Daily Source Bias Check: Against Crony Capitalism

Detailed Report

Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: USA
World Press Freedom Rank: USA 48/180

History

Founded in 2010 by Nick Sorrentino and Hunter Lewis, Against Crony Capitalism (ACC) is a website that works to expose crony capitalism. “Crony capitalism is an economic system in which businesses thrive not as a result of risk, but rather as a return on money amassed through a nexus between a business class and the political class.” ie. Cronyism.

According to their about page they state “We believe that special deals from government for politically connected individuals, businesses, and powerful political interests destroy the marketplace. These favors, though often sold to the public as “regulations” or “works programs”, are usually vehicles for some to take from the many.”

Nick Sorrentino is the editor and he also operates a personal website at TheSorrentino.com.

Funded by / Ownership

Against Crony Capitalism does not openly explain ownership on the website. It is assumed to be owned by the co-founders mentioned above. Revenue is derived through advertising, donations and the sale of books.

Analysis / Bias

In review, Against Crony Capitalism exposes and reports on incidences of crony capitalism. Typically, ACC will quote an article and then provide a link to the full article that takes the reader offsite. Headlines are usually not over sensationalized such as this: California Plans to Hike Tax on Legal Marijuana, Threatening New Market With Rapid Extinction. This story links to the Legal Insurrection website, which we rate as Right Biased, but High for factual reporting. In another story, Wealthy Danes who want to make a deposit will need to pay up, they source the Least Biased Reuters.

Editorially, ACC does not add much commentary to the stories they publish. However, story selection tends to favor pro-capitalism perspectives. For example, they fairly publish criticism of President Trump such as this: Trump to begin new round of trade-aid payouts to farmers. Although ACC criticizes establishment Republicans, they frequently denigrate socialism and the left such as this: That’s Socialism For Ya: Venezuelan Ex-Treasurer Admits He Took $1 Billion in Bribes. This story contains biased commentary from the author, but is appropriately sourced to the Wall Street Journal.

In a previous review of ACC we rated them Right Biased and Mixed for factual reporting due to the use of poor sources. These stories are no longer on the website and all stories reviewed linked to credible media outlets. Therefore, we are upgrading ACC to Right-Center Biased and High for factual reporting.

A factual search reveals they have not failed a fact check.

Overall, we rate Against Crony Capitalism Right-Center Biased based on story selection that favors free market capitalism. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. (7/12/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 11/30/2019)