Ad Fontes Media analyzes both news and “news-like” podcasts for reliability and bias, and 61 are featured on the May Media Bias Chart

Half of Americans Listen to Podcasts, But Most Are Not From Traditional Media

Ad Fontes Media analyzes both news and “news-like” podcasts for reliability and bias, and 61 are featured on the May Media Bias Chart

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A study by Pew Research Center found that about half of Americans have listened to a podcast in the past year, and most listeners say they hear news discussed on podcasts. But only 20% say they listen to a podcast connected to a news organization.

That’s why our analyst team rates news and “news-like” sources, including websites and TV/videos in addition to podcasts. Media consumers today get information from lots of places, and most are not what previous generations would consider to be traditional news.

Our analysts regularly listen to podcast episodes (more than 2,800 so far!) from a variety of sources and from across the political spectrum. We’ve fully rated 730 podcasts in all, but that’s too many to display in one image. So, we choose a selection of them to include each month on the Media Bias Chart®.

Sixty-one podcasts are featured on May’s edition of the static media bias chart (see the full list here). Ten podcasts are featured for the first time — and most of these are examples of podcasts that don’t come from mainstream media companies but discuss the news of the day, nonetheless. And people are listening.

Here are the 10 podcasts featured on the chart this month for the first time:

If your favorite podcasts are not featured on the May chart, you can still search for them using the Interactive Media Bias Chart® on our website, as well as our Media Bias Chart® app, available for iPhone and Android.

When you add in our web/print and TV/video ratings, our analysts have fully rated over 3,800 sources, with commercial data on over 10,800 sources. Become a subscriber today to have additional access to our data set! Our new News Nerd Pro subscription allows you to search all 3,800 sources with no limits! In addition, you’ll have the ability to filter the search results for things like ownership, content keywords, and more.

Read more about how Ad Fontes rates the news or review our monthly static charts (subscribers only). And check back next month for more updates on your favorite podcast sources!

If you want to stay informed on all the amazing work being done by our team, sign up for our free bimonthly email newsletter!

photo of author Beth Heldebrandt How a Retired Journalist Found a Home at Ad Fontes MediaBeth Heldebrandt is a Media Research Specialist at Ad Fontes Media. She has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of journalism and public relations, and was an adjunct instructor of journalism for 17 years at Eastern Illinois University. Beth has a B.A. in journalism from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and an M.A. in English from Eastern Illinois University. She’s a mom and grandma, and enjoys traveling, puzzles and reading.

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