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Tuesday, May. 20, 2025

Are most American news media ‘radical leftists’?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch

no

Studies have found some evidence of liberal leanings among journalists, but not radical viewpoints.

Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab said everyone has a different idea about what constitutes news.

Media Bias rates most media in a range of “strong left, skews left, middle, skews right or strong right.” 

Of the remainder, media rated “hyper-partisan right” or “most extreme right” outnumber those rated “hyper-partisan left” or “most extreme left.”

AllSides, which rates online U.S. political content, rates most media as “lean left,” “center” or “lean right.” 

A 2022 Syracuse University survey said 52% of 1,600 U.S. journalists identified themselves as independent, 36% Democrat, 3% Republican.

A 2020 study by researchers from three U.S. universities concluded that “a dominant majority of journalists identify as liberals/Democrats,” but exhibit “no bias against conservatives” in what they cover.

The office of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., didn’t provide evidence to back his May 9 claim that “most” American news media are “radical leftists.”

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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