With the rise of social media and the accusations of “fake news”, finding a reliable, accurate news source is difficult. We’ve seen a lot of articles and sites pop-up with some pretty good approaches to sifting through and ranking/labeling television and print news media.
Of course, as usual, people will disagree if they find their favorite news source listed poorly. After all, God forbid we break from our confirmation bias, think critically, and reassess the validity of what we listen to or read.
That being said, I decided to make a list of my own, based off the various other sites. Using information from Ad Fontes Media’s famous “Chart”, and combining it with various fact-checking sites (like Media Bias/Fact Check), I ranked (and graded) various newspapers, television channels, etc.
A+: These sources have the least amount of bias and/or the highest factuality. They provide reliable and valid information, at least in their field of coverage.
- Associated Press
- C-SPAN
- The Economist
- Financial Times
- Foreign Policy Magazine
- Reuters
- The Hill
A: These sources have good to high factuality, with minimal bias toward one side or the other. They can be counted as reliable and valid overall.
- BBC
- Bloomberg News
- Christian Science Monitor
- MarketWatch
- NPR
- PBS NewsHour
A-: Although factual and reliable, many of these have some bias in their reporting. Use them, but checking multiple sources would help counter any slant.
- ABC News
- The Atlantic
- Axios
- CBS News
- New York Times
- News and Guts
- Ozy Media
- Propublica
- The Skimm
- USA Today
B+: These sources are still factual, but they have a notable slant to their reporting. Op-eds in particular are significantly biased.
- The American Conservative
- Fortune Magazine
- The Guardian
- Los Angeles Times
- Mic
- NBC News
- Washington Post
B: Good factuality but their bias is notable in both reporting and op-eds. Double-check multiple sources on any particular story to ensure all perspectives.
- Current Affairs Magazine
- The Fiscal Times
- Forbes
- The Intercept
- Mother Jones
- The Nation
- Time Magazine
- Vice Media
- Washington Monthly
- Weekly Standard
B-: Bias increases to significant levels, even if the facts remain high. Not only should you research multiple perspectives on the story, but double-check sources or quotes used.
- Daily Beast
- Democracy Now
- Forward Progressives
- Independent Journal Review
- Jacobin
- New Republic
- New Yorker
- Reason
- Slate
- Wall Street Journal
C+: At this point, these sources have mixed factuality and/or significant bias toward one side or the other. Like Wikipedia, they might be a good jump-off point, but definitely research the story elsewhere.
- CNN
- Huffington Post
- MSNBC
- Second Nexus
- New York Post
- Talking Points Memo
- Vox
- Washington Times
C: Unreliability and slant increases and validity decreases. Often these have op-eds that are notably biased and not always founded in sound argument or data.
- BuzzFeed
- The Federalist
- National Review
- Vanity Fair
D+: At this point, these sources are practically unusable and barely considered journalism. They use charged language, have major bias, questionable factuality, and mostly focus on opinion over reporting.
- The Daily Caller
- FOX News
- FStv
- PJ Media
- The Young Turks
D: The level of slant is so high here, that even simple reporting is tainted by the pundits and writers. Nobody should be using these as valid sources of information.
- The Daily Wire
- Think Progress
- Washington Examiner
D-: The worst of the mixed factuality, these are almost entirely opinion sites meant to push their particular agendas. Any legitimate facts are barely unrecognizable under the rhetoric and slant.
- AlterNet
- The Blaze
- Daily Kos
- Daily Signal
- One America News Network
- Palmer Report
- Red State
- Shareblue
- Twitchy
- Truth Out
- Washington Free Beacon
- Wonkette
F: A complete failure of “journalism”, these sites are propaganda or conspiracy. They have little to no factuality, complete and utter bias, and nobody should believe a single thing they say.
- Bipartisan Report
- Breitbart
- Conservative Tribune
- Daily Mail
- Drudge Report
- The Gateway Pundit
- InfoWars
- National Enquirer
- Occupy Democrats
- Patribotics Blog
- World Net Daily
- World Truth TV
There you have it: news media ranked from best to worst, based on their factuality, bias, critical thought, etc.
If you don’t agree, feel free to use them how you see fit, but ask yourself this – is your disagreement because there’s solid evidence something ranks different? Or because the source agrees (or disagrees) with your opinion and therefore you want it ranked different?
Musings on the World 