I feel like NPR leans left, but they do a good job of reporting from both sides fairly. They seem to respect both sides instead of heavily reporting for one. I feel the same way about USA Today if you are just looking for an online news source.
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I think for the most part their reporting is quite balanced -- the name would make you think otherwise though.
NPR, BBC, Christian Science Monitor, Al Jazeera, all seem to be fairly unbiased. Sprinkle in those with some bias from each side and you can sort through it all fairly well. But NPR is probably the top.
I consume Google news for quick reads. Wapo and Times for center left reporting. I appreciate Times for the analysis because regardless of bias, analysis is sorely lacking in today's news. Economist for digestible social left, neoliberal governance (learned a lot of financial issues and were decent at warning non financial people of the red flags leading up to the housing crisis). financial Times for more in depth issues in the the business and western world. RT occasionally to calibrate what I'm missing from the U.S. US Media...until I get sick of their Russian authoritarian slant. Reuters, AP, and McClatchy sometimes have in depth pieces that are worth reading though I treat their other articles as a media stream. Mother Jones, pro publica, democracy now..not as much as I like. Too many things to be depressed over. All Jazeera or guardian when I'm bored and want to see what people outside the bible are thinking. CSM is decent In general, pbs Newshour for magazine like consumption. I've found the Week to be pretty good at giving people the main points for the big issues but I don't want to be too lazy and rely on one source. If I ever feel like getting angry at a whole lot of nothing, I read breitbart or Washington Times for a good scare of our country. Townhall, pajamamedia, and some others are garbage and unabashedly so by the garbage their ads peddle
How is the PBS Newshour considered? Biased reporting by them too? I think Shields & Brooks give a pretty straightforward and objective analysis
NPR/PBS are as unbiased as it gets. CNN isn't biased to the left or to the right. They are biased towards sensationalism. And their anchors are mostly terrible at journalism, save Christiane Amanpour, of whom frankly the American media market isn't deserving anyway. At the end of the day, the antidote is an informed viewer who is capable of filtering out the crud. I like watching MSNBC (except during election season), because they at least try to do an honest job of separating news from liberal opinion. Other networks don't do this.
most news sources have some bias in that- they choose what facts to include and leave out in the stories they cover. al jazeera, bbc, cbs are fairly unbiased TV news sources that quickly come to mind.
Cable news is damned hard to report substantial things. I generally don't like watching cable news because it's ratings and ad driven. They're dinosaurs to the internet, but unlike papers, they can peddle more visual entertainment and sustain a decent number of viewers. It really depends, but I like watching it and then follow up with whatever I really care about. Looking up who they choose for the discussion pieces and what their group is about generally helps determine how broad the topic is represented.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/ is pretty good. It's mostly stat based, so little room for bias. That being said is not really a "news source." But lots of good political discussions nevertheless.
Democrats think CNN is too conservative. Republicans think CNN is too liberal. You tell me where the line in the sand is.
Right, that's pretty much my method as well. It should be said though that I do find it much easier to digest the news as presented on the Newshour than other tv sources, mainly because of their demeanor - they provide an appropriate level of seriousness to the matter they're reporting on
