A new study shows that Americans now listen to podcasts more often than talk radio. And when they’re looking for news, more are turning to podcasts rather than radio than ever before, according to Pew Research. The study found that about a third of U.S. adults said they get news from podcasts at least sometimes, and 10% said they often tune into podcasts for news.

Our team started rating podcasts in 2023, and since then, we’ve rated more than 3,710 episodes of 990 podcasts (we’ve fully rated 889 of them). The May edition of the Podcast/Audio Media Bias Chart® includes 47 shows rated by our team for bias and reliability. Among them are some of the podcasts with the largest audiences, according to Podnews: The Joe Rogan Experience (No. 1 in popularity), The Ben Shapiro Show (No. 24) and The Dan Bongino Show (No. 43).

News-related podcasts are presented in different formats, and the May chart includes shows that represent each. Some shows are short and provide the top headlines of the day, like NPR News Now, and others have a longer format focusing on one news topic, such as Political Gabfest. Some are from legacy media such as The New York Times and The Economist; others are by longtime political commentators such as Glenn Beck and Matt Walsh. And some podcasts take a documentary format, like The Telepathy Tapes.

Sources in the green box of the chart have been found by our team to consistently provide minimally biased, fact-based information. Eleven podcasts fall within the green box on the May Media Bias Chart®: 

• Babbage from The Economist
• CBC News: At Issue
• Front Burner
• National Affairs Podcast
• NPR News Now
• NYT: Interesting Times with Ross Douthat
• Political Gabfest
• Rachman Review
• Start Here
• The McCarthy Report
• The Trade Guys

More podcasts fall within the green box, and we’ll feature those on future charts.

Eight podcasts are included on the chart this month for the first time (three of these fall within the green box):

• Chicks on the Right Podcast
• Front Burner
• Guerrilla History
• National Affairs Podcast
• Next Up with Mark Halperin
• Pod Force One with Miranda Devine
• The Trade Guys
• The Unspeakeasy With Meghan Daum

We choose only a few dozen podcasts to include on each month’s static Media Bias Chart® because it’s impossible to show all of them in a single image. A list of the 47 sources on this chart can be found here. In order to make the logos as large and readable as possible, we’ve magnified a portion of the chart and removed the edges that contain no sources. 

If you’re looking for information about a podcast that’s not on the May chart, you can search for it on our free mobile app for Apple and Android. You also can access the free version of the interactive chart on the website, which allows access to data on 250 of our top sources. Daily search limits apply.

To get expanded access, you’ll need a News Newbie or News Nerd subscription. Our subscribers can search all sources our team has fully rated (websites, podcasts and TV/video), with other added benefits, including access to our weekly Navigating the News sessions with Ad Fontes CEO and founder Vanessa Otero!

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