At AllSides, we rate media bias so we can curate news and opinion from different perspectives, helping people to find the truth and better understand each other across divides. We also teach people to understand and combat bias, so they can better navigate media and information.

AllSides defines media bias as the tendency of news media to report in a way that reinforces a viewpoint, worldview, preference, political ideology, corporate or financial interests, moral framework, or policy inclination, instead of reporting in an objective way (simply describing the facts). 

But is bias always wrong?

RELATED: What is Media Bias?

A media organization seeks to inform its audience; put another way, it takes in information from many sources and decides which information to present to its audience. Media that strives for objectivity will try to present an accurate, proportional view of the goings-on of the world.

Biased media, however, paints a caricature of the world that inflates some facts and minimizes others, often to suit a political narrative or to support a perspective or worldview. This may be driven by an ulterior “agenda” when governments or moneyed interests are involved, but media bias is often a natural, self-reinforcing process in which audiences seek to confirm their existing beliefs and outlets earn more money by catering to them.

Put another way, a fact can be presented in a biased manner and reinforce the audience’s bias without the fact itself being wrong or misleading. 

There’s Truth on All Sides

The truth doesn’t regard partisan lines. Sometimes the facts will fit conveniently into the right’s narrative of the country, and sometimes they will fit into the left’s. That does not make the facts untrue. How the facts are used, however, is a matter of subjectivity and opinion.

For example, maybe an outlet on the right will write a story that frames President Joe Biden’s immigration policy negatively by including context about how many people have illegally crossed the border and highlighting high-profile crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants. While the story may show a right-leaning bias because it gives a negative perception of the left’s handling of the issue, the facts are not untrue, nor is it necessarily misleading to include such details. But it is misleading to highlight one-off instances of crime in order to imply that unauthorized immigrants are particularly dangerous people, if you also omit the fact that studies show unauthorized immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans. But even then, some would push back on that framing by highlighting how coming to the U.S. illegally is itself a crime.

An example on the left may be a story about doctors moving to states with less abortion restrictions. This supports the narrative on the left that allowing the states to decide abortion leads to unclear and unpopular laws, which drive away doctors, making it more unsafe for residents in the state to get the healthcare they need. Outlets on the right would not want to highlight doctors that leave pro-life states because it would show that even if the pro-life position is right, it comes at the cost of some high-quality doctors which can affect the healthcare system negatively, especially in rural areas. While this may be Lean Left story choice because it is an aspect of the abortion topic that those on the right would not typically explore, it may be entirely accurate.

Let’s look at a specific instance of bias. The Kyiv Post (not rated) covered an interview Ukrainian President Zelensky gave to NBC News (Lean Left bias) in an article headlined: “‘I Only Thought About Ukraine’ – Zelensky Explains Decision to Stay & Fight.” The Kyiv Post calls itself “Ukraine’s Global Voice” and has a vested interest in making its president look good in a time of war, making the positive profile piece on Zelensky choosing to stay and fight for his country a clear instance of bias.

But whether from a biased source or not, the facts are true. Zelensky did choose to stay and fight in his country when the U.S. offered him a route out; he did speak about “only thinking about Ukraine” with NBC News; the article included genuine polling about Americans’ confidence in Zelensky. 

Outlets more skeptical of Ukraine’s actions in the Russia-Ukraine war, however, may publish articles about the draft or Zelensky using martial law to cancel elections and stay in power past his term (which is also true); they may characterize those moves as anti-democratic (which is an opinion, not fact). So the portrait of Zelensky painted by the Kyiv Post is perhaps incomplete — but it’s not inaccurate. He has indeed continued to stand by his nation during the war, which is no doubt a convenient fact that allows its audience to remain psychologically comfortable in their bias. The article might not even be misleading, though it is perhaps incomplete. If it also provided some criticism rather than purely positive attributes, it would give a better and more complete picture.

How Can We Deal With Biased Truths?

Whether a story goes against your bias or supports it, you should always fact-check its contents. But just as biased stories may be untrue or omitting certain important context, biased stories can also be true, even when you disagree with the overarching position or narrative it seems to reinforce. 

The solution is almost always more information, not less. Reading sources from the full political spectrum allows you to critically compare different viewpoints and come to an individual understanding of the world around you. If The New York Times (Lean Left) gives you one side of the immigration story and omits the other, you can complete the picture by reading a piece from The Daily Wire (Right bias), for instance. And if you encounter ideas you don’t agree with, they won’t do you any harm — you are always invited to come to your own conclusions.

Can you think of a story that appealed to one side's bias, but happened to be true? Email us!

Clare Ashcraft is the Bridging Coordinator & Media Analyst at AllSides (Center bias).

Reviewed by CEO John Gable (Lean Right bias), Director of Marketing & Media Bias Ratings Julie Mastrine (Lean Right bias), and News Editor & Product Manager Evan Wagner (Lean Left bias).