Confirmation Bias

 

 

In the context of news, it’s the tendency to ingest a perspective we already agree with.

 

Even without an outside source telling us, we already know how our chosen news sources lean.  The ones we watch the most tend to lean the same way we do.  Here is an outside source documenting what we already know.

 

 

The chart can be explored in detail with this link:

 

https://adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart/

 

AP and Reuters are pretty close to the middle.  MSNBC is to the left, Fox news to the right.  Clicking on any individual source reveals more about how the rating was determined.

 

The chart not only documents any political leanings of the reporting but does that against an axis of reliability; is each source more likely to be reporting verified facts, or do they tend to just make up stuff to fit their narrative.  That could be useful to know.  Isn’t it interesting that apparently the more a news source skews left or right, the less it relies on reliable evidence to make its case.

 

Of course, to believe this chart might be useful, a person would have to accept that it’s from an unbiased source and its methodology is sound to begin with…