Is Foreign Policy Magazine Reliable?

Foreign Policy was established in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington, a renowned political theorist and academic. Huntington wanted to provide alternative coverage outside of Washington’s “entrenched orthodoxies” during the Vietnam War. At the time, he characterized the paper as “serious but not scholarly, lively but not glib.” Since then, it has earned the respect of journalists and statesmen alike for its focus on current events, global affairs, and domestic and international policy, including six National Magazine Awards. In 2016, it broke with tradition by endorsing a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, which to some signaled a liberal bias. So, how reliable is Foreign Policy as a news source and how biased is its content? 

How Does The Factual Rate News Sources? 

The Factual analyzes more than 10,000 news stories every day to help readers find the most informative, least-biased articles. Our news-rating algorithm scores each article along four metrics: (1) cited sources and quotes, (2) publication history, (3) writing tone, and (4) author expertise. These scores combine in a weighted average we call a Factual Grade, which ranges from 0–100%. (See our How It Works page to learn more about our algorithm.)

For this study, we analyzed ~1,000 articles each from 240 news sources. The average Factual Grade for the entire dataset was 62.5%. Based on these averages, we can compare the performance of news sites across the media ecosystem. The entire dataset can be explored in greater detail here.

How Factual Is Foreign Policy? 

Foreign Policy scored an average Factual Grade of 71.0%, placing it in the 86th percentile of our dataset. The site’s high scores can be attributed to thorough sourcing of information and the high topical expertise of the site’s authors. Articles on the site commonly incorporate numerous links to a diverse range of external sources, which The Factual’s algorithm uses as evidence of in-depth, balanced sourcing. Likewise, when authors write repeatedly for the same source on the same subject and produce high-quality stories, the algorithm sees relevant topical expertise, leading to higher scores. However, articles from the site, particularly in the “Argument” section, tend to include moderately biased language, which lowers some of the site’s scores overall.

Like any news source, scores for articles from Foreign Policy varied widely. For example, some scored above 90%, while others scored below 50%.

How Opinionated Is Foreign Policy ?

One of the metrics The Factual uses is the Writing Tone, which measures how opinionated the writing is in an article. For this metric, the algorithm looks for signs of subjective commentary (e.g., first person pronouns and unnecessary adverbs), as well as the emotional nature of selected words, and sees how prevalent they are for a given length of text. More neutral text receives higher ratings, with “0” being the most opinionated and “1” being the most neutral.

Foreign Policy had an average score of 0.58, placing it in the 42nd percentile in our dataset. This suggests that articles from Foreign Policy are moderately opinionated, meaning they are likely to include some emotionally loaded or biased language. Partially, this can be attributed to the magazine’s tendency to showcase argumentative or opinion pieces about foreign policy issues, such as articles related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with headlines like “‘Winging It’: Russia Is Getting Its Generals Killed on the Front Lines.”

What Is Foreign Policy ’s Political Bias?  

The Factual classifies news sites by political bias as either Left, Moderate Left, Center, Moderate Right, or Right. This classification comes from third-party assessments from media bias organizations such as AllSides and Media Bias/Fact Check. Based on this data, The Factual assigns Foreign Policy a “Center” bias. 

AllSides assigns a “Center” bias to Foreign Policy based on independent research and 829 community ratings, although it acknowledges this as an initial rating. AllSides notes the publication clearly differentiates between opinion and straight news coverage, differentiating the two categories as “Report” and “Argument.” They also highlight that the publication at times exhibits some left-leaning bias, though overall its editorializing “doesn't represent a clear Left or Right bias.” In a few articles, such as “​​Trump’s Weak Sanctions May Only Help Erdogan,” AllSides argues that the site exhibits mild editorializing and bias against Trump, including in language such as “Trump slapped Turkey’s wrist on Monday.”

MBFC places Foreign Policy in its centrist category “Least Biased” based on “balanced reporting with a very slight lean right.” It notes a tendency to occasionally publish stories that utilize emotionally loaded headlines like “Bernie Sanders Still Doesn’t Pass the Commander-in-Chief Test” and this “Trump Doesn’t Want to Play Peacemaker.” However, MBFC gives the site high scores for factual reporting, proper sourcing, and a clean fact-check record. 

Who Owns Foreign Policy?

Foreign Policy is published by FP Group, which is owned by Graham Holdings Company.  It is part of a large portfolio of digital news publishers including Slate and Graham Media Group, a group of seven television companies. The Graham Holdings Company also owned the Washington Post before it was sold to Jeff Bezos for $250 million in 2013. In addition, Graham Holdings currently owns a digital marketing agency and Kaplan, a higher education company.

As of 2020, FP Group employed 48 full-time staff, 2 part-time staff, and a large number of contract workers. Foreign Policy distributes 34,000 print magazines and boasts 1 million digital subscribers. In 2021, it had net revenue of $22 million, a majority of which is derived from annual subscription fees and advertising.

Why Does It Matter?

All news articles have bias because all authors have some frame of reference within which they describe a story. Political bias ratings are helpful in understanding this framing. However, it can be more beneficial to know how factual an article is based on quantifiable metrics that can be seen across the media ecosystem, from cited evidence to author expertise, to the writing tone. This is what The Factual ascertains. 

Reading several, highly rated articles from across the political spectrum helps counter the bias of any news source or story. To have the day’s most factual news stories delivered to your inbox every morning, subscribe to our daily newsletter.

Article updated on September 15, 2022 to reflect new data.