Students often use news sources in their essays. There are many reliable and minimally biased news sources out there. There are also many that are neither. The websites below can help you determine which ones are which.
A quick and easy way to get a sense of the reliability and political bias of a news source is to check the Media Bias Chart This link opens in a new window by Ad Fontes Media This link opens in a new window. The vertical axis represents news value and reliability. The horizontal axis represents political bias. The sources on the chart form an inverted V. The best sources, i.e., the ones with the highest news value and reliability on the one hand, and lowest political bias on the other hand, are at the tip of the inverted V.
You might be wondering why you should take the Chart seriously. You'll find answers to this, and related questions, on the Methodology This link opens in a new window page of their website. No tool like this is perfect, but this is the best one that I have found.
A helpful resource for learning how to recognize media bias is How to Spot 16 Types of Media Bias This link opens in a new window by AllSides This link opens in a new window . This webpage explains 16 types of media bias and gives examples of each type.
AllSides also produces its own Media Bias Chart This link opens in a new window . The horizontal axis represents political bias. There is no vertical axis; the sources in each column are listed alphabetically.
The Media Bias Chart by AllSides rates one thig: political bias. The Chart by Ad Fontes Media rates two things: political bias and news value and reliability. AllSides explains why it doesn't rate media accuracy here: Why AllSides Doesn’t Rate Media Accuracy This link opens in a new window .
Another difference between the two Charts is that the organizations use different methods to rate political bias. Ad Fontes Media uses one method:
For more information, see the following entries in the Methodology FAQs section on the Methodology This link opens in a new window page:
AllSides uses a combination of methods:
For more information, see the Our Methods section on the How AllSides Rates Media Bias This link opens in a new window page.
So, which Media Bias Chart is better? In the context of trying to find out whether a news source that you found while searching for sources for your essay is credible, I think that the Media Bias Chart by Ad Fontes Media is more useful than the Chart by AllSides, primarily because it rates sources on two axes rather than one.