The Bias Bar is a visual tool that highlights how any news story is being covered by outlets across the political spectrum.
Not all sources report on stories equally.The Bias Bar puts news coverage in context, making it easy to spot media narratives and get a birds-eye-view of how sources are reporting on a story from across the political spectrum.
Quickly see how bias impacts any news story.At a glance, the Bias Bar allows you to discover what stories are receiving balanced coverage from across the political spectrum – and those that are being disproportionally covered by one side or the other.
Ground News uses ratings from three independent third parties to assess the bias of news outlets and places them on a scale.
The blue, white, and red segments on the bar reflect the colors typically associated with political parties in the U.S. The colors will flip if you select an edition outside of the U.S.
The letters on the bar correspond to the sources’ bias ratings.
L= Left C = Center R = Right
The percentages on the bar are calculated based on the number of bias-rated sources reporting on the story.
The distribution chart shows you all the sources reporting on the story and where they fall on the political spectrum.
Compare and contrast different perspectives by clicking the source icons to read their coverage of the issue.Learn more about our rating system
What can I learn from the Bias Bar?
01Identify important issues on each side.A skewed Bias Bar can indicate that one side of the spectrum is reporting on a story because it’s important to their readers.
02See what’s not being covered.A skewed Bias Bar can also indicate that one side of the spectrum is omitting a story because it runs counter to the worldview of their readers.
03Diversify your media diet.Use the Bias Bar as a tool to identify trends and engage with news outside your comfort zone to develop a better understanding of the media landscape.
See the Full BreakdownThe default Bias Rating is the average rating that a source receives from 3 independent organizations. To see the breakdown of bias ratings, go to the profile page of the news publisher in Ground News – just search for the publisher’s name and tap or click into their page.
Can I change the bias bar colors?There are two bias bar color options. One where left-leaning sources are blue and right-leaning sources are red. This option is available on the US edition of the app. If you’d like to change the colors to a scheme where left-leaning sources are red and right-leaning sources are blue, please go to Settings > Preferences > Edition and choose any of the other editions.
Does the Bias Bar reveal the bias of specific news topics?No, the Bias Bar gives you an overview of the coverage distribution of a story. If there are mostly left-leaning sources reporting on a topic, for example, the left side of the bias bar will be larger than the rest. This doesn’t mean that the story is a left-leaning story, but merely that it is receiving the majority of reporting from left-leaning outlets.
Regardless of what side is dominantly reporting on an issue, you can always explore left, center, and right leaning perspectives on any story by sorting the selection of articles in a story by the bias of the reporting news outlets.
What do left (L), center (C), and right (R) refer to?Left rated publications tend to reflect the current positions held by leaders of left-leaning parties. They are moderately biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation.
Right rated publications tend to reflect the current positions held by leaders of right-leaning parties. They are moderately biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation.
In contrast, center rated sources tend to present a relatively complete survey of key competing positions. It’s important to note that a center rating does not necessarily represent “balance” or “neutrality.”
What if I disagree with a bias rating?At the end of the day, our goal is never to dictate what to think. That’s why we have an “edit bias” option. If you find yourself disagreeing with the existing ratings, you have the option to adjust the bias by following these steps:
On the app: Change the bias of an outlet by pressing and holding the source logo and selecting “edit bias rating” from the menu.
On the website: Click the pencil icon next to the “average rating” on the source page.
With more input from our community and new ratings from the outlets we source ratings from, the rating of a source can change over time.