Archives - The Factual

Is Reuters Reliable?

Reuters is one of the biggest news agencies in the world, employing over 2,500 journalists. Today, it stands out as a wire service often trusted by publications on the right and left. Given this central position, it’s worth asking two questions: How reliable is Reuters and how biased is its coverage?

Is USA Today Reliable?

One of the largest U.S. national publishers, USA Today provides in-depth coverage of everything from technology, economy, and politics to celebrity gossip and entertainment news. The newspaper broke with its tradition of not endorsing presidential candidates in 2016 by issuing an “anti-endorsement” for Donald Trump, a move they linked to an editorial obligation to their late founder. In the years since, bias has become an ever more important topic as people seek credible, unbiased news. With this background, The Factual wanted to ask two questions, how factual is USA Today and how biased is it?

Is the Washington Examiner Reliable?

The Washington Examiner is a weekly magazine and news website formerly known for tabloid-style coverage of local DC news and politics. Today, it publishes high-quality, substantive news coverage, especially around conservative talking points. This perspective, however, leads some to question how bias may impact their news coverage. So, just how reliable is news from the Washington Examiner?

Is Raw Story Reliable?

Raw Story began in 2004 as an alternative news source covering the stories “ignored” by other outlets. Today, it is both widely shared and widely ridiculed. For example, a 2018 study by the Oxford Internet Institute labeled the site as one of the “Top 30 Junk News Sources.” Yet, a Harvard study found that it was the 9th most shared source on Twitter among supporters of Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election. So as a site with huge reach, but also huge questions about its content, is Raw Story a reliable news source?

Is the Wall Street Journal Reliable?

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is a great example of how political bias can vary within a news source. While WSJ’s news reporting is regarded as factual and centrist, its Opinion section has a reputation for a conservative skew. This leads us to ask two important questions: how factual is WSJ and how biased is it?

Is RedState a Reliable News Source?

While the conservative political blog RedState lacks an “About” page to clarify its exact political standing and approach to journalism, a brief skim of the site’s content can leave little doubt about the site’s heavy conservative bias. In 2018, the site let go of many long-time bloggers, reportedly due to disagreements about reporting critically on then-President Trump, a move seen to be driven by the site’s owner, the Salem Media Group. In recent years, the site has been a hot-spot for election conspiracy stories and stories denying the existence of the Capitol Riot. Leveraging a dataset of 1,000 articles from RedState, The Factual seeks to investigate the reliability and bias of its content.

Is Reason a Reliable News Source?

From a Boston University dorm room to a defender and publisher of libertarian philosophy, Reason proposes solutions to partisan politics. Its core tenet — “free minds, free markets” — supplies principled arguments on a range of issues. Depending on who you ask, this reliance either powers transparent journalism or is ideological to a fault. Against this backdrop, The Factual asked two questions: how factual is Reason Magazine, and how biased is it?

Is the Washington Times Biased?

Originally conceived of as a conservative alternative to the Washington Post, the Washington Times has a checkered past. The paper’s founder was the head of the Church of Unification, what many deem to be a religious cult, but the paper found a sustained audience in Washington, including former president Ronald Reagan, who claimed to have read the paper daily while in office. Today, the paper is recognized for solid reporting on daily news stories but has repeatedly been caught spreading false claims and conspiracy theories. So how reliable of a news source is the Washington Times?

Is RealClearPolitics Biased?

RealClearPolitics (RCP) was founded in 2003 as a clearing house for the best news and commentary from across the political spectrum. Its founders strongly believed in exposure to diverse opinions and continued debate in the political sphere. The site also became a trusted polling aggregator. However, the site has come under fire for drifting rightward since 2017, with a 2020 New York Times article detailing a shift to pro-Trump coverage and away from “straight news,” as well as increasing financial linkages to conservative donors. So, how biased is RCP and how reliable is its news coverage?

How Reliable Is STAT?

STAT was founded in 2015 by John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Globe, as a publication focused on the life sciences. Today, the site aims to cast “a critical eye on scientific discoveries, scrutinize corporate strategies, and chronicle roiling battles for talent, money, and market share” from “inside academic labs, biotech boardrooms, and political backrooms.” It has capitalized on that role during the Covid-19 pandemic: it published its first article on the virus on January 4, 2020, well before most other major publishers, and saw traffic explode as a result. So, how reliable is STAT and how biased is its reporting?