Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for October 19, 2018
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
October 19, 2018: Sixty-five percent (65%) of Google News links point to left-leaning news sources. A report from AllSides.com shows that 20% point to centrist news sources and another 16% to sources on the political right.[1]
“There are many different ways to measure and rate the bias of any news source or service,” note the report's authors. “Simple adjustments will alter the percentages so that left media can be considered as more or less dominant in Google News than our 65% figure.” While the specific numbers might shift a bit, “the numbers are so significantly strong and consistent in favor of news media sources from the left that the overall conclusion of a leftward bias is well justified.”
However, the bias of its results does not mean that Google is intentionally rigging its ratings to suppress right-of-center perspectives. It may simply be that the online audience itself leans further left than the population at large. Also, there are more left-leaning news outlets. As a result, simply ranking stories by popularity might easily generate a left-leaning set of results on Google News.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- October 18, 2018 – 1 trillion humans in galaxy envisioned by Jeff Bezos
- October 17, 2018 – 17 percent increase in federal deficit during 2018
- October 16, 2018 – 21 days left in Election 2018
- October 15, 2018 – 67 percent of Americans represent exhausted majority tired of polarized politics
- October 12, 2018 – 526 years ago today, Columbus reached the New World
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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