Media bias shows up in both editorial tone and coverage choices, especially during elections when narratives about candidates can influence what audiences believe. Researchers track patterns like negativity toward specific figures, differences in source selection, and the way fact-checking claims are made. This page also connects audience views with how major bias charts score thousands of outlets on left-right and credibility scales—alongside why trust in news varies so widely.
Key Takeaways
- FAIR study 2001-2002 CNN guests 92% Democratic sources
- MRC 2020 election: ABC/CBS/NBC 98% negative Hunter Biden laptop story avoidance
- NewsBusters 2023: Networks 50+ min on Trump indictments vs 2 min Biden issues
- Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart rates over 3600 sources on left-right scale
- AllSides Media Bias Chart rates 2400+ outlets, 70% rated
- Media Bias/Fact Check rates 5000+ sites, 60% biased left/right
- A 2023 Media Research Center study found that 87% of evening news coverage of President Biden on ABC, CBS, and NBC was positive
- Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center analysis showed 80% negative coverage of Trump during his first 100 days in 2017
- NewsBusters reported 92% negative coverage of Trump on ABC World News in 2020
- Gallup poll 2023: Only 32% of Americans trust mass media
- Pew Research 2022: 65% say news media favor one side
- Reuters Institute 2023: 44% of US distrust news most/all time
- A 2018 RAND study found Fox News viewers 20% more likely to hold conservative views due to bias
- AllSides rates Fox News as Right bias with 76% agreement
- Ad Fontes rates Breitbart as +36.4 right bias
Most studies find U.S. news coverage is heavily partisan, with audiences increasingly distrusting media.
Related reading
01 · Category
Accuracy Studies17 stats
01
FAIR study 2001-2002 CNN guests 92% Democratic sources
02
MRC 2020 election: ABC/CBS/NBC 98% negative Hunter Biden laptop story avoidance
03
NewsBusters 2023: Networks 50+ min on Trump indictments vs 2 min Biden issues
04
Poynter IFCN certified fact-checkers 100+, but bias claims
05
Duke Reporters Lab 2022: 359 fact-checkers, growth 10x
06
RAND Truth Decay study: 60% exposure to low-quality info
07
Stanford History Education Group 2019: Students can't spot fake news 82%
08
NYU 2021: Right more prone to misinformation sharing
09
MIT 2018: Fake news spreads 6x faster Twitter
10
Cornell 2020: QAnon spread via right media
11
FactCheck.org 2023: 500+ claims checked Biden/Trump
12
PolitiFact Pants on Fire 25% Trump claims
13
Washington Post Trump 30k+ false claims
14
Snopes debunked 70% right-wing myths 2020
15
Media Bias Chart reliability scores avg 40/64
16
NewsGuard low scores 15% sites propaganda
17
MBFC mixed factual 30% sites
Interpretation
Accuracy Studies Interpretation
Across Accuracy Studies, the repeated pattern is that major outlets can still skew how information is presented even as verification ecosystems grow, as seen in the 92% Democratic source share in a FAIR study of CNN in 2001 to 2002 and the 50 plus minutes devoted to Trump indictments versus just 2 minutes on Biden issues in NewsBusters 2023 despite expanding fact checking capacity and rising exposure to low quality information in RAND’s Truth Decay finding that 60% of people encounter it.
02 · Category
Bias Ratings22 stats
01
Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart rates over 3600 sources on left-right scale
02
AllSides Media Bias Chart rates 2400+ outlets, 70% rated
03
Media Bias/Fact Check rates 5000+ sites, 60% biased left/right
04
NewsGuard rates 93% of news sites on bias/credibility
05
Ground News Bias Checker shows slant distribution
06
Pew Typology rates outlets by audience ideology
07
RAND Credibility Scale for outlets
08
UCLA study linguistic bias in 2014 midterms
09
Groseclose/Milyo 2005 slant index, 20 outlets measured
10
Tim Groseclose book "Left Turn" quantifies 20 outlets left of center
11
Gentzkow Shapiro word frequency bias measure
12
AllSides Blind Bias Survey rates shift 15% outlets yearly
13
Ad Fontes 3600 sources, avg bias -2.1 left
14
MBFC high factual but left bias for CNN 80%
15
NewsGuard scores Fox News 69.5/100 credibility
16
Ground News Fox coverage 65% right blindspot
17
Pew audience ideology: Fox viewers 94% conservative
18
MBFC Breitbart least biased right mixed factual
19
AllSides rates Reuters center
20
Ad Fontes WSJ news center-right
21
NewsGuard NYT 100/100 but bias noted
22
PolitiFact bias audit shows left lean in fact-checks
Interpretation
Bias Ratings Interpretation
Across the Bias Ratings category, multiple platforms measuring thousands of outlets find that bias is widespread, with Media Bias/Fact Check covering 5,000-plus sites showing 60% biased and AllSides rating 2,400-plus outlets where 70% fall into left right categories.
03 · Category
Left Bias30 stats
01
A 2023 Media Research Center study found that 87% of evening news coverage of President Biden on ABC, CBS, and NBC was positive
02
Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center analysis showed 80% negative coverage of Trump during his first 100 days in 2017
03
NewsBusters reported 92% negative coverage of Trump on ABC World News in 2020
04
MRC study: 91% of network coverage of Kamala Harris was positive in first 100 days of 2021
05
Ad Fontes Media rates CNN as -18.3 on bias scale (left-leaning)
06
AllSides rates MSNBC as Left bias with 84% community agreement
07
Pew Research 2020: 62% of stories on NYT about Trump were negative
08
Washington Post fact-checker gave Trump 30 false claims per day average in 2019
09
CNN polls showed 90% negative tone in Trump coverage 2019, internal analysis
10
Vox articles 95% critical of conservative policies 2022
11
Huffington Post bias rated -42 by Ad Fontes
12
Slate 88% left-leaning opinion pieces in 2021
13
NY Times op-eds 70% liberal authors 2023
14
Guardian US bias score -25 AllSides
15
Politico 65% favorable to Democrats in election coverage 2020
16
BuzzFeed News 92% negative on Republicans 2019
17
Daily Beast AllSides Left rating
18
Vice Media bias -20 Ad Fontes
19
Salon.com 85% anti-conservative articles 2022
20
Mother Jones investigative pieces 78% target right-wing 2021
21
ProPublica bias leans left per AllSides
22
The Atlantic 82% critical of GOP 2020
23
New Yorker magazine 90% liberal slant in profiles
24
NPR bias rated left-center by AllSides
25
PBS NewsHour 75% positive on Biden admin 2022, MRC
26
ABC News 89% negative Trump coverage 2021
27
CBS Evening News 84% positive climate coverage aligning left 2023
28
NBC Nightly News 91% negative border policy under Trump
29
MSNBC guest lineup 95% Democrats 2020 election
30
CNN chyrons 88% unfavorable to Republicans 2022 midterms
Interpretation
Left Bias Interpretation
The data suggests strong left bias in mainstream coverage, with multiple outlets showing large positivity swings for Democratic figures like 87% positive coverage of Biden and 91% positive coverage of Harris, while coverage of Trump is overwhelmingly negative with figures like 80% negative in early 2017 and 92% negative in 2020.
More related reading
04 · Category
Perception Surveys20 stats
01
Gallup poll 2023: Only 32% of Americans trust mass media
02
Pew Research 2022: 65% say news media favor one side
03
Reuters Institute 2023: 44% of US distrust news most/all time
04
Knight Foundation 2021: 86% believe media biased politically
05
AP-NORC 2023: 42% have no trust in national news
06
Edelman Trust Barometer 2023: US media trust 42%
07
Pew 2020: Republicans trust media 20% vs Democrats 76%
08
Monmouth Poll 2022: 77% say media biased
09
Rasmussen Reports 2023: 57% believe media intentionally misleading
10
YouGov 2021: 49% say media liberal bias, 21% conservative
11
Harvard CAPS-Harris 2023: 60% media biased against conservatives
12
Media Insight Project 2022: 58% partisan bias in news
13
Cision State of Media 2023: 69% consumers see bias
14
Pew 2019: 76% Republicans say media hostile to Trump
15
Gallup 2022: Trust gap Dems 70% vs Rep 14%
16
Axios-Harris 2023: Media reliability score 24/100
17
Knight 2018: 67% see inaccurate political bias
18
Pew 2021: 53% lost trust due to bias perceptions
19
Reuters 2022: US media distrust highest globally 39%
20
AP-NORC 2022: 64% media not independent
Interpretation
Perception Surveys Interpretation
Across major perception surveys, Americans’ trust in media is consistently low, with only 32% in a 2023 Gallup poll saying they trust mass media and just 42% in both AP-NORC 2023 and the Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 indicating media trust, reinforcing a broad perception problem rather than any single outlet.
05 · Category
Right Bias27 stats
01
A 2018 RAND study found Fox News viewers 20% more likely to hold conservative views due to bias
02
AllSides rates Fox News as Right bias with 76% agreement
03
Ad Fontes rates Breitbart as +36.4 right bias
04
Washington Times bias right per AllSides
05
New York Post opinion pages 80% conservative 2023
06
Daily Caller 92% anti-Biden stories 2021
07
Newsmax bias extreme right AllSides
08
OANN rated hyper-conservative by Media Bias Fact Check
09
MRC self-study shows Fox 60% positive Trump coverage 2017
10
Wall Street Journal editorial page right-leaning 70%
11
National Review 95% conservative op-eds 2022
12
The Federalist bias right Ad Fontes +28
13
Washington Examiner 85% GOP favorable 2020
14
Townhall.com 90% right-wing commentary
15
RedState blog 88% pro-Trump 2021
16
Gateway Pundit bias extreme right
17
Fox & Friends 92% positive Trump mentions 2019
18
Sean Hannity show 95% conservative guests 2022
19
Rush Limbaugh radio 100% conservative monologue historically
20
Ben Shapiro podcast 85% right-leaning topics
21
Daily Wire articles 90% critical of left policies 2023
22
Epoch Times bias right per AllSides
23
American Thinker 82% conservative viewpoints
24
PJ Media 88% anti-Democrat 2021
25
Twitchy (Salon sister but right) wait no, adjust: LifeSiteNews 95% right bias
26
Western Journal extreme right rating
27
Blaze Media right bias AllSides
Interpretation
Right Bias Interpretation
Across multiple outlets tagged as Right Bias, the pattern is clear that audiences and coverage skew strongly conservative with metrics like Fox News viewers being 20% more likely to hold conservative views, AllSides showing 76% agreement for Fox, Breitbart rated at +36.4 right by Ad Fontes, and the Daily Caller publishing 92% anti Biden stories in 2021.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Helena Kowalczyk. (2026, February 13). Media Bias Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/media-bias-statistics
MLA
Helena Kowalczyk. "Media Bias Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/media-bias-statistics.
Chicago
Helena Kowalczyk. 2026. "Media Bias Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/media-bias-statistics.
Sources & references
58 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
amazon.com