Blog No 135

August 10, 2021

READING TIME: 12 Minutes

By Mack W. Borgen

Author, The Writings of a Lifetime (2021); Dead Serious and Lighthearted – The Memorable Words of Modern America (3 Volumes) (2018-2019); and The Relevance of Reason – The Hard Facts and Real Data about the State of Current America (2 Volumes) (2013). As advertised in The New York Review of Books and Recipient of Eight National Book Awards.

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National Community, Media Bias, and Who to Believe – Part 2

Two weeks ago, in Part 1 of this article, this author described what commonly has been referred to as Americans’ “social contract” with one another. I also sought to underscore the need for Americans to re-embrace a sense of community – at both a national and local level. The word “re-embrace” is used because many Americans have so tightened their definition of community. More and more Americans view “their community” as including only family members or those who live nearby; only those who lead a similar style of life or are members of a shared group or organization; or only those who hold similar political or religious beliefs or have similar religious, racial or ethnic identities, or gender orientations. The divisions amongst us now prevail. They drive our lives.

Much of this divisiveness is attributable to the politicization of our society and its media and our responsive cynicism about the accuracy of the news which we receive.

It is beyond the scope of this article to identify the many reasons for this politicization and cynicism other than to sadly confirm that it is real. In a few short decades, this country has gone from Walter Cronkite’s earnest “and-that’s-the-way-it-is” closing to his CBS Evening News to Rush Limbaugh’s deriding reference starting in July 1988 to the “drive-by media.” It was not long thereafter that the Drudge Report was launched (1995). Then “fair and balanced” Fox News and MSNBC joined the airwaves in 1996. They were followed by Newsmax (1998), Alex Jones’ Infowars “news website” (1999), Breitbart News (2007), and One America News (OAN) (2013). There are hundreds more people, stations, and news sources which collectively comprise the echo chambers of our country. These are just some.

NOTE: This author recognizes that some people rely upon Facebook and Twitter as their primary news sources. That truth is by itself serious and frightening, but this reality is far beyond the scope of this article.

The parlance of the news industry has changed over the years. “Drive-by media” was soon expanded to “mainstream media.” More and more, network owners sought to select, tailor, and spin the “news” through the use of commentators and opinionators. Cynically, this was done to first develop and then target audiences in order to assure a steady increase in market share and profitability. Very bluntly, the Fourth Estate has, to as large degree, been monetized. The independence of network media news departments largely evaporated with this monetization of the news cycles.

And so now we are here — a world of “alternative facts,” “fake news,” “hoaxes,” too many conspiracies to count, and then, of course, “The Big Lie.” Even photoshopping has put that which we see in question (think drunken Pelosi, sleepy Joe, and on and on). The very words “alternative facts” can be a sobering reminder how far we have stumbled.

Now, it is for us to figure out who we can trust for accuracy whether the news is good and bad. Americans love excitement, exaggeration for emphasis, rumors, gossip, and snarky lines. And, for some, tracking conspiracies has come a beloved (albeit dangerous) national pastime.

However, many Americans merely want and need to know what is true and who to believe. It is understandable that bias and inaccuracy are viewed similarly by the American people — but it is truth that we need. And as best we can, it is truth which we must demand.

In search of such “truth,” many sources have been here reviewed. In many instances, the methodologies of these analysts vary. But that is good because the purpose of this article is to merely chart two simple lists of news sources – The Most Dangerous and Biased News Sources and The Most Accurate and Honest News Sources. No distinction is made between “Politically Right” bias” or “Politically Left” bias. Basically, a lie is a lie – whether or not it is a “left-leaning” or a “right-leaning” lie. All we want is truth. Then, we will take it from there.

Before the list is presented, some allowances, however, have to be made. It should be remembered that almost definitionally news reporting is merely the first draft of history. News reporters make mistakes – especially as they clamor over themselves with their Breaking News stories. And not all mistakes are rooted in evil, sloppiness, bias, or laziness. However, the other types of inaccuracy are more danger – the bias which seeps from tone, slant, topic and guest selection, intentional inaccuracy, material omissions and incompleteness, and what I refer to as “baseless equalities.”

The concept of “baseless equalities” needs to be explained. Let us use one example. Most people believe the world is round. There is pretty wide acceptance of this “fact.” However, there are a few folks up in the NE corner of each state who believe the earth is flat. Maybe some of them just took too literally the title to Thomas Friedman’s fine 2005 book about globalization – The World Is Flat. But most flat-earthers have just been drinking too much moonshine. The “baseless equalities” problem results when newscasters feel a need – whether it be honorable or deceptive – to report “both sides of the story.” Such presentations, by themselves, can create a sense of unwarranted equality between two versions, theories, or opinions. However, some stories do NOT deserve to have all sides presented; all rumors aired. The fact that something has been heard “though the grapevine” is not a supporting news source. There is the truth. Then there are the floundering mutterers.

And, so where do we best find The Truth? Based upon a revenue of a number of sources, who are “The Most Dangerous and Biased News Sources” and “The Most Accurate and Honest News Sources.” Not included in this list are many forms of media such as talk radio, conspicuously opinionator/commentator shows such as Tucker Carlson Tonight, and entertainment shows such as The Daily Show.

On a personal note, some of the below listings and rankings surprised me. Others disappointed me. Possibly you will have a similar reaction.

Only one commentary/observation is here made — and that is because of the market share dominance of Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. That observation is that in all studies Fox News’ numeric bias ratings were substantially higher (i.e. worse) than the bias ratings of MSNBC — and even more so when compared to CNN. The right-leaning and left-leaning reputations of these networks were noted in each study, but the extent of Fox News’ bias and news inaccuracy was found, noted, measured, and underscored in every study.

The Most Dangerous and Biased News Sources

(Presented Alphabetically / Major News Sources in Bold or Color)

— THE WORST —

AS EVALUATED BY WIDE ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT REVIEWING SOURCES

           American Greatness         

        American Thinker         

         Bipartisan Reports         

Breitbart News

          Buzzfeed News         

   CBN         

        Conservative Review           

Crooks and Liars

         Current Affairs           

     Daily Beast         

    Daily Kos         

Daily Wire 

Drudge Report

      InfoWars         

  Fox News  

      Gateway Pundit          

      Jacobian         

Judicial Watch

       MSNBC           

     Mother Jones         

   Nation         

       National Inquirer         

National Review

      New Yorker         

                        Newsmax                             

                              OAN                                      

    Occupy Democrats          

                Palmer Report                     

                  Share Report                       

The American Spectator   

  The Blaze           

            The Federalist                      

       The New Yorker                 

The New York Times Opinion Page

            The Progressive                   

                      The Wall Street Journal Opinion Page                           

The Washington Times

                        Wonkette                               

World Truth

SOMETIMES INACCURATE OR BIASED NEWS – USE CAUTION

AlterNet          Buzzfeed        CNN        Daily Caller

Epoch Times       HuffPost          Life News            Praeger

Slate      The Atlantic       The Real News Network       Vox

The Most Accurate and Honest News Sources

(Presented alphabetically / Major News Sources in Bold or Color)

— THE BEST —

AP

  BBC

`     Bloomberg News

 CBS

 CNBC

Christian Science Monitor

 Forbes

  Fortune

  Market Watch

 NBC

 News Nation

 Newsy

NPR

 PBS News Hour

 Real Clear Politics

Reuters

Stars and Stripes

The Hill

UPI

USA Today

US News and World Report

Wall Street Journal News

CONSISTENTLY  RATED GOOD NEW SOURCES – USE SOME CAUTION

                                  ABC                                     

                             Al Jazeera                                

Axios

Daily Mail

 NPR Opinion

PBS

Politico

  ProPublica

  The Dispatch

   The Economist

   The Guardian

    The New York Times

Time

The Washington Post

Closing

I respect that people may have differing opinions about the quality and accuracy of various news sources. However, the above lists are compiled based upon respected studies using standards of public perception, news balance, and information accuracy. Hopefully, these lists may assist us as we navigate through the muddied waters of American journalism.

Thanks to My Readers’ Comments Relating to Part 1 of This Article

I very much appreciated the fine and thoughtful comments which I received from some of my readers regarding Part 1 of this article. It is beyond the scope of this article, but I, too, am concerned about the news industry’s monetization of the truth. Indeed, if we are to rely upon independent journalism, the Fourth Estate of our nation, its members must follow defined standards of ethics, responsibility, and honesty. I recognize that they are employees of newspapers, magazine, and news networks, but adherence to truth is critical. This is especially true since readership and market share are great measures of profitability. However, they can be very poor measures of truth.

Sources: Ralph, P. and Relman, E., “These Are the Most and Least Biased News Outlets in the US, businessinsider.com, According to Americans,” Sept 2, 2018. Baig, A., “15 Most Unbiased News Sources 2021, techpresident.com; Pryor, KJ.J., “Who Is the Least Biased News Source?,” Sep 9, 2020, towardsdatascience.com; AllSides Media Bas Chart, Prior, J.J., “Who Is the Least Biased News Source? Simplifying the New Boas Chart, Sep 9, 2020, allsides.com, Dickenson, K., Media Bias Chart, April 3, 2020, Ad Fontes Media Corp, McArdle, E., “Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave,” Harvard Law Bulletin, Summer, 2021.

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