Understanding Media Bias Charts

Remington Johnson

rj045518@ohio.edu

In response to increasing political polarization in America, one of the main institutions that find themselves under attack is journalistic media. One of the main reasons for these attacks is a perceived notion of media being "biased" and perceived biases affecting the media's ability to report the truth. 

It is difficult for every citizen to understand how a news source may be biased, especially if that citizen is not very media literate. One way that independent organizations have tried to present media bias to citizens is with a "media bias chart." Two of the most recognizable media bias charts are from Ad Fontes and AllSides.

The most recent iteration of the AllSides Bias Chart. (AllSides)

The first chart I want to look at is the AllSides Media Bias Chart. This chart presents different online news sources on a scale from left to right. The furthest left on the chart represents the most left-wing media and the furthest right on the chart represents the most right-wing media. 

While the AllSides chart is easy to read, it lacks nuance and doesn't reflect anything other than political bias. In an article for the Poynter Institute, AllSides founder Julie Mastrine notes how some news sources fall "in between" two levels of bias rather than strictly in one, but the chart doesn't represent that in favor of having a nicer presentation. 

AllSides is transparent about their methodology for deciding the bias of a news source on their site. News sources can be evaluated through an editorial review, a blind bias survey, independent research, third-party data, and community feedback. Not every source on the AllSides page goes through all of these tests and that is noted through a confidence level presented on the site. The chart itself only mentions how it is based on "multi-partisan, scientific analysis."

The most recent iteration of the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart. (Ad Fontes)

The second chart I want to look at is the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart. Unlike the AllSides chart, the Ad Fontes chart looks at both media bias and news accuracy. On the x-axis of the chart, left and right political bias is shown from left to right. On the y-axis of the chart, news value and reliability is shown with "fact reporting" on the top and "contains inaccurate/fabricated information" on the bottom.

While the Ad Fontest chart provides more information, it is harder to read, especially in the non-interactive form. I do think the chart does a good job of including non-traditional news sources, such as The Young Turks on the left and the Ben Shapiro Show on the right. These non-traditional news sources are becoming more and more popular and it is important to recognize them.

Ad Fontes is also transparent about their methodology on their site. They have three people with differing political ideologies (left, center, and right) and have them compare their scores over a Zoom call. By going through the articles simultaneously, Ad Fontes is hoping for enriching discussion about the source. They will also analyze numerous pieces of content from a single source before coming to a conclusion. The chart image mentions that the methodology is available on their site.

Ultimately, the media bias charts from AllSides and Ad Fontes are a solid base level resource, but they are far from perfect. Both of them seem to praise centrist media above other biases, but strictly being centrist doesn't mean the news is accurate. As Jake Sheridan writes for the Poynter Institute "political bias isn't the only thing consumers should look out for. Reliability is critical, too, and the accuracy and editorial standards of organizations play an important role in sharing informative, useful news." Neither Ad Fontes or AllSides look at the editorial standards of the sources they review.