Overview

Ad Fontes Media rates The American Conservative in the Strong Right category of bias and as Mixed Reliability/Opinion OR Other Issues in terms of reliability. The American Conservative is a bimonthly magazine co-founded in 2002 by political commentator Pat Buchanan. The American Conservative is published by the non-profit American Ideas Institute and is based in Washington, D.C.

Overall Score

The following are the overall bias and reliability scores for The American Conservative according to our Ad Fontes Media ratings methodology.

Reliability: 31.63

Bias: 14.44

Panels of analysts from Ad Fontes Media regularly review representative sample content to rate it for reliability and bias. Each panel of analysts comprises one left-leaning, one right-leaning, and one center-leaning analyst.

The team considers a variety of factors when rating content. To determine its reliability score, we consider the content’s veracity, expression, its title/headline, and graphics. We add each of these scores to the chart on a weighted scale, with the average of those creating the sample content’s overall reliability score.

To determine sample content’s bias score, we consider its language, its political position, and how it compares to other reporting or analysis from other sources on the same topic. We add each of these scores to the chart on a weighted scale, with the average of those creating the content’s overall bias score.

The bias rating, demonstrated on the Media Bias Chart^®️ on the horizontal axis, ranges from most extreme left to middle to most extreme right. The reliability rating, demonstrated on the chart’s vertical axis, rates sources on a scale from original fact reporting to analysis, opinion, propaganda and inaccurate/fabricated information.

Reliability scores for articles and shows are on a scale of 0-64. Scores above 40 are generally good; scores below 24 are generally problematic. Scores between 24-40 indicate a range of possibilities, with some sources falling there because they are heavy in opinion and analysis, and some because they have a high variation in reliability between articles.

Bias scores for articles and shows are on a scale of -42 to +42, with higher negative scores being more left, higher positive scores being more right, and scores closer to zero being minimally biased, equally balanced, or exhibiting a centrist bias.

Individual Content Sample Scores

These are the most recent content samples that Ad Fontes Media analysts have rated for this source.

Content Sample URL	Bias	Reliability
The West Should Be Receptive to Russia’s Openness to Talks	4.33	40.33
McCarthy Heads for the Revolving Door	18.67	37.33
The American Conservative	14	32.67
The American Conservative	17.67	32.67
Orange Man in a Banana Republic	15	31
Toward a Realist American Grand Strategy	16.67	30.67
Big Pharma Versus the Capital Vices	5.67	20
Why Jacob Chansley Matters	19	25.67
Respect For Marriage Act: An Imprudent Compromise	19.33	32
Mr. President, Stay Out of Ukraine	16.33	27
Lab Leak And Media Narrative	13.33	34
Foundations Are Setting the Transgender Agenda and Targeting Children	15.67	32
After Voting for 16, ‘They’ll None of Them Be Missed’	12	32
American Hegemony, Now and in the Future	8	35.67
Hollywood’s Other Foreign Censor: Saudi Arabia	8.67	33.67
Symbols and Words from the Pope in Iraq	1.67	38.33
Another Opinion Columnist Pushing War With Iran Who Doesn’t Actually Exist	-4	40
Time to Ditch the Global Bureaucracies	17.33	33.67
Biden Needs to End ‘Maximum Pressure’ in Yemen and Beyond	-9.33	38.67
Why National Greatness Matters	8	37.33
Our Dystopian Future	3	34
Here Come The Soft Totalitarians	17.33	30.33
Salvaging the Nuclear Deal Before It Is Too Late	-1.33	42
The City Planner’s Guide to Tragedies and Trade-Offs	3.33	39.33
The Cool Kids Are Back in Town!	15	27.67