Overview

Ad Fontes Media rates The Atlantic in the Skews Left category of bias and as Generally Reliable/Analysis OR Other Issues in terms of reliability. The Atlantic is a print and digital media source focusing on news politics, foreign affairs, science, technology, business, culture and literature. Founded in 1857 in Boston as a literary and political commentary magazine, its founders included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsowrth Longfellow. Based in Washington, D.C., The Atlantic is owned by Emerson Collective.

Overall Score

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

Reliability: 38.03

Bias: -9.04

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
Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’	-17.67	49.33
Trump’s Most Misunderstood Policy Proposal	1.33	43.33
Milton Is the Hurricane That Scientists Were Dreading	-2.67	47.33
The Old Hurricane Rules Are Gone	-1.33	46
November Will Be Worse	-14.33	35.33
The Trump Believability Gap	-12.67	30.33
The Moment of Truth	-12	31.33
Trump Has Not Been ‘Sane-Washed’	-14	23
Microsoft’s Hypocrisy on AI	-11.33	49
The Taylor Swift Way to Defuse a Troll	-10.33	32.67
Trump’s New Big Lie	-8.67	44.33
A New Front in the Meme Wars	-0.67	40.33
The Failing State Next Door	1.33	37
The Progressive Jewish Bind	-4	33.33
Inspectors General Are Doing Essential—And Unpopular—Work	-3.67	36.67
Trump’s Evangelical Supporters Just Lost Their Best Excuse	-11.33	30.33
The Conservatives Who Sold Their Souls for Trump	-11.67	33.33
When Victimhood Takes a Bad-Faith Turn	-2.67	37.67
Voters Aren’t Sure Who Kamala Harris Really Is	-0.67	32.33
America’s Political Chaos Is Enviable When You Live in an Autocracy	-2.67	35.67
The Democrat Who Thinks Biden Didn’t Go Far Enough	-3.33	38.33
All Airlines Are Now the Same	-3	35
What the Kamala Harris Doubters Don’t Understand	-16	30.67
Biden Must Resign	-16.33	29.67
What Will Become of American Civilization?	-12.67	52.33