I'm sorry to hear you use the Ad Fontes chart to screen for bias. They put us (Wonkette) in a box *worse than Alex Jones and Gateway Pundit* as nonfactual and "nonsense degrading to the discourse." It made me very sad. (We look to have been moved back up four tenths of a millimeter.) I've worked in newspapers for 30 years and taught journalism in the University of California system. That lady's a dentist.
YIKES, Rebecca, I did not know that at all! Makes me wonder how her algorithm works now. Do you know of something else that works better? I really am overhauling my media/trend tracking diet and am looking for any and all good ideas.
Haha, Evan from Wonkette, I will also weigh in! (BTW you've become one of my daily reads, just wonderful.)
My read is that the person who makes the Ad Fontes chart -- and her team/parameter/algorithms -- has at least one blind spot and that it's "sense of humor." The fact that we sit on top of the freaking Palmer Report on the chart, which quite literally relies on Louise Mensch-style Twitter rumors to report news kind of says everything about the flaws.
Do we wildly speculate? Hell yes, and we usually add that we're doing so IRRESPONSIBLY when we do!
Also we make jokes that should, to casual readers, be obvious as jokes. And with factual information we try incredibly hard to have it exactly right, and provide really strong analysis, even if you don't agree with where we land.
I think the chart also has a strange sense of what constitutes "left" these days, that fails to really understand what the spectrum of "left" or "liberal" or "progressive" or any of these other terms means in the year 2024. (For an example, the fact that Chapo Trap House is just one section to the left of us? Good LORD, those people consider us to be basically neocons.)
We've got a number of perspectives in there, and quite frankly, some of us read The Atlantic and Foreign Affairs far more than we read anything that would truly be considered "left" these days.
I think the chart does OK on the Right side of the spectrum, because there's just not as much complexity over there right now, aside from some Daily Wire types who aren't quite sold on the MAGA experiment but eagerly fall in line whenever they're told to.
I like Newsguard! They wrote to me with some pointed questions, I explained our philosophy, they couldn't find anything we actually get wrong, and they gave us I think a C. I'm fine with a C! We're pretty spicy! But below Alex Jones and Gateway Pundit was beyond the pale. :)
Rebecca, Evan, this has been extremely helpful! I'll look into a Newsguard subscription forthwith. Other notes: (1) Snark defeats algorithms every time, (2) I only wish I could write daily; I struggle with weekly, partly because I'm new at this, and (3) Sara told me you two were reading along and she explained that you two are a berlap bag of wolverines and justice. Both caffeinated. She didn't use those exact words but that's, you know, what I heard.
I'm sorry to hear you use the Ad Fontes chart to screen for bias. They put us (Wonkette) in a box *worse than Alex Jones and Gateway Pundit* as nonfactual and "nonsense degrading to the discourse." It made me very sad. (We look to have been moved back up four tenths of a millimeter.) I've worked in newspapers for 30 years and taught journalism in the University of California system. That lady's a dentist.
Enjoy your newsletter, thanks!
YIKES, Rebecca, I did not know that at all! Makes me wonder how her algorithm works now. Do you know of something else that works better? I really am overhauling my media/trend tracking diet and am looking for any and all good ideas.
Haha, Evan from Wonkette, I will also weigh in! (BTW you've become one of my daily reads, just wonderful.)
My read is that the person who makes the Ad Fontes chart -- and her team/parameter/algorithms -- has at least one blind spot and that it's "sense of humor." The fact that we sit on top of the freaking Palmer Report on the chart, which quite literally relies on Louise Mensch-style Twitter rumors to report news kind of says everything about the flaws.
Do we wildly speculate? Hell yes, and we usually add that we're doing so IRRESPONSIBLY when we do!
Also we make jokes that should, to casual readers, be obvious as jokes. And with factual information we try incredibly hard to have it exactly right, and provide really strong analysis, even if you don't agree with where we land.
I think the chart also has a strange sense of what constitutes "left" these days, that fails to really understand what the spectrum of "left" or "liberal" or "progressive" or any of these other terms means in the year 2024. (For an example, the fact that Chapo Trap House is just one section to the left of us? Good LORD, those people consider us to be basically neocons.)
We've got a number of perspectives in there, and quite frankly, some of us read The Atlantic and Foreign Affairs far more than we read anything that would truly be considered "left" these days.
I think the chart does OK on the Right side of the spectrum, because there's just not as much complexity over there right now, aside from some Daily Wire types who aren't quite sold on the MAGA experiment but eagerly fall in line whenever they're told to.
I like Newsguard! They wrote to me with some pointed questions, I explained our philosophy, they couldn't find anything we actually get wrong, and they gave us I think a C. I'm fine with a C! We're pretty spicy! But below Alex Jones and Gateway Pundit was beyond the pale. :)
Rebecca, Evan, this has been extremely helpful! I'll look into a Newsguard subscription forthwith. Other notes: (1) Snark defeats algorithms every time, (2) I only wish I could write daily; I struggle with weekly, partly because I'm new at this, and (3) Sara told me you two were reading along and she explained that you two are a berlap bag of wolverines and justice. Both caffeinated. She didn't use those exact words but that's, you know, what I heard.
For Nature / Science news I love New Scientist. I can read it for free with my library card. Thank you for this fabulous post.
Thank you! I'll check it out!
Wow! I’m scrambling to change my subscriptions! And SHARKS!!!!
There's probably a site out there somewhere called Shark Weekly.