A new AllSides bias analysis found SmartNews has a Lean Left bias, as it predominantly curates from Center and Left-Leaning media outlets, omitting Right and Lean Right-rated outlets.

AllSides conducted a two-week review of SmartNews, a news aggregator, in October–November 2023. SmartNews’ “Politics”, “U.S.”, “World”, and “SmartTake” sections collectively displayed far more articles with a AllSides Media Bias Rating™ of Lean Left than those with a Left, Center, Lean Right or Right rating. 

Overall, the bias of the top news sources that appeared on SmartNews were 5% Left-rated, 51% Lean Left-rated, 32% Center-rated, 1% Lean Right-rated, 1% Right-rated, and 11% not rated by AllSides. 

In the “Politics” section of the app, 70% of sources were on the left, 11% were in the center, 0% on the right, and 19% were not rated.

In the “U.S.” section of the SmartNews app, 30% of sources were on the left, 59% in the center, 1% on the right, and 10% not rated. 

In the “World” section of the app, 1% of sources were on the left, 99% were in the center, and 0% were on the right.

The "SmartTake” section displayed 71% of sources on the left, 14% in the center, 3% on the right and 11% not rated. 

The top five news sources across SmartNews sections were ABC News (Lean Left), USA Today (Lean Left), DW (Center), Associated Press (Lean Left), and Evening Standard (Center). No sources on the right were among the top 10 outlets displayed on SmartNews’ sections.

Under the Politics tab of SmartNews, there is a feature called “News From All Sides,” which allows users to see articles about a specific topic or news story sorted in three groups, from liberal to conservative. (Important Note: this feature is not connected in any way with AllSides Technologies, Inc.). Although the “News From All Sides” feature may indicate an interest in presenting balanced news, SmartNews overall displays far less news from Right and Lean Right-rated sources. 

Visit the full report to view AllSides’ methodology, in-depth findings, and see a full list of articles analyzed.

Bias in News Aggregators

AllSides has found a similar pattern among other news aggregation services, including Google News, Bing News, Apple News, NewsBreak, and Yahoo! News — all of which favor news outlets on the left. Just because the news is aggregated from different sources does not mean you are getting the full picture of different perspectives.

AllSides Media Bias Ratings™ reflect the average judgment of all Americans, not just a panel of insiders. Ratings are driven by a balance of input from experts and ordinary people across the political spectrum to reveal the average judgment of Americans. AllSides uses multiple methodologies to rate bias, including Editorial Reviews and Blind Bias Surveys of Americans.

Please contact AllSides for inquiries about this news aggregator bias analysis.

Clare Ashcraft is the Bridging and Bias Specialist at AllSides. She has a Center bias.

Visuals by Andrew Weinzierl, Research and Data Journalist at AllSides (Lean Left bias).

Reviews and edits by Julie Mastrine, Director of Marketing and Media Bias Ratings (Lean Right bias).