Elevate Your News Evaluation

Occupy Democrats

About the Source: Occupy Democrats focuses on stories with a very liberal slant, which echo the tone of its popular Facebook memes. It does not have a good fact check record.

Founded: 2012

Political Spectrum: Hyper Liberal

Factual Reporting: Questionable

Did You Know?: Occupy Democrats' name comes from the Occupy Movement that began in 2011. The Occupy Movement focused on awareness of unequal wealth distribution and activism that sought to bring about greater social and economic equity. Occupy Democrats currently boasts over 5.5 million Facebook followers.

U.S. Uncut

About the Source: U.S. Uncut is known for political activism rather than for reputable news.  Its primary purpose is to protest against corporations for owing or dodging taxes.

Founded: 2011

Political Spectrum: Hyper Liberal/Liberal Fringe

Factual Reporting: Questionable

Did You Know?: U.S. Uncut’s political activism has resulted in protests at various stores and organizations including Bank of America, Verizon and FedEx.  This group operates without any clear leadership and a limited number of writers contribute news reports.

The Huffington Post

About the Source: Originally designed as a counterpoint to conservative news aggregator, The Drudge Report, The Huffington Post has expanded to include blogs about news, politics, and lifestyle, from a left-leaning perspective.

Founded: 2005

Political Spectrum: Leans Liberal/Hyper Liberal

Factual Reporting: High

Did You Know?: Many bloggers at the Huffington Post are unpaid contributors. Arianna Huffington, the site's founder, originally was conservative but shifted to more liberal ideology.

Vox

About the Source: Founded by a former Washington Post columnist, Vox is an American news and opinion website which seeks to make complex topics -- in the areas of politics, policy, business, pop culture, science, etc. -- more understandable.

Founded: 2014

Political Spectrum: Leans Liberal/Hyper Liberal

Factual Reporting: High

Did You Know?: Affluent millennials make up 38% of Vox's audience. One unique feature of Vox's site is the use of yellow cards in some of its articles.  These cards offer short snippets of information to help explain a topic or concept, similar to short encyclopedia entries.

The Washington Post

About the Source: The Washington Post is a daily national newspaper focused on political reporting and winner of 47 Pulitzer Prizes. It is known for aggressive investigative reporting and influential opinion pages.

Founded: 1877

Political Spectrum: Mainstream / Leans Liberal

Factual Reporting: High

Did You  Know?: Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein from The Washington Post persevered in exposing the connections and complexities of what is known as The Watergate Scandal. The Washington Post is now owned by Nash Holdings, a company controlled by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

The New York Times

About the Source: The New York Times is a widely circulated and influential American daily newspaper, which has won 117 Pulitzer Prizes. The paper has high standards and a left wing editorial bias.

Founded: 1851

Political Spectrum: Mainstream / Leans Liberal

Factual Reporting: HIgh

Did You Know?: The New York Times has maintained an online presence since 1996.  In 1971, it published the Pentagon Papers.

USA Today

About the Source: USA Today is an American newspaper that is known for its easy-to-read news stories and innovative use of color and graphics in reporting national news and news related to money, sports, life and technology.

Founded: 1982

Political Spectrum: Mainstream

Factual Reporting: High

Did You Know?: USA Today's 1980s design influenced the look of other newspapers. USA Today is a widely circulated newspaper and is often provided to guests in hotels.

The Wall Street Journal

About the Source: The winner of 39 Pulitzer Prizes, The Wall Street Journal is the most-widely circulated daily American newspaper and is known for its business and financial news and investigative reporting.

Founded: 1889

Political Spectrum: Mainstream / Leans Conservative

Factual Reporting: High

Did You Know?: The Wall Street Journal is named after Wall Street in the financial district of Manhattan in New York City. The WSJ won the 2002 Pulitzer for its breaking coverage of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the 2015 Pulitzer for its investigation of Medicare.

Orange County Register

About the Source: A daily paper focused on delivering content for Orange County residents including local news, politics, sports, and entertainment. 

Founded: 1905

Political Spectrum: Leans Conservative

Factual Reporting: High

Did You Know?: Photography staff brought in the paper's first Pulitzer Prize with photographs of the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics.  Though the paper has supported conservative positions, it did oppose the Iraq War early on.

Fox News

About the Source: Fox News is a cable and satellite news channel focused on political and business news; its online news site has sections including entertainment, tech and science.  Fox News represents itself with the slogan Fair & Balanced and is known for appealing to viewers with conservative ideology.

Founded: 1996

Political Spectrum: Leans Conservative / Hyper Conservative

Factual Reporting: Mixed

Did You Know?: Fox News relies heavily on visuals and with the 9/11 attacks started using the news ticker before its competitors; this popular feature remains. As recently as 2014, Fox News has been the number one rated news channel with larger audiences than CNN and MSNBC combined.

The Drudge Report

About the Source: The Drudge Report is primarily a news aggregator, but sometimes includes original stories. Its politically conservative slant is evident in its headlines, links, and focus.

Founded: 1996

Political Spectrum: Hyper Conservative / Conservative Fringe

Factual Reporting: Mixed

About the Source: The Drudge Report is well known for breaking the Lewinksky scandal story in 1998, but it has also been involved in spreading hoaxes and stories with questionable sourcing. Much of its site is made up of links to other media sites.

The Daily Caller

About the Source: Originally designed as a counterpoint to the liberal website The Huffington Post, The Daily Caller is an American news and commentary website with a variety sections including politics, US news, world news, entertainment, sports, business, opinion, and guns & gear.

Founded: 2010

Political Spectrum: Hyper Conservative / Conservative Fringe

Factual Reporting: Mixed

Did You Know? The Daily Caller features two blogs, The Mirror, which covers news and gossip related to the media and politics in Washington, D.C., and DC Trawler, which focuses on political humor. The Daily Caller has representation in the White House press pool.