Introducing the 'News-Media Quality Search-Engine'

It's no secret that news sources are often biased and/or contain varying levels of misinformation. Have you been frustrated trying to find an honest, unbiased news source? Worried about Fake News? Want to find a top-notch, unbiased, honest commentary?

I've had the same questions and decided to build a search engine that provides reviews and measurements about the quality of most news websites, broadcast & cable news, newspapers, talk radio shows, political podcast, etc...
Try the News-Media Quality Search Engine or read on for the details.

The News-Media Quality Search Engine queries reviews and measurements of bias and reliability of news organizations and programming from the following quality sites:

• Ad Fontes - adfontesmedia.com
• Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) - mediabiasfactcheck.com
• Allsides - allsides.com
• Newsguard - www.newsguardtech.com

The Details

Ad Fontes - adfontesmedia.com

Maker of the popular “Mediabias chart” which charts news sites by bias and reliability. Their reviews of news sources include measurements of bias and reliability, with a brief overview of the news source. Those measurements are used in plotting their Mediabias chart.

• Methodology. At least 15 prominent articles from a news organization are rated to determine the overall ranking of a site. Each article is analyzed by a panel of at least three (one from the right, the left and a centrist) who together develop an article’s ranking. The 15 article rankings are used to develop an overall site ranking.
• Funding: Sales of products and services
• Ranking: “Bias scores for articles and shows are on a scale of -42 to +42, with higher negative scores being more left, higher positive scores being more right, and scores closer to zero being minimally biased, equally balanced, or exhibiting a centrist bias.” These scores accompanied with easy-to-understand textual descriptions of bias/reliability.

Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) - mediabiasfactcheck.com

“Most comprehensive media bias resource on the internet” -- providing more data about a site in their reviews than any other.

• Methodology: Bias scores are based on “Biased Wording/Headlines, Factual/Sourcing, Story Choices, and Political Affiliation. … [indicating] the source’s overall Left-Right bias.” They “review a minimum of 10 headlines and 5 news stories from each source. [Their] methodology employs a variety of search techniques to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the source’s political affiliation and ideological leanings.” A factuality score is also determined “from credible fact-checkers who are affiliated with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Only fact checks from the last five years are considered, and any corrected fact checks do not negatively impact the source’s rating.” Reviews also include a site’s transparency, quality of sources, use of pseudoscience and conspiracy, traffic, and other factors.
• Funding: “100% independent” - subscriptions, advertisements and grass-roots donations.
  
  
  
• Rankings include:  Bias Rating, Factual Reporting, Country Freedom Rating, Media Type, Traffic/Popularity, & a Credibility Rating. Also included are funding/ownership info, history of the organization, a bias analysis, and failed fact checks.

Allsides - allsides.com

“AllSides Media Bias Ratings™ make the political leanings of hundreds of media sources transparent so that you can get the full picture and think for yourself.” Note that no reliability/factuality ratings are provided, but is sometimes discussed

• Methodology: “AllSides balances the input of experts and ordinary people across the political spectrum so that our bias ratings reveal the average judgment of all Americans, not one elite group. We use multi-partisan Editorial Reviews by trained experts and Blind Bias Surveys™ in which participants rate content without knowing the source.”

• Funding: “AllSides was owned by 28 different people, with the three co-founders”  John Gable (Lean Right bias), Scott McDonald (Center bias) and Joan Blades (Left bias), “maintaining majority ownership and control as the sole members of the Board of Directors. The company is a Public Benefit Corporation ("a type of for-profit corporate entity whose goals include making a positive impact on society"

• Ranking: “AllSides assigns a rating of Left, Lean Left, Center, Lean Right, or Right to each media outlet or writer, as well as a numerical rating on the AllSides Media Bias Meter.” They use “a multipartisan panel of six to nine reviewers from the left, center, and right who review news reports, look for indicators of bias, discuss findings, and issue a bias rating.” Other useful information is presented in their reviews.

Newsguard - www.newsguardtech.com

“Transparent tools to counter misinformation for readers, brands, and democracies.” Note that reviews of news sites are not readily accessible (see below). Reviews are quite comprehensive.

• Methodology & Ranking: “NewsGuard employs a team of journalists and experienced editors to produce reliability ratings and scores for news and information websites based on nine journalistic criteria. The criteria assess basic practices of credibility and transparency. Based on a site’s performance on these nine apolitical criteria, which are each weighted differently with the points for all adding up to 100, it is assigned a 0-100 score … The accompanying Nutrition Label … explains how NewsGuard arrived at its assessment.”
  “Each Nutrition Label contains the names of the writer and editors who worked on the rating. The backgrounds of the analysts and editors named” are available. … If a website disagrees with NewsGuard’s score for its site, it can comment as part of the assessment process, and relevant comments will be included in the site’s Nutrition Label. The publisher also may write a more detailed response or complaint using NewsGuard’s contact page. Any such complaints will be published on NewsGuard’s website”

• Funding: Multiple entities and individuals have invested in Newsguard. “Outside investors play no role in the determinations of ratings or the Nutrition Label write ups of websites, or any other aspect of NewsGuard’s content.” Newsguard generates revenue by licensing ratings to advertisers, who use them to determine what sites are safe to advertise.

• Access: The Newsguard data is not readily available. Occasionally, a site review from Newsguard will show up in the search results of this search engine. Probably the best way to read site reviews is via an Edge browser extension, which provides site rankings next to site URLs where one can click to read each Newsguard site review.

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