Rate Your Bias

Bias starts with you. Use the tool below to clarify how you judge your own bias.

Your Self-Rated Bias is: Center

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Now you can rate the bias of news sources to help all of us have more insight into the coverage of issues we care about:

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1. Social Issues

Where do you stand on social issues like gay marriage, abortion, and civil rights?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • We should focus on the rights of the mother when it comes to abortion, and focus on preserving or expanding the ability to have an abortion
  • Gay marriages are no different in nature or intent than those of opposite-sex couples
  • We should celebrate and encourage an expanded view of the family structure/non-traditional families; children fare fine in many different family formations
  • Acceptable forms of sexual and gendered behavior should be broadened in order to foster an accepting and empathetic culture
  • Open and free expression of sexuality is a right and should be encouraged
  • We should de-emphasize distinctive gender characteristics as they are more often the result of socialization; we should emphasize the important potential and benefits of women and non-binary people being in the same roles as men
  • Minority classes often suffer adversely due to beliefs, behaviors or practices, whether intentional or unintentional, that favor or uphold viewpoints or practices that create inequality in society
  • The government needs to change policy or create programs to ensure equal rights to all groups; certain groups have been unfairly privileged over others
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • We should focus on the rights of the baby/fetus when it comes to abortion, and focus on limiting or stopping abortions
  • Marriage is an enduring union between one man and one woman; gay marriage is fundamentally different from other marriages or what God intended marriage to be
  • Studies show children raised in two-parent families with a mother and father do better in life; having divorced, single, or unmarried parents has a negative impact on children and therefore should not be encouraged (although accepting it may be fine)
  • Certain boundaries within which healthy sexuality takes place are valuable and should be upheld and encouraged; sex is a symbol of union between persons; society should encourage individuals to wait until ready to commit or give oneself completely
  • Society should encourage celebration of the unique feminine qualities that prepare women to be nurturing mothers and build complementary relationships with men in marriage; likewise, celebration of unique masculine qualities that prepare men to be providers and protectors
  • Policies upholding theological viewpoints or practices protect important moral boundaries and guidelines that create a well-functioning society
  • Equality comes from individual action, not government fiat; the government should focus on equal opportunity, not equal results; the government has, for the most part, done what it should do (or perhaps more) to achieve equality of opportunity

2. Economic Issues

Where do you stand on economic issues like taxes, spending, and deficit?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • Government services to help the needy are necessary structures that support human welfare and minimize the damage done by large corporations
  • We should impose tax increases on the wealthy and/or more progressive tax systems
  • Government regulation of business is necessary to protect consumers and the environment
  • The government should invest in and financially support industries and business practices that it thinks are important or that benefit society
  • Minimum wage laws protect workers by ensuring a living wage, which will reduce poverty and turnover, spurring job growth
  • Most corporations make too much profit; excessive profit incentivizes greed and harm to workers, consumers and the environment
  • Hard work is no guarantee of success for most people; powerful external forces can inhibit forward movement or success
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • Government services usually mean higher taxes, more paperwork and bureaucracy; this hurts our economy, reduces the funds we have available for other priorities (education, security, etc), and causes people to become dependent rather than self-sufficient
  • We should decrease government spending and taxes
  • Government should control spending and avoid going deeper into debt
  • Government regulations are too often unnecessary and impose absurd and unreasonable burdens on businesses, often creating unintended negative consequences
  • A free market system responding to consumer demand, rather than government politics, creates better economic and financial outcomes for society overall
  • Minimum wage laws are a burden on businesses and have the unintended consequence of artificially inflating the cost of low-skilled labor which causes businesses to hire fewer workers, turn to automation more quickly, and sometimes go out of business. The result: higher unemployment and increased poverty
  • Profit is a necessary component of economic growth because it incentivizes entrepreneurship which creates goods, higher financial security and a better life for society overall
  • Hard work enables one to get ahead economically

3. Foreign Policy

Where do you stand on foreign policy like defense and diplomacy?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • Good diplomacy is the best way to ensure peace
  • The US should strongly take into account the interests of its allies and compromise
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • The best way to ensure peace is through military strength
  • The US should take its own interests into account first even when allies disagree

4. Environment & Energy

Where do you stand on issues around the environmental and energy, like renewable energy, oil, and conservation?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • We should reduce reliance on oil and switch to alternative/renewable energy, perhaps through government subsidies and policies
  • Federal laws to protect consumers and the environment are worth the cost
  • The government should increase protection of public lands/expansion of public lands
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • The environment is better protected when land is in the hands of private owners
  • Laws meant to protect consumers and the environment most often impose unnecessary burdens on businesses/the economy; they are too expensive and/or eliminate jobs

5. Health Care

Where do you stand on issues surrounding health care, like medicare and insurance?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • The healthcare system should be mostly or fully provided/funded by the government; healthcare is a fundamental human right or necessity that everyone should have access to, regardless of their financial position in life
  • Government regulation of the prices of medical services and other healthcare needs may be necessary to curb high costs related to profit motive
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • Healthcare should be mostly or fully be provided in a competitive, private market, which would do a better job of bringing down the prices of medical services and other healthcare needs than government regulations
  • It’s important to emphasize reports that socialized or public healthcare systems lead to long wait times to see a doctor, excessive red tape, and other roadblocks to care
  • Financial incentives provided through a free market system driven by people’s demand generally does a much better job at curing diseases and spurring the invention of new drugs and health care solutions than a government-controlled system

6. Education

Where do you stand on issues surrounding education, like charter schools, funding, and unions?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • Public education is a necessary cornerstone of democracy and the government has a duty to provide an education to all of its citizens to create a well-informed populace
  • Public school socializes American children with the same citizenship goals in mind; this public good has been a direct contributor to the strength of our democratic society; education should remain universal, non-sectarian, and free
  • Voucher programs that redirect public funds from public schools to private or charter schools are harmful
  • Lack of transparency and accountability from the typically private entities that operate charter schools is a major concern, as are weeding-out strategies allegedly used to exclude low-performing students to improve test scores, lack of union representation for hard-working teachers, and the routing of funds away from the public school system.
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • Education best serves students when it is handled by local communities or private institutions who understand students’ needs, not government bureaucrats who set curricula from afar
  • Education should return to a system of small, locally controlled, authentically diverse institutions
  • Government should create or support voucher programs that provide public funds for parents to choose private or charter schools or put toward homeschooling
  • Charter schools multiply options for parents and youth by allowing them to explore an educational experience that suits their needs; because charter schools have greater flexibility than public schools, they have the freedom to move away from government-mandated standards such as Common Core; making space for the market forces of competition and choice leads to innovations that improve education quality

7. Social Security

Where do you stand on issues surrounding social security and retirement benefits?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • We should maintain or increase spending on Social Security
  • Citizens should be compelled to pay taxes into a government-run system that retirees can pull from for retirement
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • We should decrease or eliminate spending on Social Security
  • Individuals/families should plan to privately fund their retirement

8. Welfare

Where do you stand on issues surrounding welfare, like foodstamps and unemployment benefits?

  • Left
  • Lean Left
  • Center
  • Lean Right
  • Right
How important are these issues to you?
Common Left and Lean Left Perspectives
  • The welfare system offers a crucial service to those who cannot help themselves
  • Or; the welfare system only gives demoralizing and demeaning crumbs to the poor, gives more to the middle class, and gives the most to corporate owners and managers
  • We should increase spending on food stamps and unemployment benefits for the needy
Common Right and Lean Right Perspectives
  • The welfare system disincentivizes people to take care of themselves, remain employed and work hard
  • The welfare system unfairly redistributes the earnings of hard-working Americans into the hands of those who will not help themselves
  • It is the responsibility of individuals, families, communities, and charities to take care of one another, not the government