The Spectrum of News Sources graphic is designed to present a visual representation of news sources – highlighting both their quality and partisanship. Author Vanessa Otero created the original version of this chart for infrequent readers in order to help them distinguish “between decent news sources and terrible news sources”. However, frequent and non-frequent readers alike have widely shared and discussed this graphic on social media in the last few weeks. To highlight this relevant topic of news evaluation, UC Merced library staff adapted this graphic for display.
Though not everyone may agree with the placement of sources on this chart, this graphic is intended to create a rich conversation about the evaluation of news publications. We recognize that the nuances of news coverage cannot be captured in a single graphic.
Do you agree with the placement of the news sources on this graph? Why or why not? What are some of the news sources you read most? How much of your news do you get through friends, family, Facebook or other social media? How do you decide what news sources and news articles are trustworthy?
For more detailed information, see the UC Merced Library Source Spectrum website.
Various versions of the Media Bias Chart were created by Vanessa Otero. For a detailed explanation on the original reasoning and methodology behind the chart, click here. To review various versions of the chart, click here. For chart licensing information, click here.
