AllSides
AllSides is an American public benefit corporation and media platform founded in 2012 that rates the political bias of news sources on a five-point scale from left to right and curates balanced news feeds to expose users to diverse perspectives.[1][2] Co-founded by John Gable, who serves as CEO and holds a self-identified lean right bias, and Scott McDonald, with a center bias, the organization employs multipartisan teams to conduct blind bias surveys, editorial reviews, and community feedback for its over 2,400 media bias ratings.[3][4][5] The platform's flagship Media Bias Chart visually categorizes outlets like The New York Times and CNN as left-leaning, while sources such as Fox News are rated right-leaning, aiming to counteract perceived overrepresentation of left perspectives in mainstream media aggregation.[6] AllSides also maintains a Fact Check Bias Chart to assess the ideological leanings of fact-checking organizations and offers tools like custom briefings and the AllStances system for civil dialogue, with its balanced newsfeed deliberately allocating one-third of content from left, center, and right-rated sources daily.[7][8] These efforts have earned recognition, including GOLD status on Pepperdine Graziadio’s Most Fundable Companies list, though the organization's ratings have drawn criticism from left-leaning outlets for allegedly underrating progressive bias in establishment media.[1][9]Founding and Development
Origins and Launch in 2012
AllSides was co-founded in 2012 by John Gable, a former Republican political operative who later worked in Silicon Valley technology roles including at Netscape, and Scott McDonald, with the aim of addressing perceived media bias by enabling users to access news from multiple perspectives across the political spectrum.[2] Gable's motivation stemmed from observations of partisan media echo chambers during his political career in the southern United States and a desire to leverage technology to counteract filter bubbles and promote balanced information consumption.[10] The initiative sought to rate news sources for bias using crowd-sourced input combined with algorithmic analysis, rather than relying solely on traditional journalistic standards that Gable viewed as insufficient for capturing political slant.[11] The platform officially launched on August 27, 2012, as AllSides.com, based in San Francisco, introducing tools to display news stories alongside ratings categorizing outlets as left, center, or right-leaning.[10] At inception, the service emphasized transparency in bias detection through user feedback and editorial oversight, positioning itself as a non-partisan effort despite the founders' disclosed leanings—Gable identified as lean right and McDonald as center.[2] Early features included a bias meter for articles and aggregation of stories from diverse ideological sources, designed to help consumers "see the full picture" by juxtaposing coverage variations on the same events.[11] Initial development focused on building a database of media bias ratings, starting with major outlets, through methods like blind surveys where participants rated content without knowing the source, aiming to quantify subjective perceptions of slant empirically.[10] The launch press release highlighted the site's potential to reduce polarization by empowering individuals to customize news feeds beyond algorithmic recommendations that reinforce existing views.[10] AllSides incorporated as a for-profit entity, AllSides Inc., with a public benefit corporation structure later formalized to align with its mission of multipartisan governance.[12]Expansion Through 2025
Following its 2012 founding, AllSides grew its database of media bias ratings from over 800 sources by 2021 to more than 2,400 by 2025, incorporating blind surveys, expert reviews, and community feedback to assess outlets across the political spectrum.[13][1] This expansion enabled broader coverage, including new ratings for outlets like RealClearPolitics and CNBC in the July 2025 release of Media Bias Chart Version 10.2, which also featured strengthened confidence levels for existing assessments.[14] The organization introduced additional tools and services to enhance perspective diversity, such as the Bias Checker™, AllStances™ for stance analysis, and Balanced News Briefings, alongside a Fact Check Bias Chart debuted in 2023 to evaluate fact-checking outlets' leanings.[15][1] Partnerships with groups like Living Room Conversations, Listen First Foundation, and America Talks supported initiatives for civil dialogue, while the Balance Certification™ program audited media for balanced sourcing, awarding certifications to outlets like Straight Arrow News in May 2025 for the third consecutive year.[1][16] Organizationally, AllSides transitioned to a public benefit corporation in 2023 with a multipartisan board to prioritize mission over profit, and pursued crowdfunding via Wefunder to fund technology enhancements and marketing, targeting up to $500,000 in a 2024 campaign.[12][17] Its balanced news aggregation attracted millions of users from across ideologies, with surveys indicating a roughly even split of 20% Democrats and 20% Republicans among audiences.[18] This growth underscored AllSides' role in countering perceived echo chambers, though ratings evolved dynamically as media biases shifted, with updates tracked annually through 2025.[9]Core Methodology
Bias Rating Scale and Criteria
AllSides employs a five-point media bias rating scale to categorize news outlets based on their perceived political leanings: Left, Lean Left, Center, Lean Right, and Right. This scale is underpinned by a numerical AllSides Media Bias Meter™ ranging from -6.0 (extreme left) to +6.0 (extreme right), where Left corresponds to -6.00 to -3.00, Lean Left to -2.99 to -1.00, Center to -0.99 to +0.99, Lean Right to +1.00 to +2.99, and Right to +3.00 to +6.00.[4] These ratings aim to reflect the average judgment of Americans across the political spectrum, derived from combined inputs rather than elite panels or automated algorithms alone, and apply primarily to online written content, with separate evaluations possible for news reporting versus editorial or opinion sections.[4] [19] The criteria for assigning ratings emphasize observable bias indicators such as story choice, word usage, omissions, labeling, and spin in coverage, assessed through multiple independent processes to mitigate individual subjectivity. In editorial reviews, a multi-partisan panel of 6 to 9 reviewers—balanced across left, center, and right perspectives—examines recent content spanning up to six months, scoring each piece on the -6.0 to +6.0 meter before averaging results to determine the outlet's overall bias.[4] Blind bias surveys further test perceptions by presenting unbranded excerpts to diverse participant groups, whose political leanings are factored into averaged scores that can confirm, adjust, or challenge editorial findings; for instance, surveys conducted in 2023 influenced shifts like CNN's rating from Left to Lean Left.[4] [20] Community feedback integrates user votes on proposed ratings, with thresholds of significant disagreement (e.g., 15% or more variance) prompting additional scrutiny or updates.[4] Ratings are dynamic and subject to revision based on evolving coverage patterns, new surveys, or feedback, ensuring they capture shifts over time rather than static labels; as of 2024, AllSides had rated over 2,400 sources using this framework.[6] A Center rating does not denote superiority or lack of flaws, as outlets may still exhibit bias through selective sourcing or incomplete perspectives, while Mixed designations apply rarely to sources blending multiple biases without a dominant lean.[19] This methodology prioritizes transparency in political slant over factuality or reliability, which AllSides evaluates separately via third-party fact-checkers.[4]| Rating Category | Numerical Range | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Left | -6.00 to -3.00 | Strongly favors liberal, progressive, or Democratic viewpoints in framing and selection.[4] |
| Lean Left | -2.99 to -1.00 | Mildly tilts toward left-leaning perspectives but includes some balance.[4] |
| Center | -0.99 to +0.99 | Generally balanced, with minimal partisan slant across coverage.[4] |
| Lean Right | +1.00 to +2.99 | Mildly favors conservative, traditional, or Republican viewpoints.[4] |
| Right | +3.00 to +6.00 | Strongly promotes right-leaning ideologies in narrative and emphasis.[4] |