There is no such thing as neutral or unbiased information. Media bias is sometimes very obvious, and sometimes not. How can we tell if a news source is on the left, right, or center of the political spectrum? How can we tell the type of audience and purpose the publications serves. These sites evaluate the political leaning of different publications and news outlets:

• Media Bias/Fact Check
• Allsides.com

Aside from a publication's political leaning- bias in reporting is revealed in the details the journalist provides- determining whose story is told, and how it is told. The language used by journalists impacts how we understand an event and sometimes is used to evoke an emotional response. What assumptions do we form if an event is described as a violent riot vs. a popular uprising for example? 

We tend to view news reporting on a spectrum illustrated on the chart below, though it can be far more complex. Some degree of bias might be appropriate- like opinion pieces or editorials.

(find Virginia news on Factiva- search by region)

• VPM (Virginia public media)
• Race Capitol (podcast)
• RVAhub.com
• Richmond Times Dispatch (access through Boatwright Library)
• Virginia Mercury
• The Virginia Defender
• ​​​​​​Style Weekly
• Richmond Free Press

• Richmond Magazine

Think about evaluating each publication before you use it, where do they fall on the political spectrum?

• The Daily Dispatch
• Richmond Planet - (historic Black newspaper- read more about editor/activist journalist John Mitchell Jr.'s contributions here)
• Chronicling America Project - (Library of Congress archive of historical Virginia newspapers )
• Virginia Chronicle (Library of Virginia archive of historical Virginia newspapers)