into a roar."

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Owner: Dow Jones & Company (a division of News Corp.)